Pop-up Globe set to dazzle Sydney this Spring

Pop Up Globe A Midsummer Nights Dream - photo by Jay WenningtonThe creators of Pop-up Globe have announced that the world’s first full-scale temporary working replica of one of the greatest theatres in history, the second Globe, will pop up on the Show Ring at Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter for six weeks only from early September 2018.

Pop-up Globe will present a spectacular festival of Shakespeare unlike Sydney has ever seen before. In just two years, Pop-up Globe has become one of the most popular new theatres ever, drawing audiences of more than 450,000 people in the first 24 months including more than 150,000 attendances at its critically-acclaimed season in Melbourne earlier this year.

Pop-up Globe Founder and Artistic Director, Dr Miles Gregory, says he believes Shakespeare’s work performed in the space it is written for is a completely unique and transformative experience. “Our audiences are blown away by the immersive experience of seeing Shakespeare performed in the space for which it was written,” he said.

“The relationship between actor and audience, the spectacular space itself, together with the power of Shakespeare’s incredible work, means attending plays at Pop-up Globe is totally different from anything you’ve seen before. This isn’t dusty Shakespeare. This is now. Alive. Like a party,” adds Gregory.

The first Globe stood for 14 years until a disastrous fire demolished it in 1613. The second Globe was rebuilt on the same foundations by Shakespeare and his company significantly modifying the original first Globe to create what became one of the most famous theatres in history.

Pop-up Globe uses as its historical reference point ground-breaking research by Associate Professor Tim Fitzpatrick and Russell Emerson of the University of Sydney to create the world’s first full-scale temporary working replica of Shakespeare’s theatre, the second Globe.

Pop-up Globe is a three-storey, 16-sided, 900-person capacity theatre, capped with an onion dome. It unites cutting-edge scaffold technology with a 400-year-old design to transport audiences back in time. No matter where they sit or stand in the theatre, audience members are never more than 15 metres from the heart of the action on stage. Sometimes they’ll even find themselves in the play.

The Pop-up Globe theatre will be constructed on the Show Ring at Entertainment Quarter over a period of six weeks, and will feature all the spectacular theatrical trickery of the Jacobean era, including riotous comedy, gruesome battles, litres of fake blood, hand-forged armoury and more than 450 beautiful bespoke period costumes pieces specially constructed by the Pop-up Globe in-house wardrobe department.

Pop-up Globe will be a remarkable feature on the Sydney cityscape, bringing with it a festival of four critically-acclaimed productions:

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Justly regarded as Shakespeare’s comic masterpiece, A Midsummer Night’s Dream enchants audiences with a brilliant mix of hilarious comedy and beautiful poetry. See Pop-up Globe’s all-male Buckingham’s Company in a production which fuses spectacular Jacobean costumes and the lyrical poetry of Shakespeare with M?ori folklore and language alive in an ancient forest.

The Merchant of Venice
Friendship, forbidden love, cunning disguises and ancient enmity culminate in a thrilling trial scene in The Merchant of Venice. Witness Pop-up Globe’s all-male Buckingham’s Company take on Shakespeare’s most controversial comedy.

Macbeth
A haunting and timeless tragedy that explores the darkest corners of the human mind set in a world where the supernatural is real and the quickest way to the top is by murder. Macbeth, presented by Pop-up Globe’s mixed Southampton’s Company sees darkness, chaos and conflict unfold.

The Comedy of Errors
Presented by Pop-up Globe’s mixed Southampton’s Company, Shakespeare’s most hilarious farce The Comedy of Errors brings together two sets of twins in a wild romp. See chaotic confusion and unlikely plot twists come together in a side-splitting finale that cannot be missed.

Pop-up Globe opens in the Show Ring at Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter on 5 September 2018. Tickets are now on sale. For more information, visit: www.popupglobe.com.au for details.

Image: A Midsummer Night’s Dream – photo by Jay Wennington