Theatre in the 17th century was an in-your-face experience, which is what the creators of Pop-up Globe are promising Sydney audiences later this year – in some cases literally.
Audience members who choose the standing area of the replica theatre can get within inches of the Shakespearean action, risking being sprayed by blood – or even worse.
Gore blimey: Chris Huntly-Turner in bloody form during the Pop-up Globe's Melbourne season.
Photo: Eddie Jim
"We do make a lot of use of stage blood, just as Shakespeare's own company did, so the audience are regularly spattered," says Pop-up Globe founder Miles Gregory. "You can literally be part of the action by getting half a pint of blood in your face or even fake urine."
Pop-up Globe is coming to Sydney in September after successful seasons in Auckland and Melbourne. It's the first full-scale temporary working replica of Shakespeare's second Globe theatre in London and the scaffolding structure will be built in Moore Park's Entertainment Quarter.
The six-week season will feature A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth and The Comedy of Errors.
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"The incredible popularity of Pop-Up Globe has been mind-blowing," says Auckland-based Gregory. "It has taken us on a journey from where there was just one person at the start – myself – to over 150 staff when we are in season. And we've performed to more than 450,000 people.
"I think the reason Pop-Up Globe is so extraordinarily popular is the connection between actor and audience. Our audience members feel that they are drawn into the story with the actors rather than sitting in the dark passively watching them perform in the white light 30 yards away."
Gregory, a Shakespeare scholar and theatre expert, first conceived the idea in 2014 when he was reading a pop-up book to his daughter, Nancy.
"One of the things that popped out was the Globe theatre in London – the original Globe – and I got very excited as I tend to do when talking about these sort of theatres and my little girl said could we go and see it."
Gregory explained to Nancy that the nearest Globe replica was very distant and it was then that the idea of a pop-up replica took hold.
Some 15 months later, in early 2016, actors were strutting and fretting on the stage of the first pop-up Globe in Auckland, attracting 100,000 people in that first season.
"It does show that when Shakespeare is made for the instrument for which it was written and put on by professionals who know what they are doing – the result is captivating," says Gregory.
"I think people sometimes think Shakespeare is boring or the don't understand it. I think a lot of those misconceptions come from trying to read his plays or seeing productions that don't fully energise his work. We try and do both those things really well.
"All of his plays acquire an extra energy on the stage. The tragedies become deeper and more shocking, the comedies become more riotous and hilarious … It's not the kind of theatre we are used to."
Pop-up Globe opens on September 5 in Sydney
Nick Galvin is a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald
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