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…
All The World's A Stage …
