AS YOU LIKE IT, MEASURE FOR MEASURE, and MACKENZIE Set For Bell Shakespeare's 2027 Season

Bell Shakespeare has announced its 2027 Season, with three productions to be presented around the country. A contemporary staging of As You Like It will start the year, followed by a dark and dangerous production of Measure for Measure, and an extensive national tour of Yve Blake's critically acclaimed play Mackenzie.

As You Like It 

Opening the season in March, Shakespeare's joyous romantic comedy As You Like It is reimagined by Marion Potts (Henry 5, Doubt) for a camera-ready, reality TV era. Banished from court, Rosalind, played by Matilda Ridgway (Macbeth, Coriolanus), disguises herself as a boy and flees to the Forest of Arden with her cousin Celia, where she encounters Orlando, the man she loves. Potts explores how in the forest the characters' artificiality and hyper-performed gender roles are stripped away to reveal their truer selves.

Measure for Measure

Shakespeare's razor-sharp drama Measure for Measure is presented by the company for the first time in over 20 years as a raw 90-minute production that cuts straight to the play's dark heart. Overwhelmed by Vienna's growing corruption, the Duke steps aside, handing authority to his second-in-command, Angelo, who sets about enforcing long-dormant morality laws. When Claudio's fiancée becomes pregnant, Angelo swiftly sentences him to death. Claudio's sister Isabella, played by Rose Riley (Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet), makes an impassioned plea for her brother's life, and Angelo offers her a choice in return: he will release her brother if she will sleep with him. Director Saro Lusty-Cavallari highlights the contemporary resonances of the play, with a society gripped by rising puritanism, abuses of power, hypocrisy and temptation.

Mackenzie

Yve Blake's hit play Mackenzie returns for an extensive national tour following its sold out world premiere run in Sydney and Melbourne this year. A hilarious, twisted, and deeply camp reimagining of Shakespeare's Macbeth, the production recasts Macbeth as a 13-year-old child star in the heights of early 2000s TV stardom and Lady Macbeth as her ruthlessly ambitious stage mum. Directed by Virginia Gay, and featuring four original songs by Blake, Mackenzie will tour to Capital Cities and regional centres across the country.

Bell Shakespeare Artistic Director Peter Evans said: 'Welcome to Season 2027: a season centred on gender, power and corruption, delivered with delight, absurdity and profundity. Marion Potts applies her insight to As You Like It, for a production that promises to reflect our media-savvy, image-conscious times. Meanwhile, Saro Lusty-Cavallari has created a finely edited and focused version of Measure for Measure, a play scholars sometimes refer to as a 'problem play', but I think it shows Shakespeare at the top of his game. It feels extremely contemporary in its portrait of a corrupt city, its extraordinary scenes of sexual harassment and abuses of power. Finally, I am beyond thrilled with the success of Mackenzie, and can't wait to take it to audiences all across the country. Shakespeare's ability to find himself amongst our contemporary concerns is demonstrated again with these three remarkable works. I look forward to seeing audiences in the theatre.'

Alongside this mainstage programming, Bell Shakespeare will present their extensive national outreach and education program in schools, communities and Juvenile Justice centres across Australia.