Bell Shakespeare
Bell Shakespeare — the national touring Shakespeare company
Bell Shakespeare is Australia’s only national Shakespeare company and the most-toured of the major theatre companies. Founded by John Bell in 1990 and now under artistic director Peter Evans (with Bell continuing as an emeritus presence), the company runs a typical year of two mainstage Shakespeare productions plus one Shakespeare-adjacent contemporary work, all of which tour nationally to roughly thirty venues from the capital cities to regional centres. The company is unusual in Australian theatre for not having a single home venue — Sydney is the headquarters and the rehearsal base, but the Sydney run is typically the same length and the same priority as the Melbourne or Brisbane run, with the regional tour bracketing the capital runs.
What they’re known for
Bell Shakespeare’s identity sits on three pillars: the canonical Shakespeare repertoire delivered in clean, intelligent productions that prioritise the language; an aggressive national-touring commitment that brings each production to roughly thirty venues a year; and a substantial education programme that’s been running in schools and regional centres since the company’s founding. The company is the closest thing Australia has to a Shakespeare specialist — every actor on the mainstage roster has worked the language repeatedly, and the verse-coaching standard is the highest in the country.
Recent productions that have defined the company in the last decade — Hamlet with Harriet Gordon-Anderson, Macbeth, The Lovers, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, the Antony and Cleopatra with Catherine McClements — have toured for twelve to eighteen months from the Sydney premiere through to the regional close.
Home venues
- Sydney Opera House — Drama Theatre — the principal Sydney mainstage.
- Seymour Centre, University of Sydney — used for the smaller-scale and education-adjacent productions.
- Arts Centre Melbourne — Fairfax Studio — the principal Melbourne mainstage.
- QPAC — Cremorne Theatre — Brisbane mainstage.
- Canberra Theatre Centre — The Playhouse — Canberra mainstage.
The season pattern — and how to book
Bell Shakespeare announces its annual programme in late September. The pattern is consistent: the major mainstage Shakespeare opens in Sydney in late February or March, transfers to Melbourne in April-May, then tours regionally through June-September with mid-tour stops in Brisbane and Canberra. The second-half-of-year production opens in Sydney in August-September and follows the same pattern through to December.
Single tickets for the Sydney premiere season open in early November of the previous year; for the regional touring legs they typically open three to four months before the local visit. The marquee productions sell out weeks in advance; the touring legs into smaller centres usually have availability up to opening night.
Planning a trip
The Bell Shakespeare touring schedule is the easiest way for a regional or interstate audience to see top-tier Shakespeare without flying interstate — the company plays Albury, Bendigo, Toowoomba, Cairns, Mandurah, Mount Gambier, Ulverstone, Geelong, Wollongong and Newcastle most years. We’d treat a Bell Shakespeare regional weekend as one of the better cultural-tourism propositions in the country: a touring-quality production at a fraction of the capital-city ticket price, in a heritage regional theatre, paired with a country town worth spending the weekend in.
For Sydney audiences, the Drama Theatre at the Opera House is the typical home; the Seymour Centre run for the smaller productions is an easy walk from Newtown if you want to pair the show with dinner. David’s standing recommendation for first-time Shakespeare attendees is the company’s lighter comedies — Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors — over the heavier tragedies.
Tour reach beyond the capitals
Bell Shakespeare’s regional tour is the deepest in Australian theatre. A typical mainstage production reaches thirty regional venues a year, including Albury Entertainment Centre, Empire Theatre Toowoomba, Capital Theatre Bendigo, Gold Coast Arts Centre, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, Geraldton Queens Park Theatre and Burnie Arts and Function Centre. The education touring programme reaches several hundred regional schools each year. International touring is occasional — the company has played Edinburgh and Stratford-upon-Avon in recent years.
Useful links
- Official: bellshakespeare.com.au
- Where we cover them: Companies, Reviews, Regional Touring