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…
#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…
“Playing The Bard” returns to Howard Fine Acting Studio Australia in September #Shakespeare #class #teaching
We are so delighted to announce that Republic Creator/Director, Sally McLean will be returning to Howard Fine Acting Studios Australia with her popular course “Playing The Bard: Shakespeare In Performance” from Wednesday, September 12th! Sally first taught this new course in April/May this year with a fabulous class of 12 students, teaching at the Howard Fine Studio in North Melbourne. Find out more about Sally and her relationship to Shakespeare in this interview by Catherine Hallam at the Howard Fine Acting Studio Australia website: https://www.howardfinestudio.com.au/blog/2018/4/16/talking-shakespeare-with-sally-mclean In this next round of class, Sally will take up to 12 students through the world of Shakespeare and his texts, working on both scenes…
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”.…
“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…
Season Two filming complete and more festival official selections for Season One!
What a month it has been! Exciting news is that we have finished filming for Season Two!! After our initial 2 day shoot in August, we went on to complete a gruelling 8 day shoot in September, but it was totally worth it! We have some amazing images from the shoot that we are so excited to share with you later this year and have a long list of people to thank for making the filming possible. First thank you goes to our amazing location sponsors – The Courthouse Hotel, North Melbourne, Lord Somers Camp, Somers, St Catherines School, Toorak and Toorak College, Mt Eliza. We cannot thank these generous…
Cast Announcement: Shakespeare Republic welcomes new cast member – Christopher Kirby!
We are thrilled to welcome new Republic Member and our first American cast member: Christopher Kirby! Meet Chris … Chris is probably best known for his roles in numerous blockbuster films such as Daybreakers, Predestination, the Matrix sequels, Iron Sky, Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith and many more. Chris began his career in his native USA before moving to Australia in the late 1990’s. US television roles include the series Quantum Leap, Space: Above and Beyond, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Lost World, BeastMaster, The Burning Zone, Nightmares & Dreamscapes and The Starter Wife, as well as the television special Blockheads for HBO. Australian credits include Marshall Law, Neighbours, Ocean Girl, Flipper and The Games. Chris’…
Cast Announcement: Shakespeare Republic welcomes new member – Wahibe Moussa!
We are delighted to welcome new Republic Member, the talented and delightful Wahibe Moussa! Meet Wahibe … Wahibe Moussa is an award winning actor, a writer and emerging dramaturg and director. Since graduating from Victoria University of Technology in 2000, she has appeared in ensemble and self-devised theatre productions, as well as television shows such as SBSi’s KICK, ABC’s The Librarians and Channel 9’s Stingers. In 2007 Wahibe received the Green room Award for Female Actor in an Independent Theatre Production for her performance as “Mahala”, in Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul. She has collaborated on a number of theatre and television projects as script, cultural and language consultant. Wahibe has co-ordinated and collaborated in…
Cast Announcement: Shakespeare Republic welcomes new member – Dean Haglund!
We are delighted to welcome new Republic Member and our first Canadian cast member: Dean Haglund! Meet Dean … Dean is probably best known for his ten seasons playing “Richard “Ringo” Langly”, one of the “The Lone Gunmen” from the hit series The X-Files, and The X-Files spin off, The Lone Gunmen, both for Fox Television. Dean began his career studying multidisciplinary Arts at the Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, Dance, Visual Arts and Video Production. During his time at University, he performed many of the classics, including a long list of Shakespeare roles, before going on to specialize in improvisational comedy, beginning…
Cast Announcement: Shakespeare Republic welcomes new member – Shane Savage!
We are thrilled to welcome our first new Republic Member for 2016: Shane Savage! Meet Shane … After completing a bachelor of creative arts (Drama/Film) from Deakin University, Shane went on to study full time at the world renowned Howard Fine Acting Studio. Recent theatre credits include “Ricky” in Big Al at Chapel Off Chapel and “Marc Christian” in Playing Rock Hudson at the Malthouse Theatre. Recent screen credits include playing the lead roles of “Lindsay” in Anatomy (dir. Joe Betros), “Art” in Artemis (dir. Daniel Higgins), “Dean” in Nevyr Love a Vampyr (dir. Geoffrey Wright) and “Chris” in the webseries Chris & Josh (dir. Matt Smolen). Shane’s latest big screen venture,…
“Art Smitten” interview about Shakespeare Republic – the “Lost Tapes” edition …
On August 30th, Shakespeare Republic Director, Sally McLean, was delighted to be invited into the SYN FM studios to speak with “Art Smitten” hosts, Thomas and Alex about Shakespeare, the challenges when working on a web series, where were the sword fights? and why can’t she bring herself to say the word “Macbeth” out loud? Sally was particularly happy to be invited in, as the show is run by high school and college students – which is exactly the group we are hoping to bring to the series as audience. And it was a great experience – a fun and wide-ranging interview covering all things Bard, with a lot of laughter…
Do you have a favourite Shakespeare play? Would you play Shakespeare nude? Hear from our cast on this and more during the Shakespeare Republic Season One Launch!
Welcome to a big week for Shakespeare Republic! This week we finally begin screening the series after many months of planning and hard work from all the cast and crew and we couldn’t be more excited! Further to our post about our fabulous launch event held last week at the lovely Courthouse Hotel in North Melbourne, we can also finally release the full video filmed by the talented Paul Anthony Nelson of Cinema Viscera and hosted by Special Guest, Shane Savage from, among other things, Australian Web TV phenomenon, Chris & Josh The Webseries where he plays “Chris” as well as co-writing and co-producing (really, it’s so exciting to see how well…
