Actor Orlando Bloom is playing Romeo on Broadway.

The 36-year-old, who went to school in Canterbury 18 years ago, is starring in a mixed-race version of Romeo and Juliet.

It casts the Montague family as white and the Capulets as black.

The play is the first time he has performed on stage since 2007 when he played the part of Steven in David Storey's In Celebration at the Duke of York's Theatre in London.

Juliet is played by Condola Rashad, the New York-born daughter of Phylicia Rashad who was Claire Huxtable in the Cosby Show.

David Leveaux, the British producer of the Shakespeare drama, said: "The two actors I wanted to be together producing sparks just happened to be those two."

Orlando was born at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital and went to St Edmund's School.

He is an honorary patron of the city's Marlowe Theatre and received a honorary doctorate of arts from Kent University in 2010.