Events
In the event of rain…
While some venues may press on in all weathers, they have a “firmament” over their stage and our actors may struggle reading from sodden scripts. Readings will often go ahead in the face of light showers
But if the weather is looking doubtful, please check here on the afternoon before reading for the latest advice.
Play readings are free of charge. And there are no seats! Feel free to bring your own.
2025 call for submissions
Submissions to direct a reading of the following plays will close on Monday 28 April 2025.
18 May 2025 Anthony and Cleopatra
15 June 2025 Pericles
20 July 2025 Cymbeline
17 Aug 2025 The Winter’s Tale
21 Sept 2025 The Tempest
19 Oct 2025 Henry VIII
16 Nov 2025 The Noble Kinsmen
Please check out the Call for Submissions which contains a link to an online form to make a submission.
Note that due to the brief lead time, a director has been chosen and rehearsals are already underway for the first reading:
27 April 2025 Coriolanus directed by Jason Dohle
Macbeth
directed by Grace Edwards
I intend to use the presence of the witches to represent the strength of supernatural forces on Macbeth at any given point. In addition to the scenes where they have dialogue, I intend to include some or all of them in other scenes throughout the play with various levels of agency – sometimes as observers (either on stage, on various levels of the balconies, or sitting amongst the audience), sometimes as silent participants (e.g., as household servants or non-speaking lords), sometimes double-cast in other roles (e.g., as the Murderers, the Porter, the Doctor, etc), but retaining a symbolic piece of costuming and/or vocal delivery style that identifies them to the audience as supernatural beings By quickly establishing this as a convention of the reading, my intention is that the moments where the witches are physically absent will convey plot progressions that are the result of decisions made out of Macbeth’s free will as opposed to supernatural predetermination.
King Lear
directed by Katherine de Vere
A free rehearsed play reading on the stage of the only permanent reconstructed Elizabethan theatre in the southern hemisphere.
Othello
directed by Saar Weston
A free rehearsed play reading on the stage of the only permanent reconstructed Elizabethan theatre in the southern hemisphere.
Measure for Measure
directed by Kerry Bowden
A free rehearsed play reading on the stage of the only permanent reconstructed Elizabethan theatre in the southern hemisphere.
All's Well That Ends Well
directed by Clare Talbot
A free rehearsed play reading on the stage of the only permanent reconstructed Elizabethan theatre in the southern hemisphere.
Hamlet
directed by Genevieve Moran
My approach to directing Hamlet would centre around these three energies- the intellect (head), emotion (heart), and physicality (the entire body). I would ask the actors to consider which of these energies their character is predominantly operating from, or whether they oscillate, and what effect this has on their character’s journey. I would work with the actors on embodiment methods and techniques, in order to facilitate an exploration and portrayal of each character’s relationship to their physical body.
A free rehearsed play reading on the stage of the only permanent reconstructed Elizabethan theatre in the southern hemisphere.
Troilus and Cressida
A free rehearsed play reading on the stage of the only permanent reconstructed Elizabethan theatre in the southern hemisphere.
Twelfth Night
directed by Jenny de Reuck and Andrew Kocsis
Directors Emeritus Associate Professor Jenny de Reuck and Dr Andrew Kocsis direct a troupe of academic/practitioners whose methodological approaches are predominantly practice-as-research and theory-in-practice. We wish to explore Twelfth Night through minimal staging (either a costume box or a costume rack) with the actors wearing basic modern blacks. Actors will clearly be presented as a ‘performers’ and will take their costume pieces or props (which will have a recognisably Elizabethan element) and add them to their blacks: this means that costumes and props will be a clear combination of modern and Elizabethan elements.
A free rehearsed play reading on the stage of the only permanent reconstructed Elizabethan theatre in the southern hemisphere.
As You Like It - Summer Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s summer comedy in the New Fortune Theatre with peacocks at The University of Western Australia
King John
directed by Jenny de Reuck and Sarah Courtis
This event will be a free play reading in the New Fortune Theatre at The University of Western Australia.
Romeo and Juliet
directed by Jason Dohle
This event will be a free play reading in the New Fortune Theatre at The University of Western Australia.
Love’s Labour’s Lost
directed by Sarah Courtis
This event will be a free play reading in the New Fortune Theatre at The University of Western Australia.
Richard II
directed by Patrick Downes
This event will be a free play reading in the New Fortune Theatre at The University of Western Australia.
Jess Lally - Richard II
Sarah Courtis - Henry Bolingbroke
Marie-Ève Cigna - Queen Isabella
Trent Baker - John of Gaunt/Bishop of Carlisle
Michael Lamont - Duke of York
Alan Gill - Aumerle
Kaitlyn Barry - Thomas Mowbray/Henry Percy
Grace Edwards - Northumberland
Jason Dohle - Green/Westminster/Gardener
Thomas Dimmick - Salisbury/Lord Marshall/Groom
Amanda Ash - Ross/Herald/Gardener's Man
Savannah Banks - Duchess of Gloucestershire
Joanne Lamont - Duchess of York/Lady 2
Sarah Lewis - Welsh Captain/Servant/Keeper/Lady 1
Stephanie Ferguson - Bushy/Sir Stephen Scroop
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
directed by Genevieve Moran
cast:
THESEUS: Dean McAskil
HIPPOLYTA: Sophie Strahan
PHILOSTRATE: Savannah Banks
EGEUS: Amanda Jean Ash
HERMIA: Sarah Thillagaratnam
DEMETRIUS: Adam Gannon
LYSANDER: Tony Petani
HELENA: Astrid Dainton
QUINCE: Sarah Guillot
BOTTOM: Adam James Poole
FLUTE: Christine Ellis
STARVELING: Maroeska Mandl
SNOUT: Amanda Jean Ash
SNUG: Beccy Sydney-Smith
PUCK: Sarah Diggins
OBERON: Eddie Stowers
TITANIA: Genevieve Moran
PEASEBLOSSOM: Astrid Dainton
COBWEB: Beccy Sydney-Smith
MOTH: Sophie Strahan
MUSTARD-SEED: Maroeska Mandl
This event will be a free play reading in the New Fortune Theatre at The University of Western Australia.
Comedy of Errors
directed by Grant Malcolm
Maroeska Mandl
Ruhama Rowe
Clare Talbot
Christine Ellis
Savannah Banks
Frank Moore
Amanda Jean Ash
Tony Petani
Grant Malcolm
This event will be a free play reading in the New Fortune Theatre at The University of Western Australia.
Edward III
directed by Michael McCall
This event will be a free play reading in the New Fortune Theatre at The University of Western Australia.
Edward the Third, King of England - Grant Malcolm
Edward, Prince of Wales, his son - Alex Comstock
Earl of Warwick - William Everett-Knight
Earl of Derby - Frank Moore
Earl of Salisbury - Jason Dohle
Lord Audley - Ellis Kinnear
Lord Percy - Clare Talbot
Lodwick, Edward’s confidant - Frank Moore
Sir William Mountague - Jason Dohle
Sir John Copland - Genevieve Moran
Two Esquires, and a herald, English - TBC
Robert, styling himself Earl, of Artois - Matt Lister
Earl of Mountford (or Montfort) - Matt Lister
Gobin de Grey - TBC
John, King of France - Nicolas Kadmos
Charles, his son - Matt Lister
Philip, his son - Adam Gannon
Duke of Lorrain - William Everett-Knight
Villiers, a French lord - Ellis Kinnear
King of Bohemia, Aid to King John - TBC
A Polish Captain, Aid to King John - Clare Talbot
POOR and Six citizens of Calais - Adam Gannon
A Captain, and a poor inhabitant, of the same - TBC
Another Captain; a mariner - Adam Gannon
David, King of Scotland - Ellis Kinnear
Earl Douglas - Clare Walton
Two messengers, Scotch - Savannah Banks/Adam Gannon
Philippa, Edward’s Queen - Ruhama Rowe
Countess of Salisbury - Genevieve Moran
A French woman - Savannah Banks
Lords, and divers other attendants; heralds, officers, soldiers, etc.
Richard III
directed by Sophie Strahan
This reading will also commemorate Shakespeare’s birthday a few days later on 26 April!
In this messy, fun production of Richard III we focus in on the actors themselves. Instead of traditionally casting roles, actors have been assigned different scenes, giving them the the opportunity to play with different moments. Richard III is often considered Shakespeare’s greatest villain and while he can get pretty dark, when a character turns to wink at the audience about what he just did… well, you can’t take him too seriously. So come on down to the New Fortune Theatre and see how taken aback he is when you wink back!
This event will be a free play reading in the New Fortune Theatre at The University of Western Australia.
Este Breytenbach: Queen Elizabeth
Alec Furderer: King Edward IV/ Buckingham/ York
Asvira: Duchess of York
Benjamin Quirk: Clarence/ Lady Anne/ Richmond
Emily Jenkins: Queen Margaret/ Duchess of York/ Richard III
Billie Daly: Richard III/ Buckingham
Megan Lilley: Queen Elizabeth/ Clarence/ Lady Anne
Anna Quercia-Thomas: Buckingham/ Richard III/ Prince Edward/ Bishop of Ely
Kat Morrell: York/ Queen Elizabeth
Beth Williams: Richard III/ Queen Margaret
Jason Dohle: Richard III
Lucy Nunn: Buckingham/Catesby/Others
Romeo and Juliet
directed by Sarah Guillot
7:30pm, 9 - 12 & 16 - 19 March
Duration: 2h 30m, including one interval
Tickets $20 - $30 including groups discounts and concessions
LOVE IS REVOLUTIONARY!
Against the backdrop of a bitter feud between their noble families and a tense political situation, a pair of young lovers meet. Despite the bloody hostility between their families they vow their love to each other. Could their revolutionary love finally bring peace to these warring houses?
Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy is stunningly retold as a modern-dress adaptation in the open-air of UWA’s New Fortune Theatre.
2022 Submissions of Interest
2022 Submissions of interest for the New Fortune Theatre Project
Titus Andronicus
directed by Michael McCall
“What I intend to do is capture the visceral essence of Titus Andronicus. That entails an in-yer-face approach, which will involve seated actors playing centrally in the space, but also placing them in the seating and aisles for more dynamic entrances and exits – keeping the audience on their toes. I am also keen to develop theatrical conventions for Titus Andronicus (using food to represent mutilation, for instance, that will be supported vocally by the actor on stage, white sheets that will be spattered with “blood”), particularly around the way characters are dispatched, but still acknowledging the sensitivities around certain characters’ traumatic experiences, particularly Titus’s daughter.”
Henry VI Part 3
directed by Sarah Guillot
“It is a delight to be able to use the New Fortune Theatre in full. As much of the play is based at court, I will utilise the main stage as the playing area for these scenes. Scenes that happen outside of court will be performed in the pit or side aisles as much as possible, apart from the final battle scenes, adding to the sense of the court being insular and removed from the realities of the common people.”