Meet The Players

Happy Birthday Shakespeare!

Bell Shakespeare — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:39:09 +0000

Team Rosencrantz celebrated Williams Shakespeare’s 449th birthday yesterday at Bremer State High School in Queensland. Students and teachers at the school were thoughtful enough to prepare the awesome chocolate cake pictured below, which they presented to The Players after their performances of Such Sweet Sorrow and Macbeth: Undone.

Lorelle, one of the dedicated teachers at Bremer State High School, poses with one of her students, The Players, and that delicious cake

St John’s College in Lismore also made a Shakespeare cake to celebrate the occasion last week.

Thanks to all the schools across the country who give our teams of Players such a warm welcome as they travel far and wide!

Synchronised Swimming

Bell Shakespeare — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 05:01:32 +0000

Joe and AJ of Team Guildenstern have happened upon a leisurely pursuit that suits the touring lifestyle of a Player, as they explain in their new video blog…

Planet Players: Episode One

Bell Shakespeare — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:43:58 +0000

Welcome to a new series of video blogs, beamed to you live from towns across Australia. In the first installment, Team Rosencrantz gets up to mischief in Orange…

Life on Tour with Bell Shakespeare

Bell Shakespeare — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 07:35:27 +0000

We in team Guildenstern have just returned to Sydney from our first touring stint around the south of NSW. We were lucky enough to visit locations such as the beaches of Wollongong, historic Albury, picturesque Wagga Wagga and our nation’s capital, Canberra. Now that we’re back in Sydney I’ve had a chance to reflect on what I enjoy and find difficult about life on the road.

Sometimes it can seem be tough being on the road and away from your friends and family but I prefer to take a different view. It’s also a great opportunity to visit places that you’ve never been to before, see some sights and make new friends. I’ve been on tour for most of the past year now and this is a list of things that I really love about touring.

1) No traffic – It is so much less of a pain EVERYWHERE but Sydney. As I write this we are sitting in bumper to bumper traffic trying to make our way through Sydney’s north shore. That’s not a problem we faced anywhere while we were on the road.

2) Getting to Know the Team – Being on tour gives you a great chance to get to know the people you’re working with. We’ve had some awesome nights in the great serviced apartments that we get accommodated in cooking each other dinner, playing board games and watching movies.

3) Sightseeing – we’re pretty busy getting from school to school to share our love Shakespeare with you legends but occasionally we get to see some stuff. While we were in Canberra we made it to the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition at the National Gallery and we had a great time at the beach in Wollongong.

4) Swimming Pools – most of our accommodation has a swimming pool or a spa which is a great way to relax after a big 3-show day. I know I certainly don’t have a pool at my house in Sydney.

5) Tunes on the drive – Resident DJs Ildiko, Joe and Jane supply all the greatest hits from 80s, 90s, 00s and today. Some afternoons it gets pretty gangsta in our Kia Carnival.

6) TV show and reading binges – Being out on the road on your own is a great chance to catch up on the latest TV series that your friends are raving about or finish that book you bought last month in the comfort of your own cozy hotel room.

For the next couple of weeks we’ll be battling the Sydney traffic in the day and seeing our friends and family in the evenings but I’m looking forward to our upcoming trips to regional Queensland and South Australia. If you’ve got any tips for good restaurants, let me know. That’s my other favorite thing.

10 Things…

Bell Shakespeare — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 06:35:46 +0000

Our journey as The Players has started and there have already been so many beautiful things that we have seen, done, and experienced. In the car between shows, the members of Team Rosencrantz often talk about how much we love seeing the reactions of the students and teachers who watch the shows we perform every day; the joy in understanding the plot and the laughs at the framing characters.

In considering what it is we do, how we do it, and the team that supports us, the following was produced (in the format of this speech from 10 Things I Hate About You, the great nineties adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew).

10 Things We Hate About You

We hate the hand of fate that points to us,
That marks our plan to deliv’r this,
We hate our KIA little mini bus,
Our lady of good carriage, our mistress.
We hate the passing months already been,
The insights and love that keep us feeling keen.
We hate the morning coffee, the taste of dawn,
We hate reciting Shakespeare so early I’ the morn.
We hate the staff who back us, everywhere we go,
The smothering of love show after show.
We hate that you can really help us find
Ourselves, no matter what the time of day,
We hate that we are constantly reminded,
Relax, the work is there, now time to play.
We hate that we are making friends far and new
But most of all we hate since hate is due,
‘Cos hate is love, what we most have for you.

Undoubtedly we will continue to be amazed and find new love for everything we do as actors, teachers and facilitators of Shakespeare. So to all the schools and students that we have yet to roll into, know this, we cannot wait to entertain, and be entertained by you.

Team Rosencrantz

The Players hit the road!

Bell Shakespeare — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 23:32:36 +0000

Teams Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have finally hit the road, embarking on our first whirlwind leg of touring. It has been an amazingly challenging and wondrously fulfilling two weeks already! This week both teams have ventured beyond the city of Sydney to entertain you in some of Australia’s most spectacular and breathtaking surrounds.

Our journey so far has been almost as epic as some of the Bard’s greatest plays themselves (whether comedy or tragedy – we’ll let you be the judge)! In only a few short weeks we have undertaken intensive studies in voice, movement, comedy and performing Shakespeare (along with some of the more drier topics of workplace health and safety, safe driving and senior first aid – all still very important though)! We finished our rehearsals and packed our roadcases and we are having an absolute ball! So, without further ado, allow me to introduce to you the Players for 2013!

Below, we have the artists formerly known as Team AJ, now dubbed:

Team Guildenstern

AJ, Ildiko, Jane, Joe

Next up, we have Team JW, to be known hereafter as:

Team Rosencrantz

Janine, Jenna, Griffin, Ray

We are extremely excited to be setting off on this amazing adventure and look forward to catching up with you all. Make sure you have some questions or comments ready as we’d love to have a chat with you post-show, where hopefully we can churn out something a little more coherent than this:

It had been been a loooooong week! But come young waverers, it’s time for me to sign off and hit the road once more. BIG THANKS to the exceptional schools we have visited so far – cheers for having us!

Parting is such sweet sorrow – but we shall see each and every one of you very, very soon! Perhaps tomorrow… and tomorrow… and tomorrow!

That’s it from me! Adieu, adieu!

Ildiko

Bringing the Bard to the ‘Bart

Ed — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 23:49:30 +0000

Team T have just returned from two weeks in Tasmania and we loved it! Having recently travelled to Julia Creek in outback Queensland we couldn’t get over how green Tasmania was in comparison. The wildlife was beautiful and the landscape stunning. We jammed as much touristy things in as we could – wineries, Mt Wellington, Mona, historic Richmond and Salamanca Markets to name a few.

Peacock!

An historic bridge in Richmond

We found an array of delicacies in Hobart, it seems that Tasmanians are kings of cuisine and what better way to stay motivated for our shows than with lots of Patisserie treats. Here is a shot of our favourite little cafe, so far, that we found on our travels to the Salamanca markets.

A lovely little cafe at Salamanca Markets in Hobart

Dessert with a view

We have received such a warm welcome from everyone down here, students, teachers and especially those chefs. Because the countryside is so beautiful everywhere we go, if it wasn’t so cold it would be great to do a performance of A Midsummer Nights Dream outside in one of the stunning parks! We were all raring to go for our shows at Ouse District High on the morning of Monday 5th November and then we popped into MONA to soak up some more culture in the afternoon.

A light installation at MONA

We caught some live music at the Republic and a big shout out goes to Sacred Heart College in New Town for showing the Melbourne Cup in their gym hall. Oh, and we even did some work. The audiences were awesome, super respectful, the Student Masterclasses were fun and we can’t wait to come back next year.

The beautiful view from Mount Wellington

We dropped a line to Charles and Camilla, and they changed their itinerary on our advice. Charles even wanted to catch the same flight back to Sydney with us, but we let him down gently. We just didn’t think Sydney Airport could cope with the hype. Now there is a love story Shakespeare would have had a field day with.

Same outbound flight as Charles and Camilla… coincidence or conspiracy?

Overall, thanks for having us Tasmania, we had a fantastic time and hope you cats we got to work with enjoyed yourselves too.

P.S. It has been said it’s best not to leave Team T with too much time on their hands. This is what happened when we were let loose in Hellyer College’s performance space in Burnie. Thanks for the loan of your props guys!

Team H Visit Regional New South Wales

Julia — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 22:46:29 +0000

As a resident of Sydney, you can sometimes fall prey to the assumption that the metropolis hosts all of the greatest art and exhibitions and events. Our recent trip to the Orange Region was an occasion where this assumption was delightfully proved wrong!

Molong is a town about half an hour outside Orange, and inside Molong Central School, where we performed, we found an incredible room. This room not only contained a massive collection of art, but it WAS the art itself: David, a teacher, had spent the better part of a decade assimilating, sorting, collating and glueing together mini poster prints of famous films. They were sorted, often by genre or theme, but also in alphabetical order. The result was a spectacular museum of cinematic history that, as actors, we just drooled over! Ironically, the room was used as the detention room, which would have made me WANT to get in trouble had I been a student at the school.

Below is a snapshot of this incredible instillation, as well as a great shot of Huw at Conobolas Public School in Orange. I’m left thinking, again, that there is so much more to be seen in this incredible country than just the art in Sydney. Thank you Bell Shakespeare, for reaching out across Australia!

How, Anthony and Matilda awestruck at the collection of film paraphernalia at Molong Central School

Huw conducting a workshop with students at Canobolas Public School

Team H Visit Roxby Downs

Julia — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:14:46 +0000

Roxby Downs! We are here!

For those of you not from the area, the hotel is lovely. I like the layout; two stories of neat apartment rooms circle around an aptly named “Oasis” garden, complete with swimming pool. Palm fronds and lush green trees, stark in their contrast to the dehydrated eucalypts local to the area, populate the courtyard garden. Smooth rocks cover the garden beds and lead to the pool, bright and blue and refreshing even to look at. Compared to what lies beyond the walls it is indeed an Oasis paradise.

The people here are friendly. Local students work at the local shops. One caring employee helped me select the best brand of sunscreen; something of a necessity, I’m sure, in the days to come.

Shortly we head to the community center for our show. A night time performance now seems so foreign, which is bizarre, as that is the time of performance most actors are used to. It shows how long we have been doing this job for, I guess.

Sunset is pretty. And I’m reminded of those bush setting oil paintings you see in gallery’s selling for hundreds of dollars. What a rip off – the real thing is far more spectacular than any painting can capture.

There’s a stillness an a calmness to the air that I find comforting. It’s real. There’s no games or rat race to stress about keeping up with. Half an hour can drift by as you watch the sky change colour. Suddenly the pace of quintesential “Aussie” films now makes sense.

Below is a photo of us putting the luggage net over our ute tray.

Ashes To Ashes

Teresa — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 07:41:54 +0000

So the team were recently performing in Sunbury, Victoria. On arrival into the town we were informed that it was the home of The Ashes, and that the school grounds that we were performing at were the location of the first match in the series. Well, Edmund was happier than we have ever seen him, being a crazy cricket fan. We just had to get a snapshot of us in front of the giant wickets!

HOWZ THAT!!!!!!