Emotional ginger cat steals the show from Romeo and Juliet in Turkey
- Ikuko
- 20 hours ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 4 hours ago
O Romeow, please do not die on me.
A (emotional) ginger cat couldn't stop itself from stepping onto the stage at the climax of Romeo and Juliet performed by the Imperial Russian Ballet Company in Izmir, Turkey.
Any ballet lovers immediately recognise the final scene of the Shakespeare tragedy ballet about star crossed young lovers in Medieval Italy. Romeo rushes to Juliet's mausoleum wrongly believing that she is dead and kills himself. Immediately after, Juliet wakes up to find his cold body laying next to her and takes her own life. Usually I cry at this point.
But the audience reaction was a chuckle. Because the adorable cat started nibbling the hair of the supposedly dead Romeo. I liked to think, however, the cat got upset believing Romeo was really dead on stage! He/she was trying to tell him Juliet was not dead and resuscitate him. Kudos to Romeo and Juliet!
The dancers were Lara Kross and Pedro Seara. Pedoro, who performed Romeo, shared a lovely picture of them on Instagram and said this on 13th June 2026 (His text was in Russian and Brazilian Portuguese and it is auto-translated here):
"It was supposed to be a simple tour of Turkey... And we ended up becoming celebrities because of a cat, who felt touched by the show and went to the stage to try to revive Romeo and Juliet... I would like to thank everyone for their support, affection, admiration and respect! We have no control over the videos that are going viral... But if you can tag us!!! It's being fun being a viral person there!"
So I am right!
Here is another movie clip from a different angle. The cat joined the company to take a bow.
Nobody mentions where the ginger cat came from or the current whereabouts although cat intrusions seem to be quite common in Turkey. If you have any information about the cat, please let me know.
Updated on 15th June 2026 to add the second movie clip and to say the cat's whereabouts is unknown.