Shakespeare Festival Returns to Queens Park, Toowoomba

The stage is set for USQ’s Shakespeare in the Park Festival to return to Toowoomba’s favourite park with a spectacular open-air season of Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The quintessential ‘park’ play will be retold by an outstanding cast of professional and student actors on a star-lit stage in Queens Park.

The fantastic, multi-layered production will fuse ‘age old’ with ‘modern’ in an eclectic mix of styles reflecting Director Scott Alderdice and Designer Carolyn Taylor-Smith’s shared aesthetic for the dynamism created when fusing fashions and environments from different eras and cultures.

A six-metre-tall floral bloom created from over sixty donated and found wedding dresses will provide the stunning backdrop which reflects a 400 year history of love and lovers.

Shakespeare’s play is a fantastically funny mix of lamenting lovers, a mischievous sprite, feuding fairies, a wayward love potion and an unsuspecting troupe of amateur actors.

Scott Alderdice speaks with FM Radio’s Gordon Patterson about the production

Lead roles are taken by Sasha Janowicz (Oberon/Theseus), Lauren O’Rourke (Titania/Hippolyta), Christopher Hunter (Demetrius), Emily Curtin (Helena), Kate Murphy (Hermia), Mathew A Walsh ( Lysander) and  Hannah Ellis (Puck).

 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream will run from 7-9 and 13-15 October, commencing at 6.30pm each night. Gates open from 5.30pm and audiences are encouraged to come along early and enjoy a twilight picnic dinner before the show. The site is licensed for BYO alcohol, with picnic dinners, hot drinks and treats available from the on-site vendors.

Tickets can be purchased through the Empire Theatre Box Office on 1300 655 299 or at the gate each night from 5.30pm.

For further information about this year’s Festival, visit www.usq.edu.au/shakespeare