Shakespeare Republic featured in NFSA official collection
Actor, Michala Banas surrounded by the crew during filming of Season Two of Shakespeare Republic on location. Photo by Billy Smedley. We are absolutely thrilled to share that we have been included in the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia curated showcase of Australia’s Best Online & Web Series, entitled Zombies, Puppets & Shakespeare! Seasons One & Two of Shakespeare Republic were invited to be part of the official NFSA collection in 2018 and they have chosen to feature Michala Banas’ wonderful portrayal of “Phebe” (As You Like It) from Season One in this new showcase of web series from around Australia – available to view now on their…
Sally McLean talks all things Shakespeare and Republic on the Bard Brunch podcast out of NYC
Sally McLean was delighted to be invited onto the Bard Brunch podcast, broadcasting internationally out of New York City on Sunday, January 17, 2021 – chatting with host, Genny Yosco, about all things Shakespeare Republic. Just click on the video above to hear her full interview! More news coming soon, so … stay tuned! 😉 The Republic team
Republic creator/director interviewed on ABC Radio about latest season of the series
Sally McLean was delighted to be invited onto Saturday Afternoon on ABC Radio, broadcasting nationally out of Melbourne on Saturday, December 12th, 2020 – chatting with host, the fabulous Shelley Ware, about all things Shakespeare Republic. Just click on the video above to hear her full interview! More news coming soon, so … stay tuned! 😉 The Republic team
Four awards, twelve official selections and over 70,000 views – Shakespeare Republic #AllTheWebsAStage update
Since we began broadcasting the new stand-alone season of Shakespeare Republic back in August, things have been going from strength to strength with the series. Shakespeare Republic: #AllTheWebsAStage (The Lockdown Chronicles) has now released 23 of it’s 24 episodes, featuring actors from all over the world, exploring Shakespeare’s characters in lockdown, all using Shakespeare’s original monologues and soliloquies. The new season has been officially selected for twelve international film festivals and webfests to date, including New York City Web Fest, Sydney Web Fest, Cinema Jove, Near Nazareth Film Festival and the Nightpiece International Film Festival. It has now won four awards to date, including Best International Series and Best Director…
The experiment continues … #Shakespeare Republic – the global edition
In what is now a tradition on the eve before the premiere of a new season, Shakespeare Republic Creator/Director, Sally McLean, reflects on the past four months and how she came to be directing a “surprise” edition of her critically acclaimed web series during a global pandemic while in lockdown. The pandemic that has the globe in it’s clutches right now has given us all a new sense of weird. When it first began, responses ranged from blithe dismissal to low-level anxiety. We distracted ourselves with baking (sourdough apparently a favourite), learning the limitations of Zoom, divesting supermarket shelves of toilet paper and reassuring ourselves that restrictions would only be…
Our new series “Dark Arcadia” is an ACF BOOST Funding recipient!
We have the exciting announcement that we are one of the lucky recipients of the 2020 Australian Cultural Fund BOOST Grant Program! Selected from all art forms across Australia in a highly competitive funding round, we are one of 22 independent artists, small groups and art organisations selected to receive this funding boost from the Australian Government for our new mini web series Dark Arcadia. So, how does this work? We are now running a crowdfunding campaign throughout May via the ACF, with the aim to raise $3,500 in donations. If we are successful in reaching our target, the Australian Federal Government, via Creative Partnerships Australia will match that amount, dollar-for-dollar, in the form of a grant to go towards…
New special season of Shakespeare Republic has launched! #AllTheWebsAStage #TheLockdownEdition
On the final day of this anniversary week for the Republic, which culminated with a Republic history-making first – our first livestream launch for the series (see video above) – Republic Creator/Director, Sally McLean, muses on the journey so far … When I first had the idea for Shakespeare Republic, many moons ago just after I finished working for the BBC in London in the late 1990’s, little did I know what it would grow to become – once I found the courage and means to make it a reality. Fast forward to five years ago, after a round of phone calls to a few of my favourite actors in…
Shakespeare Republic featured in new academic textbook to be published by Routledge
Shakespeare Republic is the subject of an entire chapter written by Republic Creator/Director, Sally McLean, for the forthcoming academic textbook Playfulness in Shakespearean Adaptations, due for publication globally by Routledge this July! Sally was approached by the fabulous editors of the book (Marina & Aidan – shout out to both of you!) and invited to submit an abstract (essentially an academic pitch document) for consideration in early 2018, and her chapter was subsequently given the green light for inclusion. After several drafts (huge thanks to Dr Steinar Ellingsen for his expert guidance at the beginning of this process!) and a round of editing suggestions from Marina and Aidan, the final chapter…
Shakespeare Republic Season Two finishes its festival run, plus … our next project looms for 2020 …
Eva Torkkola with Sally McLean & Billy Smedley at the 2019 Sydney WebFest Awards Night It has been a busy, crazy year for the Republic team and we have sadly neglected this blog as a result, for which we apologise! That said, if you are a subscriber to our newsletter, you will have been getting regular updates and if you have been following our social media, you’ll be pretty much fully in the loop. But for those who aren’t doing those two things, then here’s a quick recap of the past six months to round out 2019 … MELBOURNE WEBFEST 2019 Above: Kate Whitbread, Mike Cowap, Ron Brown, Sally McLean and Clayton…
#OzflixLovesTheBard! New competition in conjunction with Mr Moto & Ozflix!
Competition Time! To celebrate Shakespeare Republic streaming exclusively on Ozflix and being in development for Season Three, our fabulous Marketing sponsor, Mr Moto (Print & Distribution, Digital Screen Event Advertising) is helping us spread the word around #Melbourne with an awesome postcard and digital screen promotion in over 70 locations around town (and beyond!). And you get to be part of the fun! Here’s how … Simply #SnapASelfie with one of our snazzy postcards around Melbourne (be as creative as you like!); OR #SnapASelfie with our ad as it plays on one of Mr Moto’s digital screens found in over 70 locations; THEN Upload your selfie to your socials on…
NEW DATES: Playing The Bard: Shakespeare In Performance returns to Howard Fine Acting Studio!
“Playing The Bard” will now be running at Howard Fine Acting Studio Australia from Tuesday May 21 until June 25, and we’re excited to get back into the work! Shakespeare Republic Creator/Director, Sally McLean is bringing back her own unique take on the Bard and the technique she uses when working with her award-winning Republic cast, for another six week course that will help actors truly make Shakespeare’s words their own! “Sally’s knowledge of Elizabethan times as well as Shakespeare’s works was out of this world.” HEATHER ALLARDYCE (Actor) This six week course will enable actors to delve deep into Shakespeare’s text, create place and embody character, bringing Shakespeare’s words truly to…
Shakespeare Republic acquired by National Film & Sound Archive!
March has turned out to be a wonderful and busy month for the Republic! We are delighted to announce that the entire Shakespeare Republic series (both Seasons One & Two) is now part of the official collection at the NFSA (National Film & Sound Archive) of Australia! As part of their remit to “collect and preserve significant Australian audiovisual productions”, we received a request from them to lodge the series in their archives for posterity early last year. As of this week, copies of all episodes produced to date, plus scripts, stills, behind the scenes footage and more are now catalogued and secure in their archives and on record for as long…
Latest Shakespeare Republic press, Sally’s new work with Shakespeare and yes, we’re doing Season Three! #Shakespeare #filmmaking
Happy Friday! Things don’t seem to be slowing down around here, but that won’t stop us from doing this final update this week to get you up to speed about what’s been happening over the past couple of months! So let’s get to it! PRESS COVERAGE ROUND UP We’ve had some lovely press coverage about our work with Shakespeare Republic and our Creator, Sally McLean over the last couple of months and here’s a quick list of some of the bigger stuff in case you missed the links on social media: How Do You Do You? Sally McLean – November 2018 In depth interview on podcast “How Do You Do…
It takes a village – latest news from the Shakespeare Republic trenches and appreciation post for the web series community #Shakespeare #webseries #filmmaking
Happy December! It’s been an extraordinary year and we’d like to thank everyone for continuing to support the Republic as beautifully as you have. Knowing such support is out there for the work keeps our energy levels up and the engines firing for the next leg of the project and we are very grateful to all of you. Today, we are in a rather reflective mood and filled to the brim with affection and appreciation for the community we are so proud to be a part of. We have so much news to share, that we’ve decided to do a series of updates this week to fill you all in…
Part 5: La La Land – New York, North Carolina & LA in twelve days … the USA adventure that was … #LosAngeles #SupportIndieFilm #usa #Shakespeare
And so, we finally come to the last instalment of our epic USA tour. Five flights down, we finally landed in LA once more for the last few days of our time in America, all ready for some R&R. Little did we know there was one last bit of excitement to come … from Rio! What an epic month November was! Republic members Sally McLean and Billy Smedley had the great pleasure of travelling around America for the Republic in the lead up to Thanksgiving, as you may have seen from our social media updates, and so we’re giving you a quick round-up of everything that happened, because it was…
Part 4: Peak City International Film Festival – New York, North Carolina & LA in twelve days … the USA adventure that was … #PCIFF #SupportIndieFilm #usa #Shakespeare
Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a fantastic break over the Christmas/New Year period and are coming into 2018 raring to go! We’ve had some wonderful news over the holiday period, with another official selection for Speaking Daggers and Shakespeare Republic and some big plans for Season Three of the Republic being formed. But before we get onto all that, we need to cover the last two legs of our epic USA tour in November, so here’s Part 4 … North Carolina and the Peak City International Film Festival! What an epic month November was! Republic members Sally McLean and Billy Smedley had the great pleasure of travelling around…
Part 3: New York, North Carolina & LA in twelve days … the USA adventure that was … #CINE #Award #digitalseries #usa #Shakespeare
Today’s update covers the catalyst for us heading over to the USA last month … the CINE Celebrates ceremony in New York, where we were honoured to accept the award for Best Digital Series at the 60th CINE Golden Eagle Awards, alongside fellow winners, the Christian Slater series Mr Robot, National Geographic Channel’s MARS, Variety’s Actors On Actors and many more. Read on for all the fun from the media wall and event on November 17th … What an epic month November has been! Republic members Sally McLean and Billy Smedley have been travelling around America these past two weeks for the Republic, as you may have seen from our social media…
New York, North Carolina & LA in twelve days … the USA adventure that was … Part Two #CINE #Award #friends #digitalseries #usa #Shakespeare
What an epic month November has been! Republic members Sally McLean and Billy Smedley have been travelling around America these past two weeks for the Republic, as you may have seen from our social media updates, and now that the jetlag has worn off somewhat, we thought we should do a quick round-up because it’s been an action-packed trip and we want to share it with you as much as possible! So here’s Part Two of the Republic’s USA trip, straight from Creator/Director, Sally McLean … After the fantastic introduction to NYC at the NYC WebFest, we were straight into catching up with friends and colleagues based in New York,…
Shakespeare Republic meets The Pepper Project … in New York! #video #chat #carisandsally #femaledirectors #womeninfilm
We will be continuing our written diary updates from our USA trip shortly, but today we wanted to share this fun, short video from our time in New York, where Republic creator/director, Sally McLean, managed to finally meet The Pepper Project creator/director, Caris Vujcec, after months of emailing and facebooking – and it was like they’d known each other for years! This friendship that has sprung up from working in the digital sphere is testament to the wonderful collaborative nature of the web series world and the kind of support and appreciation so many of the creators on the circuit have for each other. We’d like to thank Caris for…
New York, North Carolina & LA in twelve days … the USA adventure that was … Part One @NYCWebFest #webfest #digitalseries #usa #Shakespeare
What an epic month November has been! Republic members Sally McLean and Billy Smedley have been travelling around America these past two weeks for the Republic, as you may have seen from our social media updates, and now that the jetlag has worn off somewhat, we thought we should do a quick round-up because it’s been an action-packed trip and we want to share it with you as much as possible! So here’s a quick look at the Republic’s USA trip, straight from Creator/Director, Sally McLean … After three flights – Melbourne > Auckland > Los Angeles > New York – we landed in New York at 1am on Saturday…
The Story of Shakespeare Republic … so far … #shakespeare #digitalseries #webseries
With the Celtic New Year (otherwise known as Halloween) having just passed, we wanted to take a moment to reflect and acknowledge what an incredible year we have had here at Shakespeare Republic … actually, an incredible two and a half years, to be exact. HOW IT ALL BEGAN … When Republic creator, Sally McLean had the brainwave back in December 2014 to take her love of Shakespeare and her interest in the burgeoning world of web series and combine the two, little did she know where that would lead. A few phone calls later and she found herself at the helm of what she still fondly calls “The Experiment”.…
Two more official selections for Shakespeare Republic: #LoveTheBard! #Shakespeare #WebSeries
So absolutely delighted to announce that Season Two has been officially selected for the Portugal International Film Festival in their Web Series Category! Huge thanks to Jose and the Jury for including us! The Bard now heads to Portugal in September! Dziękuję Portugalię! Niech żyje Bard! We are delighted to announce that Shakespeare Republic: #LoveTheBard (Season Two) has also been officially selected for the 2017 International Online Web Fest! Long Live The Bard! And finally, we have released a taste of our behind the scenes footage from Season Two of Shakespeare Republic, soon to be released as a full documentary. Interviews with cast and crew will be shot in the coming months…
#CINEGoldenEagleAward & #AustinWebFest wins, festival announcements & more! It’s all go at the Republic! #shakespeare #webseries
What a month we’ve just had!! So much has been going on here at the Republic and we have plenty of news to share! June saw Season Two officially selected for three more festivals – Baja WebFest (Mexico), Miami Web Fest (USA) and Tuscany WebFest (Italy) (who selected us from the official selections at Austin WebFest, which made us an “invited” series, which was awesome!). June 30-July 2 also saw us screen at Melbourne WebFest as an official selection and nominee for Best Australian Drama. We love this festival, not just because it’s in our home town! Not only is Melbourne Web Fest in our home town, but it also is…
Focus on Friends of the Republic: Howard Fine Acting Studio Australia #acting #training #friends
The work we do with Shakespeare Republic would not be possible without the support of a huge number of individuals and people in the wider community giving their support. From donating to our crowdfunding campaigns to sponsoring to just giving a helping hand when needed. With this in mind, we’d like to show our support for some of the businesses in particular who have so generously supported us in this journey so far, beginning with the fabulous Howard Fine Acting Studio in Melbourne. One of the questions we are asked again and again is “how do you select the actors you work with?”. The answer to that is pretty straightforward.…
Alan Fletcher as a Silver Fox – S2E8 “Making Of” featuring Alan Fletcher & Nadine Garner #ShakespeareSunday #WebSeries
Come behind the scenes of Alan Fletcher’s episode as Jaques to see what happens on our only Sunday shoot (hint, we’re a little hysterical), how much fun a smoke machine is on set, how awesome both Alan Fletcher and Nadine Garner are to work with (as well as all our other cast and crew) and the emotional psychology behind the choices of some of the shots from Director, Sally McLean. Featuring Alan Fletcher, Nadine Garner, Falon Ryan, Billy Smedley, Jahran Schansemma and Troy Malcolm (Cast), Sally McLean, Shane Savage, Shaun Herbertson, Tim McCormick, Cassie de Colling, Jo Fletcher and Marg Woodlock-McLean (Crew). Filmed at The Courthouse Hotel, North Melbourne by…
Hamlet does backer shoutouts on sugar high – S2E7 “Making Of” featuring Michala Banas #ShakespeareSunday #WebSeries
Step behind the scenes of Episode Seven, Season Two to see how we put together the episode. See how we got that drone shot, what happens when you give Michala and Sally too many lollies on set and then ask them to do shout outs to our Indiegogo backers (yes, the much awaited perk delivery for those backers is included in this ep), how well behaved Ruby the Super Pup was on set and how, despite this being one of our more serious episodes, behind-the-scenes was constant laughter and silliness. Featuring Michala Banas, Shane Savage & Ruby the Dog (Cast) with Sally McLean, Shaun Herbertson, Bashir Towdiee, Billy Smedley, Tim…
Henry V does laser strike – S2E6 Behind-The-Scenes featuring Billy Smedley #Shakespeare #WebSeries
Step behind the scenes of Episode Six, Season Two to see how we put together the episode. See how we turn the peaceful surrounds of Lord Somers Camp into a battleground, just how much effort we go to in pursuit of the perfect audio, meet lead actor, Billy Smedley’s actual laser strike team (they exist and their team name is awesome!), and see the difference between RED camera raw footage and the magic created after colour grading. Featuring Billy Smedley, Jamie Hannah, Ethan Jackson, Amjinder Mann and Jahran Schansemma (Cast) with Sally McLean, Shaun Herbertson, Bashir Towdiee, Tim McCormick, Marg Woodlock-McLean and Falon Ryan (Crew) and Ahren Morris, Jamie Hannah,…
How do you make a crowd from 8 people? S2E5 Behind-The-Scenes featuring Wahibe Moussa #Shakespeare #WebSeries
Step behind the scenes of Episode Five, Season Two to see how we put together the episode. See how you can turn a group of 7-8 people into a crowd of 20, hear a little about the philosophy behind the season and the way we interpret these monologues, see some of the deleted scenes of this ep and witness the on screen debut of acclaimed Australian Director, Richard Sarell in his role as “Petruchio”. Featuring Wahibe Moussa, Richard Sarell, Jessica Martin, Taylah McLean, Sarah Penn and Marissa Tunks (Cast) with Sally McLean, Shaun Herbertson, Bashir Towdiee, Billy Smedley, Tim McCormick, Paulie King, Taryn Gionis, Joel Gionis and Falon Ryan. Filmed…
Shakespeare Republic: #LoveTheBard – S2E4 Behind-The-Scenes featuring Nadine Garner #Shakespeare #WebSeries
Step behind the scenes of Episode Four, Season Two to see how we put together the episode and get a taste of the fun and games of making an independent web series. In this video, we see how seriously Nadine takes making her fake whiskey for the ep, how we worked with the transformation of Nadine into a man, then into a woman again on set and the usual fun and games that go on among our cast and crew. Featuring Nadine Garner (Cast) with Sally McLean, Shaun Herbertson, Cam Green, Billy Smedley, Tim McCormick, Shane Savage and Perri Cummings. Filmed at The Courthouse Hotel, North Melbourne by Billy Smedley,…
Shakespeare Republic: #LoveTheBard – S2E3 Behind-The-Scenes featuring Christopher Kirby #Shakespeare #WebSeries
Step behind the scenes of Episode Three, Season Two to see how we put together the episode and get a taste of the fun and games of making an independent web series. Featuring Christopher Kirby, Faran Martin and Vuyo Loko (Cast) with Sally McLean, Shaun Herbertson, Cam Green, Billy Smedley, Abramo Peghini, Paulie King, Marg Woodlock-McLean, Taylah McLean and all our fabulous Additional Artists: Katrina Climie, Lyonel Draper, Robert Jackson, Pankaj Kashyap, Stephen Moore, Daniel Oakley, Jordanka Petkoff, Pauline Sherry, Vivian Smedley and Stephen Wyley. Filmed at St Catherine’s School, Toorak by Billy Smedley, Sally McLean and Taylah McLean.
