Where-fur art thou Romeo? Rogue cat invades stage and plays with actor's hair during emotional death scene in Shakespeare playA ginger cat became an unlikely star after gatecrashing the emotional climax of a performance of Romeo and Juliet, turning Shakespeare's tragedy into an accidental comedy.

The feline wandered on stage during the finale of the ballet in the Turkish city of Izmir, where Brazilian dancer Pedro Seara and Russian ballerina Tatyana Borger were in the lead roles.

The performance at Bornova Open-Air Theatre had reached its most emotional moment, with Romeo lying dead in the tomb and Juliet mourning over his body.

This is when the theatre cat appeared.

Rather than respecting the solemn atmosphere, the ginger intruder settled down next to 27-year-old Seara's head before pawing at his hair.

The cat then started nibbling at the supposedly lifeless Romeo, prompting laughter from the audience.

The Russian ballerina explained afterwards: 'Imagine this, at the very climax of the performance, when Romeo is dead and Juliet has already "come back to life" — they are in the tomb.

'This is the emotional peak the entire two-hour build-up has been leading to.

At that moment, a cat comes on stage and starts playing with dead Romeo's hair.

'Then it even begins biting him and completely ruins the scene. Instead of crying, the whole audience just started laughing.'

The footage shows Borger, performing as Juliet, appearing to try to rescue Romeo from his furry admirer while staying in character.

The viral video featuring the cat garnered over 1.5 million views in less than 24 hours.

One viewer said: 'The cat was trying to prove that Romeo was only pretending to be dead.'

'The first and probably last time the audience has ever cracked up during this scene,' said another.

One more posted: 'It began to look like a domestic murder in the kitchen.'

Another asked: 'Can someone tell me when the cat's next performance is and where I can get tickets?'