Heard of the Globe Theatre in London? It was built way back in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company and owned by the actors. After the Globe Theatre was destroyed by fire in 1613, then a second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed by an Ordinance issued in September 1642.
Anyway, international theatre consultant Dr Miles Gregory (his PhD is in Shakespeare in performance) envisioned a new type of theatre experience: a temporary, full-scale working replica of the second Globe Theatre, complete with its own professional theatre company, offering the public the opportunity to experience the magic of Shakespeare’s masterworks staged in the space for which they were originally written and performed. And so he created his vision...
Pop-up Globe is a three-story, 16-sided, 900-person capacity theatre. It unites cutting-edge scaffold technology with a 400-year-old design to transport audiences back in time.
The first Pop-up Globe was constructed in New Zealand in 2016, just in time for the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Pop-up Globe has become one of the most popular new theatres ever, drawing audiences of more than 450,000 people in the first two years including more than 150,000 attendances at its critically-acclaimed season in Melbourne earlier this year.
And it was announced today Pop-up Globe will be popping up in Sydney later this year.
Pop-up Globe, will team up again with the world’s leading live entertainment company, Live Nation, to present a festival of critically-acclaimed Shakespeare productions unlike any Sydney has ever seen.
Dr Gregory says he believes Shakespeare’s work performed in the space it is written for is a completely unique and transformative experience.
“This isn’t dusty Shakespeare. This is now. Alive. Like a party,” says Gregory. “It is bawdy, hilarious, brutal and blood-soaked.”
For its Sydney season, Pop-up Globe will bring with it a travelling festival of critically-acclaimed productions, which will be announced in the coming weeks along with other details.
