Shakespeare on the Bay

Picture this …. it’s a balmy starlit evening and the sun is slowly sinking behind the trees at Hervey Bay’s Seafront Oval.

Crowds of people are arriving with chairs, blankets, tables, rugs, beanbags and hampers in hand ready to setup their picnic dinners. Corks pop, cheese knives clatter and conversations draw to a crescendo. The lights dim, the crowd lulls in anticipation and then, the spectacular open-air stage comes to life. This is the magic of USQ’s Shakespeare in the Park Festival.

First toured to Hervey Bay in 2007, the annual Festival offers residents and visitors a unique Shakespearean experience. Many enjoyed the power and passion of Macbeth in 2007; hearts fluttered as Romeo wooed his Juliet in 2008 and audiences were treated to an extraordinary, other worldly adventure when The Tempest visited in 2009.

This year, Shakespeare’s best-loved comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream promises to delight audiences.

The stunning production, melds old with new, retelling the age-old story with an exciting injection of acrobatics and clowning, dance routines and fabulous musical numbers.

Featuring a talented cast of seven professional and eight student actors from USQ’s School of Creative Arts, the production is directed by Scott Alderdice, with breathtaking designs by Carolyn Taylor-Smith.

The story follows four young lovers who take flight into the forest only to find themselves tangled into a quarrel between the King and Queen of the Faerie.

Add to this a mischievous sprite, a wayward love potion and an unsuspecting troupe of amateur actors and what transpires is an hilarious chain of events.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream has already delighted Toowoomba audiences and will now tour to Hervey Bay for a two-day sea-side season; 6.30pm on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 October at Seafront Oval. Gates open from 5.30pm each night, and audience members are encouraged to bring a blanket or chair to sit on and a picnic dinner to enjoy at the show.

Tickets are available through the Brolga Theatre on 07 4122 6060, online at www.brolgatheatre.org, at Hervey Bay Transit Stocklands or Torquay Post Office, or at the gate on the night from 5.30pm.

For more information about the Festival, visit www.usq.edu.au/shakespeare.

Michelle Fox, USQ Artsworx, +61 7 4631 1114 or 0439 911 623