Come You Spirits are delighted to be the first professional theatre company in years to re-ignite The Haven Amphitheatre in Castlecrag with Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth playing Tuesday 21 to Sunday 26 June 2022.
Who are Come you Spirits?
Come You Spirits is a collective of actors based in Sydney’s Lower North Shore and touring NSW giving a fresh voice to the greatest stories of our time. Full of dynamic pace, movement and complex characters, the performances of Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet are opposites in narrative but equals in life-affirming declaration. Fast, furious, and full of heart. We’ve taken a unique approach to performance – uniting ancient tradition and the basic human energies of the heart, the masculine and feminine, drive, truth, vision, our connection to the land and the pursuit of something greater.
How do you use sound in the shows?
The soundscape takes the audience on a journey. The actors are amplified to allow for full vocal range in performance and the speakers in the space are supported by large, wooden, constructed flat reflector sheets that look like monoliths from Stonehenge. These are positioned at specific points that hold the principles of sacred geometry and temple building.
How will the plays work at The Haven Amphitheatre?
The Haven is magical and enchanting. Romeo & Juliet will be performed during daylight and Macbeth in the evening. Tuesday 21st June marks the solstice and that first performance will be held at sunrise. The intense burst of dawn sunlight activates the space, and releases serotonin in everyone’s brain, your joy hormone, kicking out the sleep hormone melatonin. When this happens during a show like Romeo & Juliet being performed for you in nature, you buzz with vitality.
For the evening shows, we have our own lighting, candlelight, flambeaux and hopefully a fire pit as well. Celebrating the natural landscape, most of the acting takes place across the space, the actors being on various levels moving amongst the audience, including the accessibility area on the road, which is actually part of the designated performance space.
By having only four actors playing four characters who tell the whole story of both plays, it means that the narrative is simplified. Audiences who have seen our shows say they felt equally invested with all four characters, not just the protagonists.
A little more about the cast
We’re four experienced professional actors who have worked internationally and across Australia, seasoned in Shakespeare and classical theatre, film and TV.
Venue: The Haven Amphitheatre, Castlecrag, Sydney
Season Dates:
21 June 2022 – Romeo & Juliet at 6:30am (special dawn performance to mark the start of the Winter Solstice) and Macbeth at 6:30pm
25 June 2022 – Romeo & Juliet at 10:30am and Macbeth at 6:30pm
26 June 2022 – Romeo & Juliet at 10:30am and Macbeth at 6:30pm
Visit: www.comeyouspirits.com
Photo – Sontaan Hopson and Jo Bloom. Credit – Tim Clarke