As You Like It!

The forest is calling! This summer, a new company of players, The Midsummer Botanicals, invite audiences to step beneath the trees and into the wild, wondrous world of As You Like It - a sun-soaked celebration of laughter and community blooming in one of Wellington’s gorgeous gardens for the first week of the Wellington Fringe Festival.

Set in a vibrant reimagining of Shakespeare’s Forest of Arden, this production draws on courtyard and marketplace traditions of performance, transforming Wellington’s Aro Valley gem into a living, breathing garden of music, colour, and character. Audiences are invited to arrive early, explore the space, and meet the motley cast of lovers and fools before the story even begins. Expect song, sun, silliness, and the scent of summer roses.

Featuring a 10-person ensemble of local performers, As You Like It is part of a growing movement to re-root live theatre in the community - accessible, inclusive, and joyously alive.

We need your help to make these dreams come to life!

Shakespeare's North Productions is made up of a collection of creatives living and working in Te Whanganui-a-Tara 

Let's meet the team!

• Gabby Clark (he/they) - Producer, Marketing Manager and Design Lead
• Eli Hancock (he/they) - Director, Producer
• Connor Hurnard (he/him) - Composer and Musician
• Angela Pelham (she/her) - Intimacy Director
• Leander Mason (he/him) - Stage Manager
• Katy Comar (she/her) - Assistant Director
• Salomé Neely (they/he) - Costume Design and Performer
• Carys Chapman-Vari (she/her) - Choreographer
• Phoebe Driscole (she/her) - Photography and Design
• EJ Buckingham (she/her) - Design
• Loretta Knights (she/they) - Design

Performers:

• Anna Barker (she/her)
• Tadgh Mackay (he/him)
• Christian Harris (he/him)
• Zoe Claire-Harris (she/her)
• Edie Moore (she/her)
• Brendan West (he/him)
• Ralph Johnson (he/him)
• Chris O'Grady (he/him)
• Katy Comar (she/her)
• Salomé Neely (they/he)

We need your help to make this dream - this process and project - a reality! 

The funding we are requesting will be going towards:

• Artist wages for some of our many key creatives, designers, and performers!  
• Sourcing of props, set, and design materials!
• Bringing our performance to wider audiences; Schools, fairgrounds, you name it!

The Midsummer Botanicals Company is a new step in our creative endeavours- building on the spirit and history of the Summer Shakespeare tradition both here in Aotearoa and around the world.
While we certainly look to build upon the community and spirit of ‘Summer Shakespeare’, an institution Wellington lost in 2023, this new name is a deliberate signal of its intent under new leadership; To be bold, to be open, and to cultivate a community.

This program will grow beyond us- that is our sincerest hope, and become a place for creatives to experiment, explore, and collaborate with everyone from industry professionals to absolute beginners!

Drawing on the tradition of ‘courtyard theatre’, a concept sprung out of Elizabethan England, we aim to take our open air park and transform it into a bustling market reminiscent of renaissance fairs and characterisations.
Audience members will be welcomed into The Aro Park, and engage with the market stalls and colourful characters they meet there! When our play begins and the audience are seated, the townsfolk step forward and begin to craft the world of Shakespeare’s As You Like It before their very eyes.

Our Kaupapa;

• Platform for Local Talent: Our primary goal is to provide a robust platform for local artists to up skill and showcase their talents. We aim to foster an environment where emerging performers, directors, and crew members can gain valuable experience and enhance their craft through hands-on participation in a professional production.
• Addressing Gaps in Theatre Development and Training: SNP aims to provide opportunities for both established and emerging artists to train under experienced industry professionals. This commitment to education will help cultivate a vibrant arts community in Te Whanganui-a-Tara.
• Grounding in Te Ao Māori: We strive to ground our work in Te Ao Māori values and kaupapa, keeping our work intensely relevant to Aotearoa and our people.
• Diversity and inclusion: Shakespeare’s North Productions is committed to a diverse and inclusive company of performers, creatives, crew members and artists.
• Engaging in community care and collaboration: To build a strong company of individuals, enhancing the mana of one another both in our lives and in performance. Building support networks and working in safe communities is a core element of our humanity and basic needs as a society.

What Success looks like for us!

To us, success is two-fold; We want to create a lively, family-friendly experience for our audiences, and we want to build long-lasting connections within our company of actors, artists, and crew, that enrich the lives of the creatives involved!

This project is an attempt at reviving theatre that has community at its heart: 

With accessibility paramount to its success - all the way from our koha ticketing to providing optional face masks, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, sun hats and more - we are seeking to provide an experience that is welcoming to everyone, and allows anyone and everyone to experience the joy of an outdoor Shakespeare production under the summer sun!

However, in an arts climate in distress - with organizations bleeding and venues going under - with global governments cracking down on expression and individuality, forging a living in the arts sector has never been as unsustainable as it is right now, and the work of creatives is the first thing to be cut, neglected, and forgotten when times get tough for society- but it is also the most crucial for a thriving, communal, empathetic world and society!

Help us support the artists bringing our Summer Shakespeare back to life! Help us bring this project to your front doorstep! Help us establish a long-lasting tradition once again!