The Show Must Go Online – A kindred spirit in the online Shakespeare world
Looking for some brand new productions of Shakespeare to watch during this time of quarantine and lockdown? Republic Creator/Director, Sally McLean was recently part of a brilliant new initiative out of the UK – The Show Must Go Online – playing “Katherina” in The Taming Of The Shrew in their second live reading performance opposite an extraordinary cast of actors from all over the globe performing the whole play live online from their respective homes! Actors based in the USA, UK, Canada and Germany, with Sally from Australia, played live to a global audience – and you can watch the whole thing, as it happened in the video above! Described as a new and highly engaging form…
The Ides of March … Did Shakespeare get it right?
Thanks to Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, the phrase “Beware the Ides of March” has become something of a common saying. But why? And was Shakespeare correct in the date and depicting the events of Julius Caesar’s death? The answer is “yes” to both, even the bit about the Soothsayer warning Caesar about the “Ides of March” and Caesar dismissing the warning as a bunch of nonsense (which he didn’t live to regret). But what IS the Ides of March? The Ides of March marks the anniversary of Julius Caeser’s murder on March 15, 44 BC, by 60 of his senators at the age of 55. It is also marks the halfway…
“The Arts – Who Needs It?” – Republic creator, Sally McLean’s speech from Independent Schools Victoria’s AGM #ArtsLearning #ArtsEducation
Earlier this month, Shakespeare Republic creator, Sally McLean was invited to address the Independent Schools Victoria AGM on a topic of her choosing. She chose the title “The Arts – Who Needs It?” (and yes, she knows this is grammatically incorrect – read the speech to find out how she came to this title), and spoke to the 211 assembled School Principals, the Shadow Minister for Education in Victoria and members of the Victorian Education Department, as well as ISV Board Members about Creativity, Innovation and the Arts and how we can all play a role in championing the Arts in schools and beyond. After delivering her speech, Independent Schools Victoria requested…
Shakespeare Republic on Book, Stage & Screen #interview #shakespeare #lovethebard
Shakespeare Republic creator/Director, Sally McLean and Executive Producer/Ensemble member, Billy Smedley were delighted to be invited into studio to be interviewed by the lovely Samantha and Gordon Napier on their wide-ranging Arts and Screen show, Book, Stage & Screen on WYN FM on February 16. Dealing with everything from how do we select the pieces, to the Shakespeare authorship question, to the history of the Elizabethan playwrights, to what can go wrong on set when filming, this interview became so epic (at 45 minutes long), that it became a two-parter! Both of which are available below from the Book, Stage & Screen YouTube Channel for your catch up listening enjoyment. Huge…
Shakespeare In Prison – showing how the Bard can change lives
The debate around whether Shakespeare is still relevant continues. But while the discussion could easily be all academic, the real proof is in taking the Bard off the page and bringing him back to the people – all the people – in performance. And not just as audience, but as participants. Which brings us to the point of today’s Discussion blog post. While browsing Facebook last week, the video below popped up on my feed (thank you Facebook algorithm), which was fascinating and showed just how useful Shakespeare can be to us humans still – but only if we get to perform his works, rather than just see them, or…
A heartfelt thank you to our donors, colleagues and audiences – around the globe #artsfunding #shakespeare #makingculturehappen
FROM OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: I was going to write this update as a final plea to try and ensure that our current crowdfunding campaign showed that magical “100%” figure at the top of our Australian Cultural Fund campaign page. In a world where artists tend to give 100% percent to all we do, we don’t often get to see anything achieve a 100% success rate. And that’s okay. Our individual Arts projects won’t be everybody’s cup of tea and that’s why we need a diverse and multifaceted Arts industry – so there is always something for everyone to see, experience and enjoy, that caters to their personal taste and sensibility and speaks to them directly.…
Farewell Mr Jones and Mr Rickman and thank you … for everything …
“Epic Tea Time with Alan Rickman” clip, created by David Michalek for his series “Portraits in Dramatic Time” David Bowie, Lemmy Kilmister and Alan Rickman image, created by Ian Blyth It has been a tumultuous start to 2016, with some truly sad news already in the first two weeks of this New Year. We, like so many around the world, are truly saddened by the loss of two of the greats of the Acting and Performing world, who contributed so much to both their industry and the general public. Both iconic artists, but also, away from the cameras, supporters of many from all walks of life in so many ways, and genuinely lovely humans…
