Do you like it outside?

Over the past two weekends over 500 people enjoyed As You Like It, the first production in a three year collaboration between Tantrum Theatre and Newcastle L!vesites to enliven Newcastle’s parks with family-friendly productions of Shakespeare.

Over the past two weekends over 500 people enjoyed As You Like It, the first production in a three year collaboration between Tantrum Theatre and Newcastle L!vesites to enliven Newcastle’s parks with family-friendly productions of Shakespeare.

This enchanting classic comedy was presented under the stars in two of Newcastle’s most beautiful and unique parks: Richley Reserve at Blackbutt, and Pacific Park in Newcastle East, with two performances staged at the Foreshore Park tram-sheds when the weather took hold of the city.

As You Like It currently sits on the HSC English syllabus and Tantrum has received funding from the NSW government to deliver an As You Like It HSC interactive workshop to eight priority funded schools in the Hunter Region later this year, providing them with a connection to the play and its themes they would otherwise be unable to access.

One parent commented via an audience survey, “What an amazing production. My daughter is in Year 12 this year, which gave her the impetus to come with me, and she was blown away….she left with a much improved understanding of the play as a whole.”

After a hugely successful Newcastle season the production will tour to the annual Gloucester Shakespeare Festival in May 2011 where it will be the main performance attraction. There will be two school shows of As You Like It (19, 20 May) and three public performances (20, 21 May) at the Gloucester Recreation Hall.

Tantrum Theatre, Australia’s gutsiest theatre company for young people and emerging artists, celebrates its 35th birthday this year. The next production in this banner anniversary year will be Treasure Hunt held on Sunday 3 April. Following the success of the inaugural 2010 event this new performance work will invite teams of audience members to search the inner city for clues to a hidden treasure – further evidence that Tantrum Theatre is the most vital and lively company producing work for and by young people in Newcastle and the Hunter.