The Bard pops up
Pop-up Globe coming to Stratford to perform
Anational theatre company will pop up in Stratford this month for two nights only. The Pop-up Globe will be in town to perform William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night as part of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival lineup.
Pop-up Globe artistic director David Lawrence said the cast are looking forward to performing in Stratford.
“This is a company that loves the play and loves sharing a space with an audience. They will present the play in Jacobean dress, with lavish costumes all handmade by our inhouse wardrobe team in the years before the pandemic closed our Auckland headquarters.”
He said he’s excited the group is a part of the festival.
“As someone who’s spent their adult life performing, directing, teaching, talking, reading and writing about Shakespeare, it’s always seemed a little crazy that I’ve never experienced the Stratford Shakespeare Festival before and it’s been on the bucket list for a long, long time — so I’m happy that the stars have finally aligned on this.”
While the group has been to Taranaki, they’ve never performed in Stratford, said Lawrence.
“We’re very excited to be coming. From the company’s early days, we’ve always talked about visiting Stratford as it makes sense for a theatre company steeped in Shakespeare to have a relationship with a place that shares its name with Shakespeare’s hometown.”
Lawrence said the play is a story covering a range of topics and emotions, including joy, celebration, gratitude and inclusion.
“Twelfth Night is both riotously funny, with several famous comic setpieces and several ludicrous, lovable characters, and profoundly melancholy. It’s a comedy about how we deal with grief. On a practical level, it’s also an ideal Pop-up Globe production because it has great scope for live music, singing, fighting and dancing.”
He said audiences were in for a treat, with a talented line-up of artists taking to the stage in the production.
“The cast features some of the most experienced Shakespearean actors in the country, including Adrian Hooke and Kevin Keys who’ve both clocked up hundreds of Pop-up Globe performances in New Zealand and Australia, Pop-up Globe veterans Natasha Daniel, Kirsty Bruce, Bryony Skillington and Alice Pearce, and more recent company members Bala Murali Shingade, Jehangir Homavazir, Tyler WilsonKokiri, plus the internationally renowned musician Pascal Roggen.”
He said he hoped audiences would enjoy the play.