Community
21 February, 2025
An enchanting evening for milestone
MAGIC is building in the air at the Camperdown Botanic Gardens as Ozact gears up for its annual performance of William Shakespeare’s works next month.
The theatre company will be performing the Shakespearean comedy ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ on March 15 and 16, with the show set to begin at 2pm on both days.
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ follows three storylines, with all three intersecting within the forest setting.
Two lovers flee an arranged marriage, pursued into the forest by the arranged husband and the would-be bride’s friend who is in love with the would-be husband.
In the forest, the king and queen of fairies argue, with the king of fairies asking a mischievous fairy to put a love spell on the queen before interfering with the two sets of lovers.
Meanwhile, an amateur theatre troupe rehearses a play for the Duke of Athens’ wedding and ends up entangled in the other two storylines when a fairy gives one of the performers an ass’ head and the fairy queen falls in love with him.
Ozact assistant production manager Kim Devitt, who will be playing Hermia, Tom Snout and a singing fairy in the play, said ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is one of the most performed and well-loved of Shakespeare’s comedies, with love, drama, humor and magic abound.
“This is my first year of working with Ozact, but Ozact has been performing in Camperdown at the Camperdown Botanic Gardens since 2017,” she said.
“That performance was Macbeth – not one of the comedies, but one of the tragedies – but to this day, it’s one of the largest crowds that has ever attended an Ozact performance.
“Camperdown is one of our most supportive audience spaces - I’m really looking forward to performing there because everyone says there’s always been big crowds expected and people are really happy to talk to us.
“I came with Matt Young and Sorcha Breen a couple of weeks ago – we drove through putting up our posters all around town – and it actually took us a lot longer than we anticipated because every time I went into a store, everyone was just so open, friendly and ready to have a chat.
“Everyone’s got a strong connection with Ozact and is looking forward to having us back which feels really welcoming.”
This performance will also form part of the company’s 30-year anniversary, having been started in 1995 by theatre enthusiast Bruce Widdop.
This year’s production will be directed by Ozact veteran Matt Young – who also stars as Oberon – and promises to be a celebration of the company’s 30-year legacy.
“I look forward to the Autumn tour every year because it gives us the chance to venture further out of the city and explore the countryside,” Mr Young said.
“One of our core values as a company is to bring high quality productions to regional areas, and we’re privileged to be able to perform in so many spectacular and varied environments.
“For this play in particular, our locations really enhance and transform the performance.
“It’s a pleasure to see how the actors adapt to each environment.”
Mrs Devitt said this year’s performance would also be bittersweet.
“This will be the first year that we’re coming to Camperdown without the founders Bruce and Lisa Widdop, who passed away in 2022 and 2024,” she said.
“It’s our 30th anniversary production, but also the first time that we’ve come to Camperdown without them.
“It’s exciting that we’ve been going for 30 years, and have been at Camperdown since 2017, but also bittersweet because it’s the first year without the founders.”
Mrs Devitt said Ozact aimed to make Shakespeare’s plays more accessible and enjoyable for audiences, many of whom would have read Shakespeare as part of schooling.
“It’s always very family-friendly – we anticipate the crowds we always had at Camperdown and are looking forward to having a chat because we find Camperdown is the community most likely to have a chat with us,” she said.
“We want to bring people to new locations they might not have been to before – meaning locals coming to the Camperdown Botanic Gardens and our other locations as well.
“We love getting people engaged with Shakespeare’s work, giving children another outlet that might not be sport.
“We hope to get children into the arts and theatre and bring these performance opportunities out to these communities for them to see.”
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