Existing somewhere-ish within a subplot of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Peter Quince Presents: Shakespeare’s Best Bits follows the plight of the Mechanicals – a troupe of actors charged with rehearsing a play to celebrate the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta.
Plight is right, with the Mechanicals – Nick Bottom (Peter Houghton), Francis Flute (Alex Cooper), Tom Snout (Scott Jackson), Robin Starveling (Hugh Sexton), and Snug (Maddie Somers) – dreading from the outset whatever text their director, Peter Quince (Jackson McGovern), will bring them to read and perform.
What they’d really like to do is a play by Bill Something-or-other, assuming they (with the audience’s help) can get Peter to agree.
After a little stammering and lot of ego-stroking (“Some men are born great…” Peter: “Yes, I couldn’t help it.”), the group succeed in trying out some alternative plays, launching headlong into staging an abbreviated collection of Shakespeare’s greatest hits.
It’s a little like a bunch of Tom Stoppard’s 15 Minute Hamlet smashed together, yet unlike Stoppard there’s so, so much hilarious play in these plays-within-a-play – with more styles, genres, and manic touches than you can count.
The troupe start off strong with a run-through of Macbeth. The list of Creatives on the Australian Shakespeare Company’s show page doesn’t seem to list a Costume Designer or Coordinator, which is unfortunate considering the umpteen uses they find for tartan (not-to-mention their incredible work throughout the rest of Best Bits).
Does Peter take the titular role? In a way, with a glorious performance of Lady Macbeth. Cricket bats are flying, dinosaurs appear, but it’s all a bit much for Peter so we move on.
Nick Bottom helps us understand the key points about the history plays, before the group return and dive into a presentation of Hamlet set in a restaurant kitchen when everyone is rhyming. It’s impressive, funny, and utterly mad, so basically a microcosm for Best Bits as a whole.
Yet as mad as Act 1 was, Act 2 goes full cuckoo’s nest. After an unexpected number to open the second half (my reviewer’s note simply reads, “Moo-gic Mike?”), the pace picks up with the stories of Romeo & Juliet told through interpretive dance and ballet, King Lear told with the power of hip-hop, Othello told with opera and commedia dell’arte, and closing with Anthony and Cleopatra told with lounge singers, Las Vegas spectacle, and roller skates.
The cast are quite simply extraordinary on stage, across all the myriad of roles and characters-within-a-character required of them. Together they have terrific chemistry and exquisite comedic timing, like an Elizabethan episode of The Goon Show, with Director Glenn Elston keeping the pace electric, from the opening aerobics to the final huzzah.
Peter Quince Presents: Shakespeare’s Best Bits is perfect outdoor theatre fare. Pack snacks, cushions, and blankets and get to the Botanical Gardens before the show closes on 17 January. You won’t regret it!
Peter Quince Presents: Shakespeare’s Best Bits
Royal Botanic Gardens, Southern Cross Lawn (enter through Observatory Gate on Birdwood Avenue)
Performance: Saturday 3 January 2026
Season continues to 17 January 2026
Information and Bookings: www.shakespeareaustralia.com.au
Images: The Cast of Peter Quince Presents: Shakespeare’s Best Bits – photo by Ben Fon | Peter Houghton in Peter Quince Presents: Shakespeare’s Best Bits – photo by Ben Fon
Review: June Collins