After a 2026 in which it explored power in the political arena (in Julius Caesar and Macbeth), Bell Shakespeare turns to matters of power at the personal and romantic level in 2027, with a season pairing two radically reimagined classics with an extensive national tour of its hit production of Yve Blake’s Mackenzie.

Shakespeare’s romantic comedy As You Like It, reimagined by director Marion Potts (Henry 5; King Lear) for the camera-ready, reality TV era, opens the season before the company returns to a play it last performed in 2005, Measure for Measure.

Peter Evans. Photo © Richard Hedger

The season, says the company’s Artistic Director Peter Evans, is driven by the idea of placing Shakespeare in direct conversation with contemporary life, while also expanding the company’s reach beyond its traditional audiences and metropolitan bases.

The success of Mackenzie – which premiered this year to critical acclaim – has provided particular encouragement at a time when commissioning and presenting new work remains a significant risk for arts companies.

“It was hugely risky,” Evans admits. “We always knew that Mackenzie was a work the company should take on, even though it was unlikely to draw our established Shakespeare audience. I had to do some serious persuading to get it across the line but I felt strongly that we were the company that should do it,” he says.

“Actually, it felt weird when I thought about anyone else doing it.”

The response to MacKenzie far exceeded even Evans’ expectations and also underlined the value of taking it directly to regional audiences. He sees the decision to tour the production immediately as a fulfilment of the company’s founding philosophy under John Bell. “There’s no ‘let’s have a think about doing it in three years’ time’,” he says. “There’s an energy you have to go with.”

Kimberley Hodgson in Bell Shakespeare’s Mackenzie. Photo © Brett Boardman

The MacKenzie tour is expected to include seasons in Canberra, Brisbane and dates in regional centres, with a return to Melbourne also likely following the production’s particularly strong reception there. The work will also return to the Sydney Opera House, with some adaptation for a proscenium-stage configuration.

The success of Mackenzie has reinforced Evans’ appetite for finding new ways to connect younger audiences with Shakespeare. In 2027, director Marion Potts will bring As You Like It into the world of reality dating shows, opening up the play’s themes of performance, identity and gender for an audience that understands the“camera-ready” aspect of contemporary life and love.

The production will play at Sydney Opera House from 6 March before touring to Canberra and Melbourne.

As You Like it: Matilda Ridgway. Photo supplied

Evans says Potts’ approach will be playful but also forensic, examining the masks people adopt and the shifting identities at the heart of the play. There will be a particular emphasis on the contrast between the glamour of the court and the liberation of the forest, with Evans expecting a production that is both joyous and sharply observant. Matilda Ridgway (currently Bell Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, opposite Antony Taufa) is already attached to the production, as is Damien Strouthos, whose history with the company goes back two decades.

The mood then turns darker with director Saro Lusty-Cavallari tackling Measure for Measure in a new 90-minute production Evans describes as a striking counterpoint to Mackenzie.

Shakespeare’s exploration of temptation, hypocrisy and abuse of power will be stripped back to its essentials, with the production examining contemporary questions of power, sexual harassment, patriarchy and gender dynamics. It plays in the Neilson Nutshell, Walsh Bay from 3 July, then moves to Melbourne Recital Centre, 29 July-8 August.

Measure for Measure. Photo supplied

The production emerged from Bell Shakespeare’s Mind’s Eye development program, with Lusty-Cavallari challenged by Evans to reconsider one of Shakespeare’s so-called “problem” plays. Working with a small creative team, he developed a six-character, version that excises much of the play’s comedy and focuses on the darker social experiment at its heart.

Evans says the resulting work has the concentrated quality of a Greek tragedy.

“It feels very true to the play, and makes it even more contemporary,” he says. “In terms of power, sexual harassment, the kind of patriarchal… it feels very visceral.”

The production will play Sydney and Melbourne, with Evans particularly interested in how audiences respond to its deliberately confrontational structure.

The return to Measure for Measure also represents something of a rediscovery for Bell Shakespeare. The company has not presented the play for almost two decades, making the 2027 production a significant revival for its Shakespearean audience.

Taken together, the season reflects Evans’ continuing interest in Shakespeare’s ability to speak directly to the present rather than functioning as cultural heritage alone.

His recent programming has included a run of Roman tragedies, including Coriolanus, which Evans says was particularly rewarding because audiences encountered a Shakespeare play many had never seen performed.

“As an Artistic Director, you can reflect what you’re seeing and feeling about the world, or you can try to distract from it,” he says. “I think it should be the former.”

That desire to keep Shakespeare emotionally immediate and relevant – while finding new forms through which audiences can encounter the plays – is at the heart of the 2027 program. With As You Like It investigating evolving conceptions of ‘reality’, Measure for Measure confronting the mechanics of power, and Mackenzie making light of same, Bell Shakespeare’s 2027 season suggests that for Evans, the most effective way to keep Shakespeare’s plays alive is to keep testing them.

For more information on Bell Shakespeare in 2027, visit bellshakespeare.com.au