ARTS EVENT FLOURISHES IN OTWAYS

AN arts series has branched out from Shakespeare to expand its offering in a return season this November.

Formerly known as Shakespeare in the Otways, the trilogy is now called Live in the Otways to reflect the wider variety of performances.

Produced by Otway Country to Coast Tourism Association, the series will feature three live performances at prominent locations within the region.

First in the trilogy is the dark and exquisitely crafted Chronicles of a Sleepless Moon to be performed under the stars at the Cape Otway Lightstation.

Presented by Melbourne’s own purveyors of junkyard theatre Suitcase Royale, this will be a tale of dastardly deeds and unfathomable adventure.

The theatrical performance will be followed by the live band Royale Riot, who will finish the evening with a range of bent and broken rockabilly tunes.

William Shakespeare’s classic Twelfth Night will return a fortnight later at the Otway Fly. Presented by the acclaimed Essential Theatre, best known for Shakespeare in the Vines, Twelfth Night is a classic reinterpreted for modern audiences through a high-spirited comedy.

Former concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Wilma Smith, and four of her colleagues perform a purely classical program titled Ludwig’s Legacy at Otway Estate.

The event was conceived in response to the economic downturn resulting from the Wye River bushfire on Christmas Day, 2015.