Bell Shakespeare has announced its 2027 Season, with three productions to be presented around the country. A contemporary staging of As You Like It will start the year, followed by a dark and dangerous production of Measure for Measure, and an extensive national tour of Yve Blake’s critically acclaimed play Mackenzie.
Opening the season in March, Shakespeare’s joyous romantic comedy As You Like It is reimagined by Marion Potts (Henry 5, Doubt) for a camera-ready, reality TV era.
Banished from court, Rosalind, played by Matilda Ridgway (Macbeth, Coriolanus), disguises herself as a boy and flees to the Forest of Arden with her cousin Celia, where she encounters Orlando, the man she loves. Potts explores how in the forest the characters’ artificiality and hyper-performed gender roles are stripped away to reveal their truer selves.
Shakespeare’s razor-sharp drama Measure for Measure is presented by the company for the first time in over 20 years as a raw 90-minute production that cuts straight to the play’s dark heart. Overwhelmed by Vienna’s growing corruption, the Duke steps aside, handing authority to his second-in-command, Angelo, who sets about enforcing long-dormant morality laws.
When Claudio’s fiancée becomes pregnant, Angelo swiftly sentences him to death. Claudio’s sister Isabella, played by Rose Riley (Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet), makes an impassioned plea for her brother’s life, and Angelo offers her a choice in return: he will release her brother if she will sleep with him.
Director Saro Lusty-Cavallari highlights the contemporary resonances of the play, with a society gripped by rising puritanism, abuses of power, hypocrisy and temptation.
Yve Blake’s hit play Mackenzie returns for an extensive national tour following its sold out world premiere run in Sydney and Melbourne this year. A hilarious, twisted, and deeply camp reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the production recasts Macbeth as a 13-year-old child star in the heights of early 2000s TV stardom and Lady Macbeth as her ruthlessly ambitious stage mum.
Directed by Virginia Gay, and featuring four original songs by Blake, Mackenzie will tour to capital cities and regional centres across the country.
Bell Shakespeare Artistic Director Peter Evans said:
“Welcome to Season 2027: a season centred on gender, power and corruption, delivered with delight, absurdity and profundity. Marion Potts applies her insight to As You Like It, for a production that promises to reflect our media-savvy, image-conscious times.
Meanwhile, Saro Lusty-Cavallari has created a finely edited and focused version of Measure for Measure, a play scholars sometimes refer to as a ‘problem play’, but I think it shows Shakespeare at the top of his game. It feels extremely contemporary in its portrait of a corrupt city, its extraordinary scenes of sexual harassment and abuses of power.
Finally, I am beyond thrilled with the success of Mackenzie, and can’t wait to take it to audiences all across the country. Shakespeare’s ability to find himself amongst our contemporary concerns is demonstrated again with these three remarkable works. I look forward to seeing audiences in the theatre.”
Alongside this mainstage programming, Bell Shakespeare will present their extensive national outreach and education program in schools, communities and Juvenile Justice centres across Australia.
Other events throughout the year will include the inaugural John Bell Lecture, a new annual lecture series that will kick off in 2027 with John Bell, and a panel series titled Performing Gender, exploring gender in Shakespeare’s plays.
There will be deep dives into As You Like It and Measure for Measure, the continuation of the lively script reading series Play in a Day featuring John Fletcher’s 1611 play The Tamer Tamed, the return of the ever-popular Sonnets & Semillon, and school holiday programming.
ABOUT BELL SHAKESPEARE
Bell Shakespeare is Australia’s national theatre company specialising in the works of William Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Founded in 1990 with the aim of sharing Shakespeare’s plays in a way that was relevant and exciting to all Australians, the company has evolved further than its visionary founder, John Bell AO, could have hoped.
Today, Bell Shakespeare tours major theatre productions, education programs and outreach initiatives to every state and territory in Australia. Performing and teaching in theatres, schools, juvenile justice centres and regional and remote communities, the company enjoys unrivalled reach and impact, further extending its influence through innovative digital programs.
AS YOU LIKE IT
Shakespeare’s joyous romantic comedy is reimagined by Marion Potts for our camera-ready era, where all the men and women really are merely players.
Meet Rosalind – witty, brilliant and brave. When she meets Orlando sparks fly, but before their romance can flourish, she is exiled by her tyrannical uncle, who deems her too popular, too beloved by the people.
Now an outlaw, Rosalind disguises herself as a boy named Ganymede and escapes to the forest with her cousin, Celia. Orlando has his own problems, so he flees to the forest too. And when their paths collide, Rosalind, in disguise, sets about teaching Orlando how to love.
But the Forest of Arden doesn’t play by the rules. Among the runaway lovers, melancholy philosophers, and locals with terrible romantic advice, something dangerous starts to happen.
They become themselves.
Sydney Opera House | 6 March – 4 April (Previews 6, 7, 9, 10 March)
Canberra Theatre Centre | 13 – 17 April (Preview 13 April)
Arts Centre Melbourne | 22 April – 9 May (Preview 22 April)
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
Thrillingly raw and relevant to our times, Measure for Measure is Shakespeare’s razor-sharp drama about temptation, power and hypocrisy.
Overwhelmed by the growing chaos and corruption of the city, the Duke of Vienna steps aside, handing authority to his uncompromising second-in-command, Angelo. But the Duke doesn’t leave town – he dons a disguise and sticks around to watch the experiment unfold.
The puritanical Angelo sets about enforcing long dormant morality laws. When Claudio’s fiancée becomes pregnant, Angelo swiftly sentences him to death. Claudio’s sister, the pure-hearted Isabella, makes an impassioned plea for her brother’s life.
So Angelo makes Isabella an offer: He will release her brother if she sleeps with him.
Director Saro Lusty-Cavallari’s 90-minute production cuts straight to the play’s dark heart. Who judges the judges? And what is one woman’s soul worth, in this strangely familiar city?
The Neilson Nutshell | 3 – 24 July (Previews 3, 4, 6, 7 July)
Arts Centre Melbourne | 29 July – 8 August (Preview 29 July)
MACKENZIE
Back by popular demand after sold-out 2026 seasons in Sydney and Melbourne, Yve Blake’s smash hit Mackenzie returns to Australian stages.
Mackenzie is 13 and she’s booked her first-ever TV gig: a tiny part on a huge kids show. It’s a small start, but Mackenzie’s mum has always felt sure that her baby was destined for superstardom. One day, Mackenzie and her best on-set friend Beau encounter a geriatric make-up artist who is struck with a vision: that Mackenzie will be NUMBER ONE POP GIRL OF THE WORLD.
Directed by the electric Virginia Gay, this hilariously macabre play (with songs) charts Mackenzie’s rise to fame fuelled by a cut-throat stage mum who will stop at absolutely nothing. Set in the heights of early 2000s TV stardom, prepare for a wild ride that will leave you in stitches… and deeply disturbed.
“Mackenzie is something really special – a hilarious, thoughtful take on one of the most adapted plays in the English language.” – The Scoop
Canberra Theatre Centre | 25 – 29 May
Sydney Opera House | 21 July – 14 August (Preview 21 July)
And touring nationally with dates to be announced.
Tickets for Bell Shakespeare’s 2027 Season performances are on sale now.
Download the Season 2027 brochure here.
Website: https://www.bellshakespeare.com.au/season
Socials: Socials: https://www.instagram.com/bellshakespeare/
Hero image credit: Brett Boardman
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