Shakespeare at the Showgrounds

Whether you prefer the dramatic impact of tragedies like Romeo & Juliet or Othello, or Shakespeare’s hilarious comedies, like A Midsummer's Night Dream or As You like it , The Winter's Tale has it all. This tale of love, loss and redemption, starts as a compelling psychological drama, before exploding into a joyous romantic comedy in the second half.

King Leontes, tortured with jealous imaginings about his loving wife, Hermione, destroys his family in crazed nihilistic violence. But after Winter comes the Spring, and 16 years later, the lost Princess is found and in Shakespeare’s most extraordinary coup de théâtre, an enthralling moment of magical realism will leave audiences profoundly affected.

In affiliation with UNE and produced by Empty Space Productions, this bold re-imagining of The Winter’s Tale, will envelop the audience in a visceral experience of soundscape, immersive audio-visual, live music and stunning image-making.

With a majority of the cast, crew and creatives being associated with UNE, this production is an excellent example of how theatre, and the arts as a whole, can bring together a diverse bunch of people from across the community to create something spectacular, thought-provoking and relevant to the modern-day audience.

So, what can you look forward to?

Spectacular Speech

Under the direction of Dr Julie Shearer (Theatre lecturer and professional theatre maker with companies such as Bell Shakespeare, Grin & Tonic, QTC), the actors have undergone extensive rehearsals with the text to unpack Shakespeare’s remarkable language, learning to speak the verse not only for its clarity and beauty, but also to listen for the acting instructions Shakespeare has encoded within the rhythm and structure. William Shakespeare is undoubtedly the most significant dramatist in the English language, and once an actor learns to understand and use the verse to power the drama, his plays come alive for an audience in extraordinary ways.

Contemporary Choreography

Throughout the New England, Melissa Killen is renowned for her exceptional choreography that shapes the narrative and propels the story. Some of her choreography credits include School of Rock (OCC), Spring Awakening (Little Fish Entertainment), and Legally Blonde (ADMS). This production showcases tastes of the Argentinean tango, contemporary, lyrical jazz, and cabaret.

Marvellous Music

From Pop, Punk, Folk and Balkan melodies to conceptual composition, this reimagining touches today's audiences with its covers of Vance Joy and Florence + the Machines songs that fit seamlessly into the plot to excite your senses and move your emotions.

Videos by Grace Bowman

Astonishing Audio-Visual

Utilising some of UNE Media's state-of-the-art facilities in the ICT building, the production team have been able to capture some great audio-visual aspects that will allow for a heightened and immersive projection element in the space.

UNE People

Almost all of the cast, crew and creatives are affiliated with UNE, let's meet some of them!

Julie Shearer

Director

Dr. Julie Shearer is the coordinator of the Theatre and Performance courses at UNE and is a passionate, innovative educator with extensive experience in theatre pedagogy and creative practice drawn from her career as a professional actor and theatre-maker. As an alumna of QUT and Trinity College, Dublin, she has performed with Queensland Theatre, Bell Shakespeare, Grin & Tonic and has TV credits including Home and Away.

Julie emphasises that "Shakespeare should never be boring. You will understand every word. The story will be crystal clear. You will be gripped in the magical spectacle of the play."

"You're not going to see anything like this again. This is a massive undertaking. A full-length Shakespeare with all the whistles and bells is something that regional audiences don't get to see very often," she says.

Want to hear more about Julie's experience with Shakespeare and her creative vision for this production?

Stu Lumsden

'Leontes'

Based in Brisbane, Stu is a professional actor, a NIDA graduate and a current UNE Master of Theatre & Performance student who just completed his dissertation focusing on practice-led research and is due to graduate in December. Stuart has played major theatre roles in The Boys, The Actor’s Nightmare, Fiddler on The Roof, Macbeth, and Waiting for Godot as well as recently appearing as 'Kyle Price' in the feature-length film, You, Me and the Penguins. His directing credits include Cosi (2012), The Pajama Game (2014),
both GCLT and Mr Kolpert (Soapbox Theatre, HOTA 2013). He currently teaches at the New York Film Academy, where he trains students in screen acting. Stu has come to Armidale for a stint just to be a part of this production!

Lisa Goldzieher

'Hermione'

Lisa is an actor, director and producer who has studied at both VCA and UNE. She is also a Student Engagement Project Officer at UNE. In 2015, Lisa was invited by John Bell to undertake a directing internship at Bell Shakespeare for his final production for the company, The Tempest. As an actor, Lisa has played major theatre roles in The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and A Doll's House as well as been a co-collaborator and actor/performer in several independent new Australian works. In 2022, Lisa started the production company, Empty Space Productions, to create opportunities for NSW regional artists to develop their creative ideas and to perform their work in front of live audiences. Lisa is passionate about making thought-provoking theatre and performance that re-centre community and challenge dominant social narratives.

Jesse Donaldson- Jarrett

'Florizell'

Jesse studied acting and directing through the UNE Bachelor of Theatre and Performance and graduated from NIDA with a Diploma of Musical Theatre in 2021. As an actor, Jesse has featured in roles such as ‘Georg Zirchnitz’ in Little Fish Productions' 2020 season of Spring Awakening: the Musical, and has debuted roles in new independent theatre and film works in Sydney. Most recently Jesse has featured in a short independent film titled Under the Southern Cross as the ‘Spiked Devil,’ and the role of ‘Doug’ in The Knack Theatre’s production of The Way We Get By. He's very excited to finally perform in a full-scale Shakespeare with such a stellar team and has come back to Armidale solely to play Florizell.

Melissa Hawthorne

'Perdita'

Melissa is a third-year Bachelor of Education majoring in German and English. Her acting credits include 'Marianne' in Constellations (UNE) and 'Karen' and 'Shirley' in Fools for Love (Empty Space Productions). As English is her second language, Melissa is tackling Shakespeare brilliantly!

Brendan Passey

Musical Director

Studying a Bachelor of Computer Science at UNE, Brendan is also a successful musician and audio engineer who has been in some well-known bands throughout the district, like the Fovdlings. Brendan's musical expertise is being fully utilised as the musical director for this production, bringing songs like 'Looking at me like that' and 'Hurricane Drunk' to life.

Craig Johnson

'Antigonus'

From soil science to Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale is Craig Johnson's first time on stage. As the Senior Technical Officer in Agronomy & Soil Science at UNE, Craig highlights how the arts can be for everyone as he also plays in the band The Rocky Bottom Girls.

Photos above by Nathan Mark @ozeyeview

Love

Loss

Redemption

Shakespeare's Speaks to Today

When played with a posh British accent and Elizabethan costuming, Shakespeare's plays could seem a far stretch to relate to a modern audience. However, with the help of some good direction and wonderful actors, the power of Shakespeare lies in his ability to reflect timeless human emotions, experiences, and ideologies that challenge audiences in any period of time.

Julie's creative vision for The Winter's Tale is simple: How does this play speak to the world now?

"This play features a terrible tragedy within a marriage. This kind of family violence is something that is very pertinent to us. It is not an old theme, it is a theme that screams to us out of the headlines," she says.

"As a human, I am fascinated whether it is possible or not to be redeemed?"

"We consider how and under what conditions we can find human redemption in those circumstances.”

"For me, this play is even more pertinent when you think about it in the Australian context. I think our Indigenous brothers and sisters hold out their hand, like Hermione does, and say 'Own it- what we ask you for is the capacity to move forward together.'"

This thought-provoking piece of theatre invites audiences to reflect on their own values and beliefs whilst simultaneously providing a sense of hope and renewal.

Photo by Cal Hunter

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Photo by Nathan Mark

Interested in helping out?

Empty Space Productions has also set up a tax-deductible fundraiser through the Australian Cultural Fund: Artist Project: The Winter's Tale in order to help raise money to fund this community project.

All donations will be used towards realising this large-scale production including staging, sets, costumes, technical equipment and seating that will need to be installed in The Pavilion building at the Armidale Showground.

Every single dollar you donate is tax deductible!

Donate Here