Shakespeare's tale of Romeo and Juliet's forbidden love has been retold and performed countless times, but Estonian theatre production company Kinoteater has found a way to make their production stand out - by quite literally taking a bulldozer to it.

In a quarry some 40 kilometres southwest of Tallinn, a total of 16 excavators, trucks and other vehicles took to the stage in "Romula ja Julia", playing the roles of the feuding Montague and Capulet families - or rather, the Motoretti and Carburetti families.

A red Ford pickup truck plays Juliet, Romeo is represented by a modified rally truck, and the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt is enacted by two excavators wielding their attachments like swords.

According to Kinoteater co-director Paavo Piik, finding the 'actors' for their play was a very intuitive process: "When we saw this red 4x4 pickup that was kind of small compared to all the big excavators, we kind of had this instant emotion, 'okay, this could be Juliet'. When we saw this kind of very vain looking semi truck, this was Paris for us", Piik said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday (July 31).

Piik said that it had been challenging to find ways to convey big emotions with the big machines, to make them talk and understand each other and to work with the contrast between big and small, the very powerful and very gentle.

Their vision seems to have been well received by the audience: "Even though it was cars it felt really sweet and cute", said audience member Maia Pussim, noting that the power of the famous kissing scene had been captured really well.

A bulldozer, an excavator, a concrete mixer and a fire truck also power the theatrical love-struggle, in the Rummu prison-quarry that became known during the Soviet era when inmates from the nearby prisons were forced to excavate stone there.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

RUMMU, ESTONIA (JULY 31, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. EXCAVATOR WITH HYDRAULIC HAMMER ATTACHMENT ACTING AS TYBALT ARRIVING ON STAGE DURING PROLOGUE

2. VARIOUS OF SCENE BETWEEN EXCAVATORS ACTING AS TYBALT (RIGHT) AND MERCUTIO (LEFT)

3. CAR FALLING DOWN FROM CLIFF

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) KINOTEATER CO-DIRECTOR, PAAVO PIIK, SAYING:

“So, it's basically a big experiment about what it means to do Shakespeare today and whether we can find new ways to do it.”

5. VARIOUS OF COMPACT LOADER ACTING AS NARRATOR BETWEEN MERCUTIO AND TYBALT

6. CITY BUSES PRESENTED AS HERALDS ARRIVING ON STAGE

7. BUSES MAKING CIRCLES

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) KINOTEATER CO-DIRECTOR, PAAVO PIIK, SAYING:

“We also wanted to try, if it's possible, to be very gentle with these big machines. This contrast is kind of interesting for us, but is it possible to deliver these kind of emotions, love, or even love that doesn't kind of get accepted, in the case of Juliet and Paris? So, it's fun and interesting to kind of go and try to do these things with big machines and see how do you do it on stage, how to make cars talk, how do we make them kind of understand each other. So, this contrast between big and small, and also contrast between very powerful and very gentle. So, this is kind of interesting for us.”

9. FIRE TRUCK ACTING AS LORD CARBURETTI ARRIVING ON STAGE

10. FIREWORKS BEHIND TRACTORS

11. AUDIENCE WATCHING PLAY

12. SCENE BETWEEN HYDRAULIC HUMMER ACTING AS TYBALT AND FRONT LOADER ACTING AS SAMPSON

13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) KINOTEATER CO-DIRECTOR, PAAVO PIIK, SAYING:

“When we saw this red 4x4 pickup that was kind of small compared to all the big excavators, we kind of had this instant emotion, 'okay, this could be Juliet'. When we saw this kind of very vain looking semi truck, this was Paris for us. So, it was kind intuitively kind of, you know, when you had to have a fight scene between Mercutio and Tybalt, you kind of get this kind impression that this could be well done with excavators because they have these parts that you can use to have a sword fight."

14. PICKUP TRUCK ACTING AS JULIET ARRIVING ON STAGE

15. SEMI TRUCK ACTING AS COUNT PARIS CHASING JULIET

16. RALLY TRUCK ACTING AS ROMEO MEETS JULIET

17. AUDIENCE WATCHING

18. RALLY TRUCK ACTING AS ROMEO ON STAGE

19. AUDIENCE APPLAUDING

20. VARIOUS OF PLAY IN PROGRESS

21. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPECTATOR, MAIA MAISATE, SAYING:

“I must say I came into it expecting it to be really silly, but it was really good. I really liked it.”

22. VARIOUS OF LOVE SCENE BETWEEN RALLY TRUCK ACTING AS ROMEO AND PICKUP ACTING AS JULIET

23. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPECTATOR, MAIA PUSSIM, SAYING:

“I would still say that even though it was cars, it felt really sweet and cute. Like when you had the scene where the cars were kind of, probably kissing, you would assume, the energy was captured really well. Captured the sweetness and the love, which was really nice as well.”

24. VARIOUS OF SCENE BETWEEN SEMI TRUCK ACTING AS COUNT PARIS AND RALLY TRUCK ACTING AS ROMEO

25. WOMAN IN AUDIENCE SMILING

26. SOUNDBITE) (English) SPECTATOR, JOHANNES TRALLA, SAYING:

“I think it was wonderful. I mean, everyone knows the story, so everyone is... So the big question, I think, for everyone was that, 'okay, how are they going to solve it in this terrain and with these machines?' And I think they did a great job. A lot of great humour, as we know from Kinoteater (production company). Quite a few nice little tweaks and surprises, so I think it was great. And well, the grand finale was supported by the thunderstorm as well, so quite an evening to remember.”

27. DRIVERS AND HEAVY MACHINERY ON STAGE

28. AUDIENCE APPLAUDING

29. DRIVERS BOW ON STAGE AFTER PLAY