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Come and experience Shakespeare's natural world in new, exciting ways.
We explore how ecological performance can be beautiful, engaging and uplifting. We use green theatre tools and dynamic staging in living environments. We also experiment with how to 'bring the outdoors in' through biophilic design scenography in indoor stage spaces.
All productions are carbon neutral. Any production impacts are offset through biodiversity restoration programs managed by First Nations Australian communities. Costumes and props are recycled and/or upcycled. We only use cruelty free materials and products. A portion of every ticket sold goes to increase habitat for Australia’s endangered species.
We are an independent company and need your support. Please get in touch with us if you would like to become a Shakespeare South Patron and receive exclusive offers and performances.
Alys is an actor and researcher specialising in Shakespeare.
She has worked with Shakespeare's Globe, Shakespeare by the Sea, Cambridge Shakespeare Festival, Theatre Royal Stratford East, London Emerge Festival, amongst others (Royal National Theatre Ian Charleson Award Commendation).
Alys trained at AADA and has worked across stage, screen (including for the BBC UKTV, Seven Network and Discovery Channel), voice over (Audible Books) and as a dramaturg (most recently, The State of Grace).
Alys is also an academic at Murdoch University. Books include Shakespeare, Ecology and Adaptation.
Melanie is an actor and writer and has worked extensively across stage and screen.
Stage work includes leading roles for Black Swan State Theatre (WA), Bakehouse Theatre (SA) and Skylight Theatre Company, Los Angeles.
Melanie has appeared numerous screen roles, including for Netflix, HBO, ABC, Seven Network and Nine Network. Films include The Stranger, Awoken, A Second Chance:Rivals!, Little Sparrows, and Terms of Service, for which she was nominated for Best Actressby Maverick Movie Awards, Los Angeles.
Melanie has received several awards for acting including the Best Actress Award (WA TheatreGuild) and Best Actress at the WA Screen Awards.
Shakespeare South was honoured to contribute to Australia’s first National Report into the role that Australian theatre organisations can play in the climate crisis. Led by Dr Tanja Beer, Professor Julian Meyrick, Dr Linda Hassall, Dr Natalie Lazaroo and Jacqui Somerville, 2023.
Shakespeare’s birthday and First
Folio Display
Royal Museums Greenwich,
23 April 2023
8–9 September 2023
Organised by the Royal Museums Greenwich, Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust and the University of Bristol.
28 April 2023Organised by
James Cook University’s Blue Humanities Lab and the Australian National University.
Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare. Coauthored with Professor Paul Prescott (University of Merced), 2023.
Renaissance Studies: Journal of the Ukrainian Shakespeare Centre, 2022.
The Great Bard in the Context of a Pandemic: Shakespeare and/as the Medicine. Shakespeare Institute. Zaporizhzhya National University, Ukraine, September 23–25, 2021.
The Art Itself is Nature: Shakespeare’s Art, Nature, Politics. European Shakespeare Research Association, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, June 3–6, 2021.
Watch
Research Matters: Pedagogies of Creativity, Collaboration, Expertise and Enterprise. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, June 3–4, 2021.
The Artist as Activist: Monash Arts Research Knowledge Translation. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, August 25, 2021.
Globe 4 Globe: Shakespeare and Climate Emergency Symposium. Shakespeare’s Globe, London, May 1–2, 2021.
Watch
“Shakespeare and Climate Change” [Blog]. Four minute read: Shakespeare’s Globe, April 25, 2020
Read
Foreground Magazine, February 28, 2018.
Read
Shakespeare South is a proud member of the global EarthShakes Alliance—a group of Shakespearean organisations, including Shakespeare’s Globe and Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust, that pledge to put ecological practice at the heart of their productions.
Shakespeare South operates on both Kaurna Country and the lands of the Whadjuk and Binjareb Noongar People. We pay our respect to their enduring and dynamic cultures and the leadership of Elders past, present and emerging. We perform on many other unceded lands and extend respect to all the First Nations People who have cared for Country and performed here for over 65,000 years. Always Was, Always Will Be.