Bell Shakespeare Season 2016

CONTENTS
Bell Shakespeare Season 2016 1
Romeo & Juliet
2
Othello3
The Literati
4
Bell Shakespeare Learning
5
Artistic Director Peter Evans Biography
6
Media Enquiries
8
Bell Shakespeare Season 2016
Bell Shakespeare, Australia’s national theatre company dedicated to the sharing the
plays of William Shakespeare and his contemporaries with Australian audiences, has
unveiled it’s 2016 programme, the first under the sole Artistic Directorship of Peter
Evans.
Peter Evans said, “I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working with one of the greatest
Shakespearean minds as Co-Artistic Director for the last 4 years; John Bell. As founder of
Bell Shakespeare his legacy is a tribute to performance of classical texts in Australia. It’s
with much anticipation that I take up the mantle of Artistic Director for Bell Shakespeare,
and all that entails. I look forward to taking audiences of all ages, from all corners of
Australia on a journey through Shakespeare’s timeless world with us.”
The 2016 programme will feature a collection of plays that delve into love, despair and
the foibles of humanity.
Romeo And Juliet will open the year, exploring the violence and heart ache in the
legendary tale of the star-crossed lovers set against a once lavish city. Kelly Paterniti
returns to Bell Shakespeare after 2015’s As You Like It as the wide-eyed ingénue Juliet,
paired with Alex Williams (Underground: The Julian Assange Story, INXS: Never Tear Us
Apart) in the role of Romeo.
Ten years after penning Romeo And Juliet, Shakespeare wrote Othello, a starkly
contrasting play that explores the destructive power of jealousy and whispered rumours.
Othello is a journey of malicious passion, fuelled by one of Shakespeare’s ultimate
villains, the conniving Iago. Starring Ray Nee Chong as Othello (Bell Shakespeare’s
The Dream, MTC’s I Call My Brothers) and Yalin Ozucelik as Iago (Bell Shakespeare’s
Henry IV, STC’s Cyrano de Bergerac), in one of Shakespeare’s most captivating pairings,
this epic tragedy will rage across Australia for Bell Shakespeare’s 2016 National Tour.
After the unbridled fun of 2014’s hilarious and critically acclaimed production of Tartuffe,
Bell Shakespeare will return to the work of Molière - France’s answer to Shakespeare. In
a new partnership, Griffin Theatre Company and Bell Shakespeare will present
The Literati, a new translation of Les Femme Savants by Justin Fleming. Directed by
Griffin’s Artistic Director Lee Lewis and featuring Bell Shakespeare’s Writing Fellow and
frequent collaborator, Kate Mulvany (Tartuffe and Julius Caesar) The Literati will see the
text brought screaming into the 21st century with its cutting satire of the high-brow elite.
Romeo And Juliet and Othello will be accompanied by a free In Conversation with the
director hosting a number of the cast and creative team, offering audiences a peek
behind the curtain for unique and illuminating insights on the productions.
2016 will also herald a renewed commitment to Bell Shakespeare’s learning programmes,
bringing the works to students in classrooms and theatres across the country. A new
team of eight actors will tour the country in the 10 month Actors At Work tour taking
50-minute adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays to students in every state, including
regional and remote communities. Students in Sydney, Melbourne and, for the first time
Perth, will have the opportunity to visit their city’s premier theatres for a restaging of the
2013 and 2014 success, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by James Evans.
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet
Act 2, Scene 2
Bell Shakespeare’s 2016 season will open with one of the greatest love stories ever told,
Romeo And Juliet, directed by Peter Evans.
Romeo And Juliet is the classic tale of forbidden love blooming in the rubble of an
unending battle. A tale of a chance meeting, love at first sight, the passion of youth and
ancient feuds spilling blood.
Peter Evans said, “It’s not an accident that my first programme as Artistic Director for Bell
Shakespeare I chose one of Shakespeare’s most evocative romantic tragedies, Romeo
And Juliet. One of Shakespeare’s greatest virtues is that he allows us to wear our emotion
on our sleeve. He provides us with the timeless poetry that pierces through the silence
of modern manners.”
The star-cross’d lovers will be played by Alex Williams (Underground: The Julian Assange
Story, INXS: Never Tear Us Apart) and Kelly Paterniti (Bell Shakespeare’s As You Like It,
Griffin Theatre Company’s Emerald City) with Michael Gupta, Angie Milliken, Tom Stokes,
Damien Strouthos and Jacob Warner.
Anna Cordingley’s (Bell Shakespeare’s Tartuffe, Macbeth) lavish costumes and set will
reimagine the world of Verona with a distinct nod to a time long past creating a unique,
modern production… with fabulous frocks!
Romeo And Juliet will open in February at Sydney Opera House before touring to Canberra
Theatre Centre and Arts Centre Melbourne
By William Shakespeare
Director Peter Evans
Designer Anna Cordingley
Composer & Sound Designer Kelly Ryall
Fight & Movement Director Nigel Poulton
With Michelle Doake, Michael Gupta, Angie Milliken,
Kelly Paterniti, Hazem Shammas, Tom Stokes, Damien Strouthos,
Jacob Warner, Alex Williams
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
Previews 20 – 23 February
Season 24 February – 27 March
In Conversation with the Director
28 February 1pm – 2pm (free event)
CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
Preview 1 April
Season 2 - 9 April
In Conversation with the Director
Venue: Hotel Hotel
3 April 1pm – 2pm (free event)
ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE
Preview 14 April
Season 15 April – 1 May
In Conversation with the Director
17 April 1pm – 2pm (free event)
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey’d monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on
Act 3 Scene 3
In a devastating exploration of the battle between love and jealousy, Peter Evans will
direct the tragedy of Othello, touring nationally from July 2016.
The triumphant general Othello returns from battle with the gratitude of the state – and
the love of Desdemona - who defies social convention and her father’s will to marry him.
Jealousies around their match and Othello’s rise to prominence simmer to the surface,
causing destructive rifts in a story that piles secret upon secret, and betrayal upon
betrayal.
Othello’s ensign, Iago, harbours a deeply held resentment and the marriage is fatally
undermined by the insinuations of a master manipulator.
Othello is a saga that probes the human capacity for petty jealousies and revenge while
revelling in the sheer wickedness of malicious manipulations.
Starring Ray Chong Nee as Othello (Bell Shakespeare’s The Dream, MTC’s I Call My
Brothers) and Yalin Ozucelik as Iago (Bell Shakespeare’s Henry IV, STC’s Cyrano de
Bergerac) in one of Shakespeare’s most captivating and implosive pairings.
Othello will open in July 2016 at Arts Centre Melbourne and tour to 27 centres nationally.
By William Shakespeare
Director Peter Evans
Designer Michael Hankin
Lighting Designer Paul Jackson
Assistant Director & Fight Director Nigel Poulton
With Ray Chong Nee, Joanna Downing, Alice Keohavong,
James Lugton, Huw McKinnon, Elizabeth Nabben, Yalin Ozucelik,
Michael Wahr
ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE
Preview 12 – 13 July
Season 14 – 23 July
In Conversation with the Director
17 July 1pm – 2pm (free event)
CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE
Preview 14 October
Season 15 – 22 October
In Conversation with the Director
16 October 1pm – 2pm (free event)
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
Previews 25 – 26 October
Season 27 October – 4 December
In Conversation with the Director
30 October 1pm – 2pm (free event)
“Fleming’s adaptation is as sophisticated as it is bracing.
He has ripped into Molière’s original with gusto,
whisking us off on a hysterical journey of rhyming verse”
The Guardian (for Tartuffe)
In an exciting collaboration, Bell Shakespeare and Griffin Theatre Company will join
forces to present the world premiere of The Literati, by Justin Fleming after Molière’s
Les Femmes Savantes.
Juliet and Clinton are in love. Guileless, sweet, all-encompassing love. But love is not
without impediments. Standing in the way of their eternal happiness are Juliet’s mother
and sister, whose disapproval is of the most high-brow kind.
Following Bell Shakespeare’s critically acclaimed 2014 season of Tartuffe, also by
Fleming after Molière, The Literati will see the text placed firmly in modern day Sydney
with linguistic dexterity, wicked wit and ridiculous rhymes.
Skewering haughty pretention in a deliciously satirical fashion, The Literati will be
directed by Griffin Theatre’s Artistic Director Lee Lewis and feature Kate Mulvany (Bell
Shakespeare’s Tartuffe and Julius Caesar)
By Justin Fleming after Molière’s Les Femmes Savantes
Director Lee Lewis
With Kate Mulvany
SBW STABLES THEATRE
27-31 May 1 June Bell Shakespeare Learning
In 2016, learning programmes and activities will continue to be
core
to Bell Shakespeare.
A renewed programme of professional development workshops
and opportunities for teachers in 2016 will see the first Regional
Teacher Mentorship, supported by the Australian Government.
Thirty teachers from regional and remote Australian schools will
travel to Bell Shakespeare’s rehearsal studios in Sydney for a
week of intensive workshops designed to build their skills and
confidence in teaching Shakespeare and address the unique
challenges of teaching Shakespeare in regional and remote
schools. When they return to school they will be mentored by Bell
Shakespeare Arts Educators throughout the year and supported
with programmes such as Actors At Work shows, Artist in
Residence and Student Masterclasses.
High school students in Sydney, Melbourne and, for the first time,
Perth, through a new partnership with University of Western
Australia, will be able to attend the restaging of the critically
acclaimed, in-theatre schools production of A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, directed by James Evans. The production will be
supported online with free digital resources, a live-streamed Q&A
and Professional Learning sessions for teachers.
Two new teams of four actors will join Bell Shakespeare for the
10-month Actors at Work tour, visiting schools in every state of
Australia, including regional and remote communities. Students
will be treated to Such Sweet Sorrow, Hamlet: Out Of Joint
(secondary) and Bottom’s Dream (primary), 50-minute
interpretations of Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s
Dream interspersed with contemporary references and modern
commentary.
School groups will also have access to matinees performances
across all three mainstage shows; Romeo And Juliet, The Literati
and Othello at some of Australia’s premier venues. Students from
regional schools who attend Othello will be offer complimentary
workshops as part of the Regional Access Programme.
Offered in-schools, Student Masterclasses provide a two-hour
primer on one of Shakespeare’s plays, or a general ‘Introduction
to Shakespeare’ class for students tackling Shakespeare for the
first time. The practical, interactive sessions are tailored for each
class and allow Bell Shakespeare artists to guide students
through the original text to understand the plays from the inside
out.
The Artist in Residence programme sees Bell Shakespeare
educators spend up to 2 weeks in a school or community
conducting a tailored programme of workshops and activities,
developed in consultation with the school. Residencies take
place across Australia from capital cities to regional and remote
schools.
Bell Shakespeare Learning is one of Australia’s most extensive,
comprehensive and wide-reaching education programmes. Over
one million Australian schoolchildren have seen a Bell
Shakespeare production, since the Company was founded.
Artistic Director Peter Evans
To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be
false to any man.
Hamlet
In 2016 Peter Evans ascends as only the second Artistic Director of Bell Shakespeare in
26 years, after sharing the role of Co-Artistic Director with John Bell since 2012. An
enthusiastic classicist, he was the first person to share the Artistic Director title and
duties since the company was founded in 1990, and was handpicked by Bell to co-lead
Australia’s foremost Shakespearean and classical theatre company.
Evans began his career directing at the University of Auckland, before moving to Australia
to study at Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). At the young age of 25, Bell
invited Evans to assist Steven Berkoff, the legendary English director, writer and actor,
who was about to direct Bell in Coriolanus in 1996. Subsequently Evans was asked to
direct Macbeth for Bell Shakespeare’s first regional tour in 1997, which aided in
establishing the Company’s national ambitions.
While studying at NIDA, Evans worked at Sydney’s Belvoir Street Theatre with Neil
Armfield on The Tempest and The Blind Giant Is Dancing. Later he assisted Wayne Harrison
on the world premiere of David Williamson’s The Heretic at the Sydney Opera House.
Moving to Melbourne in the late 1990s, Evans worked as a freelance director for Bell
Shakespeare (Two Gentleman of Verona, The Tempest), Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre
(Yellow Wall Paper) and the Queensland Theatre Company (The Daylight Atheist). He then
spent four years as Associate Director at Melbourne Theatre Company and directed
Clybourne Park, A Behanding in Spokane, Life Without Me, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, The Ugly
One, God of Carnage, Savage River (co-production with Griffin Theatre Company) Realism,
The Hypocrite, Blackbird, Don Juan in Soho, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The History
Boys, Don’s Party, The Give and Take, Dumbshow, and The Daylight Atheist.
Peter’s directing credits also include Pygmalion, The Grenade, The Great, Fat Pig, and The
Give and Take (Sydney Theatre Company); Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are
Dead, King Lear, Copenhagen, Proof, Muldoon, and The Christian Brothers (New Zealand’s
Court Theatre), Jesus Hopped the A Train (Red Stitch Actors Theatre); A Poor Student for
the Store Room (Malthouse Theatre); Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Theatre Jamb at the
Bondi Pavilion); Kiss of the Spiderwoman (Theatre Adami at the Stables) and The Dumb
Waiter (Studio Company at Belvoir St Theatre).
In 2010, Evans returned to Bell Shakespeare and has since directed new versions of
Julius Caesar (2011), Macbeth (2012), Phèdre (2013), The Dream (2014), Tarfuffe (2014) and
As You Like It (2015).
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
For all media enquiries, including interviews and images, please contact:
Jane Davis
National Publicist
P: 02 8298 9063
M: 0411 562 131
E: [email protected]
Find Bell Shakespeare online:
www.bellshakespeare.com.au
BellShakespeareCo
@bellshakespeare
bellshakespeare
Bell Shakespeare
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supported by the NSW
Government through
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Bell Shakespeare is
assisted by the Australian
Government through the
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funding and advisory body.
Supported by the Australian Government
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the following trusts and
foundations for their
support, which enables us
to make a genuine impact
across the country.
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Foundation
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Foundation
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