A CORK theatre company is calling on all romantics to declare their love and get involved in an upcoming Romeo and Juliet production.
Corcadorca theatre company has teamed up with Cork Opera House to stage Shakespeare’s classic tale of star-crossed lovers  next month and is looking for love letters from the public to feature in the show.
The play’s producers are inviting the public to write a love letter or note expressing their passions or making a romantic wish and place it in Romeo and Juliet-branded ballot boxes currently being placed around Cork in the city and county libraries, among other locations.
The ballot boxes will be collected at the beginning of October and the love notes will feature in each performance of Romeo and Juliet from October 10.
Corcadorca company manager Fin Flynn said the declarations of love will mean that all the people of Cork’s understanding of love will be expressed in the show alongside that of Shakespeare’s.
“The love letters will be used as props during the show and there’s a possibility that they may be projected outside the Opera House as a special effect so we’re hoping to collect thousands of notes from the public over the next few weeks.  The inspiration for the declarations of love came from the thousands of letters that are annually sent to Verona, addressed to Juliet looking for advice on love and romance.
“A dedicated team in Verona read and respond to every letter and a book entitled Letters to Juliet was published about the love letters, which in turn inspired a Hollywood film of the same title.
“Corcadorca set designer Roma Patel and company director Pat Kiernan wanted to incorporate this concept into our production of Romeo & Juliet at Cork Opera House and the Declarations of Love project was born,” she said.
The 12-strong cast includes 16-year-old Jay Duffy — son of former Boyzone singer and Coronation Street  actor Keith Duffy —  as Romeo, and Aisling Franciosi as Juliet, along with UCC and Kinsale College of Further Education drama students. Ms Flynn said the script has been edited by Dr Ger Fitzgibbon to enable a fast paced production while remaining true to the original Shakespearean language.
The production runs at Cork Opera House from October 10-20 with both evening and matinee performances. See www.corkoperahouse.ie for more.