'Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou horizontal?': Stray orange cat interrupts Turkish purrformance of Romeo & Juliet, and steals the show

Blake Seidel • Managing Editor & Brand Manager

Jun 15, 2026 12:45 PM EDT

We always say the one thing that could make every purrformance better is a cat, but this ballet performance of Romeo & Juliet in Turkey actually got one.

Turkey has the most wonderful relationship with its country's cats. It's the ultimate destination for cat lovers (and for hair transplants, but that's a different story). The citizens there love and care for the stray cats, and there are even lots of laws protecting them. Community animals in Turkey cannot be captured or put down, they must be fed, sterilized, and then returned to their neighborhoods. They're a part of the citizens' lives, and it's not abnormal for them to randomly join into the hoomans' activities, but one stray orange cat decided that it was his turn in the limelight.

Whether by accident or on purrpose, the little orange stray found himself on stage during a ballet purrformance of Romeo & Juliet. The dancers, unphased, continued on with the purrformance as if nothing was there, which is not something we could do if a cat was trying to eat our hair while we were resting on stage.

Some argue that the brain cell-less kitty interrupted the purrformance, but we think he enhanced it. If you think about it, there were probably lots of stray cats during that time period, so it seems more historically accurate that a cat would wander up to a poisoned Romeo, and loaf on him while he was still warm.

One thing is fur sure, though, is that this cat stole the show. The video of his star purrformance is going viral on X right now thanks to @Yoda4ever 's post depicting the whole thing. Purrhaps this is the key to getting more people into ballet performances nowadays, simply add cats and see how the audience and dancers react. We might be on to something!

See all the discourse below about this surprise star on the rise, and how the internet is reacting to his purrfect performance!

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via @Yoda4ever
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via @Yoda4ever
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via @kokiimichii
You probably didn't know this, but before we became I Can Has Cheezburger expurrts, we had a career as a pawfessional dancer (for 13 years). We started in ballet companies (shoutout to Charlottesville Ballet!), and althought we never actually purrformed Romeo & Juliet, we did have our fair share of dramatic ballet moments on stage. None involved a cat, though, which is a shame. Maybe if there had been a cat, we might have stayed longer!
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via @Yoda4ever
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via @DarthCaul
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via @Yoda4ever
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via @boneless_bones7
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via @Yoda4ever
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via @SangoMwesigwa
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via @Yoda4ever
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via @BlessethWeb314
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via @Yoda4ever
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via @rebeccajkey
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via @Yoda4ever
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via @Ososweetswede
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via @Yoda4ever
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via @Yoda4ever
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via @ktkm
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via @AA_Fighting4U
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via @ryubamii
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via @AlongKumar1
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via @Yoda4ever
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via @curious_X
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via @TCus2408
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via @firstHat
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via @ZulmaFerme
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via @Adino1298824
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via @Yoda4ever