BY DIRECTOR PETER EVANS

MEDIA CONTACT OPERA HOUSE SALLY BUCKINGHAM 29 FEBRUARY – 4 APRIL P +61 2 8298 9063 M +61 422 134 042 CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE [email protected] 9 – 18 APRIL

ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE 23 APRIL – 10 MAY Media Kit

MEDIA Bell Shakespeare presents Shakespeare’s iconic revenge tragedy Hamlet RELEASE for its first production for 2020, directed by Artistic Director Peter Evans.

Inside the glamorous court of Denmark in the 1960s, a family is torn apart by murder and betrayal. Outside, a country is threatened by Norway. And at the centre of this struggle is a young man brimming with anguish.

Featuring Harriet Gordon-Anderson as Hamlet and the multi award-winning star of stage and screen Lisa McCune as Hamlet’s mother Gertrude, this is a portrait of a young man struggling with the death of his father, his mother’s hasty remarriage to his uncle, and the vision of his father’s ghost looming in his mind’s eye.

Gordon-Anderson was last on the Bell Shakespeare stage in The Miser in 2019. This will be McCune’s first production with the Company.

Joining them on stage will be Jeremi Campese, Tony Cogin, Jack Crumlin, James Evans, James Lugton, Jane Mahady, Robert Menzies, Sophie Wilde and Aanisa Vylet.

Peter Evans said, “We decided to do Hamlet in 2020 because it’s Bell Shakespeare’s 30th anniversary. It was the first work Bell Shakespeare ever staged, and what better time to revisit what is arguably Shakespeare’s most famous play?

“Hamlet is an astonishing work of art. It’s a ghost story and it’s a story of revenge; a story of passion and deception. It’s fast and energetic and mysterious. It is a privilege to be working with this talented cast and creative team to place a new lens over this timeless work for audiences in 2020.”

The creative team includes Designer Anna Tregloan, Lighting Designer Ben Cisterne, Composer and Sound Designer Max Lyandvert, Movement and Fight Director Nigel Poulton, Voice and Text Coach Jess Chambers and Dramaturg James Evans.

SEASON PLAYHOUSE, DETAILS 29 February – 4 April 2020 Sydneyoperahouse.com

THE PLAYHOUSE, CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE 9 – 18 April 2020 canberratheatrecentre.com.au

FAIRFAX STUDIO, ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE 23 April – 10 May artscentremelbourne.com.au

Media Contact: Sally Buckingham P +61 2 8298 9063 2 [email protected] M +61 422 134 042 Hamlet Media Kit

CAST CREATIVE TEAM WITH AND CREW Director Peter Evans Harriet Gordon-Anderson as Hamlet Designer Anna Tregloan Jeremi Campese as Rosencrantz / Lighting Designer Benjamin Cisterne Marcellus Composer & Sound Designer Tony Cogin as Ghost / Player King / Max Lyandvert Gravedigger Video Designer Laura Turner Jack Crumlin as Laertes / Player Movement & Fight Director James Evans as Horatio Nigel Poulton James Lugton as Claudius Voice & Text Coach Jess Chambers Jane Mahady as Guildenstern / Reynaldo / Assistant Director Abbie-lee Lewis Barnardo Dramaturg James Evans Lisa McCune as Gertrude Robert Menzies as Polonius Aanisa Vylet as Player Queen / Second Gravedigger / Osric Sophie Wilde as Ophelia

PETER EVANS Peter Evans is Bell Shakespeare’s Artistic Director. For Bell Shakespeare he DIRECTOR has directed The Miser, , Richard 3, , , , The Dream, Tartuffe, Phèdre, Macbeth, , , The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, and Intimate Letters with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. His other theatre credits include being Associate Director at Melbourne Theatre Company from 2007-2010, directing Clybourne Park, A Behanding in Spokane, Life Without Me, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, The Ugly One, The Grenade, God Of Carnage, Savage River, Realism, The Hypocrite, Blackbird, Don Juan In Soho, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The History Boys, Don’s Party, The Give And Take, Dumbshow and The Daylight Atheist. In addition, credits include Pygmalion, The Great, Fat Pig and The Give And Take for ; Hamlet, Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, King Lear, Copenhagen, Proof, Muldoon and The Christian Brothers for New Zealand’s Court Theatre; The Daylight Atheist for Queensland Theatre Company; The Yellow Wallpaper and A Poor Student for the Store Room at Malthouse Theatre; Jesus Hopped The A Train for Red Stitch Actors Theatre; Kiss Of The Spiderwoman for Theatre Adami at the SBW Stables; and The Dumb Waiter for the Studio Company at .

Media Contact: Sally Buckingham P +61 2 8298 9063 3 [email protected] M +61 422 134 042 Hamlet Media Kit

HARRIET Harriet is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. GORDON- For Bell Shakespeare she has appeared in The Miser. Her other theatre credits ANDERSON include Picnic at Hanging Rock for Malthouse/Black Swan; Kindertransport for _ Darlinghurst Theatre Company; You Got Older, Blue Christmas, and Leaves for Kings Cross Theatre; and Lifestyle of the Richard and Family for Next Wave HAMLET Festival. Harriet’s film credits include The Greenhouse, Swiss Avalanche and Splendours of a Mind. Her television credits include Mr Inbetween, Love Child and The Secret Daughter. Harriet was nominated for a Green Room Award and a Performance WA Award for Best Newcomer in 2016. Harriet is a proud member of MEAA.

OUR STORY BELL SHAKESPEARE

With little more than an audacious idea, Bell Shakespeare began its remarkable journey in 1990. That idea? To create a theatre company dedicated to producing the plays of William Shakespeare in a way that was relevant and exciting to Australian audiences.

But in the process, Bell Shakespeare has gone further than its visionary founder John Bell could ever have hoped. It has, quite literally, become a brave teacher in the ‘school of life’. The stage has become the springboard from which the Company has dived into some extraordinary work.

Through incredible touring productions and education programmes, Bell Shakespeare is using Shakespeare’s universal insights to bring inspiration and truth to minds living in an uncertain world. And, of course it is connecting beauty and art with imaginations of all ages.

Now 30 years later, Bell Shakespeare enjoys the fruits of its labour: a history rich with legends of the stage; the establishment of a creative development arm; theatre, education and community programmes characterised by unrivalled national reach and impact; and a loyal and passionate audience that has made the Company that began in a circus tent a national icon.

Media Contact: Sally Buckingham P +61 2 8298 9063 4 [email protected] M +61 422 134 042