“Thou can’st not speak of that thou dost not feel..."
It takes a village to kill a child.
The existential crisis facing our world today, the product of a lack of practical leadership from our earth’s elders, has triggered a deafening chorus of ‘How dare you!’, screamed from the heart of our planet’s youth. And it’s not just about climate issues. What can children teach us in their struggle to be heard?
Sport for Jove’s furiously energetic new production of Romeo & Juliet is characterised by a true vision of today’s youth - the rarely seen innovation of actual teenagers playing the play’s children – Juliet, Romeo, Paris, Mercutio, Benvolio, Balthazar, all aged 14-18, and surrounded by an extraordinary cast of experienced players, gives this production an authenticity and honest rawness, danger and the genuine awkwardness of youth.
Director Damien Ryan’s production takes on the spirit of a filthy Italian opera, lead with an original acapella vocal score by Naomi and Drew Livingston, driven by heat and sensuality, chaos, fights and fevers of the mind, and of course, by Shakespeare’s soaring poetry. We are carries us to backcountry Verona, a profoundly insular town, trapped in cycles of tradition and vendetta, staring out at the future with moral pollution at its heart. Only its children’s courage to express themselves will bring change. With the mad blood stirring, two young lovers meet and set in motion the most iconic love story of all time, that of Juliet and her Romeo.
Join us under the stars in our 11th Summer Season for this heart-stopping production of the star-crossed lovers.
Dates
8pm Saturday 21 December – Preview
8pm Sunday 22 December – Opening Night
8pm 27 Friday December
8pm 28 Saturday December
8pm 29 Sunday December
8pm 30 Monday December
Tickets
Adult $42, Concession* $32, Groups 10+ $30, Family bundle (2 Adult, 2 Concession) $120, Children 9 and under are free.
Come once or come see both shows and get an extra 20% discount off tickets on the second show.
*Eligible concessions are: Student Cards (full time), Pension Cards, Senior Cards, MEAA members
Companion Cards accepted to all performances. Please book you ticket/s to your preferred performance then email support@ticketbooth.com.au with proof of companion card and the confirmation ID for your purchase order to receive your complimentary companion ticket.
Seating
There are plastic outdoor chairs provided as well as a small grandstand. You are welcome to bring your own camp chairs, or a rug to sit on the ground, but there will be plenty of seating available if you don't bring your own.
Bella Vista Farm is an accessible venue. Public access will be through GATE 2 where there is accessible parking and accessible toilets, there is also another block of accessible toilets at the other end of the farm.
All measures to provide the most accessible venue possible have been made, but it should be noted that Bella Vista Farm is a working farm and does not have concrete paths. There is grass matting and hard dirt paths for wheelchair access between the two performance sites.
PLEASE NOTE
Summer Season is an open-air and all weather event. The performance area and audience seating is completely uncovered. The event is an all-weather experience, and Sport For Jove Theatre Company is committed to going ahead with a performance even in unfavourable weather conditions, unless there is a concern for the general safety of the actors and audience by attending the show. The decision to move a performance indoors can be made up until 30 minutes before the show begins and a cancellation may also be called during the performance. A show is considered to be performed once 60% of it has been staged and it will not be moved indoors if conditions require the remaining portion of the performance outdoors to be cancelled.
Ticket holders are encouraged to follow the Sport For Jove Wet Weather hotline at (02) 9990 7708 for the most current update regarding a plays' status that day.
You can read the full terms and conditions here.
Better a witty fool than a foolish wit
The twelfth night is the last day of the Christmas cycle, a night of madness where the world turns upside down, where grief and joy and laughter and tears are all one. When mere mortals have the power to choose who they are, what they believe in and who they may love. In this rollicking production from director Christopher Stollery, music and mayhem will fill the summer night.
When Viola is shipwrecked on a
Thou can’st not speak of that thou dost not feel...
It takes a village to kill a child.
Sport for Jove's Summer Season is an annual event, staged in partnership with the Hills Shire Council, the Festival is a repertory season of plays produced by SFJ at Bella Vista Farm Park throughout December each year.
The Summer Season is the brainchild of Hills residents Damien and Bernadette Ryan and was launched as Shakespeare in the Rose Garden in 2009 at the Roxborough Park Rose Garden with Damien’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Since then the festival has presented SFJ’s productions of Romeo & Juliet, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth among others; utilising big casts of professional emerging and seasoned artists, Sport for Jove's Summer Season has become a signature event for the Hills District and an anticipated feature of the Sydney Theatre calendar.
Sport for Jove Theatre, Resident Theatre Company of the Seymour Centre, is an award winning NSW-based repertory theatre company producing a major touring summer festival of outdoor Shakespeare in Australia, along with theatrical and education-based seasons of classical and new works in Sydney theatre venues. The company also provides an interactive Education program to NSW schools.
Sport for Jove theatre is an unfunded independent company. We love telling stories. If you love our stories and want to help see more of them come to life on stage, please consider donating. "A thousand thanks" – Shakespeare.
Phone: +61 (02) 8970 1921
Email: info@sportforjove.com.au
