Perth, you’ve never seen Shakespeare like this before.

After two and a half years of entertaining 550,000 people in Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney, the Pop-Up Globe will bring four of Shakespeare’s most exhilarating plays about love, death and revenge for Perth viewers to enjoy.

Over 400 years ago, Shakespeare and his company rebuilt the Globe, the theatre in which most of the poet’s plays were performed, after it was destroyed in a fire. The second Globe was a three-storey, 16-sided, open-air theatre that stood in the heart of London for 30 years. When the artistic director and founder of the current Pop-Up Globe, Dr Miles Gregory, was questioned by his daughter about visiting the original site in 2014, he toyed with the idea of creating his own temporary, full-scale replica of the theatre.  In 2016, the idea was brought to life in Auckland – a world first.

Currently under construction and set to open in October, the Pop-Up Globe has now made its way over to Crown Perth to entice viewers with the over-dramatic and passionate retelling of four of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays: Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure and Twelfth Night.

Much like the original, Perth’s Pop-Up Globe was purposefully designed to allow actors to build a relationship with the audience. Throughout each performance, guests are no more than 15 metres from the stage allowing singing, dancing and even special effects to be clearly seen. Dr Miles Gregory says the shows are perfect for all kinds of Perth viewers, from the devoted Shakespeare fans to those who have never studied or read the plays before.

“The reason they would be perfect is that they would come with no prior expectations on what Shakespeare should be like. Our productions are extremely lively, playful and engaging. They don’t feel like what people think Shakespeare should be.”

“Conversely, if someone is a professor of Shakespeare, they would also enjoy the experience greatly as well”, he said.

The shows are played out on stage as they were originally intended and takes viewers back to the Jacobean period. Dr Miles Gregory and his team worked off the original text to create a more modern feel. Guests are assured that despite the original playwright’s age from the 15th century, there are amusing references that will still produce an eruption of laughter in the crowd.

There is more to Shakespeare than Romeo and Juliet and if you want your chance to see these plays brought back to life, then this is it. Perth’s Pop-Up Globe is bold, beautiful and Shakespeare in all its love and romantic glory.

When: Saturday 5 October – Sunday 8 December 2019
Where: Crown Perth – Great Eastern Highway, Burswood WA 6100
Cost: from $29
More information: Perth Pop-Up Globe.

Feature image: Perth Pop-Up Globe. Image supplied.