Last chance to experience Pop-up Globe before it goes global

Kicking off on December 13, Pop-up Globe’s 2019/2020 season is a celebration of a momentous moment in an epic journey which has bought the gift of spectacular Shakespeare to over 350,000 New Zealanders and has employed 125 kiwi actors over a staggering 1206 performances.

This will be the last chance for kiwis to experience Pop-up Globe in a stellar farewell season which will mark a new chapter for the company, as the temporary Auckland theatre will be dismantled in 2020 and the company will then focus on international touring.

“Naturally, the decision to finally pop down for good in Auckland is bittersweet – it is where Pop-up Globe started, it is where we produce all our work, and it is due to the extraordinary support of so many people and organisations that Pop-up Globe exists at all. But wherever we tour in the world, we will aim to make New Zealanders proud that their support started us off,” says Pop-up Globe’s Artistic Director and founder Dr Miles Gregory.

Pop-up Globe’s farewell Auckland season, “The Summer of Love”, presented by Anthony Harper will feature a brand-new flagship production of Romeo & Juliet directed by Miles Gregory & the return of Miriama McDowell’s hugely popular Much Ado About Nothing, playing Fri 13 December – 1 March.

The season is on sale now. Audiences are encouraged to book well ahead of time as the season is expected to sell out. No extensions are possible. Book at www.popupglobe.co.nz.

To celebrate our long-standing relationship with law firm Anthony Harper, they have signed on as our naming rights sponsor for the final Auckland season.

“We are delighted our sponsor Anthony Harper will be presenting our last NZ summer season,“ Gregory says, “and to celebrate the remarkable partnership between our firms, for this final season we are renaming our Auckland playhouse the Anthony Harper Pop-up Globe theatre.”

All shows will be performed in the Anthony Harper Pop-up Globe at Ellerslie Racecourse with delightful garden bars on-site and plenty of on-site free parking.

“Since the beginning our mission has been to pop up in the great cities of the world and delight audiences with the extraordinary experience of Shakespeare’s masterworks performed in their original space and style. This has always been a hugely ambitious goal,” Gregory says, adding “We now have the partners, team and the work to be able to make this dream come true.”

The Pop-up Globe whānau has been working hard for years to create a template that allows productions of the highest quality to take on the challenge of international touring with the best chance of success. It’s been an incredible adventure that has been peppered with great achievements and steep learning curves.

After 3.5 years and 5 seasons the company is now at a stage both creatively and technically where it is producing its very best work at a world-class level. The time has come to pop down in Auckland and make the Pop-up Globe an export of which kiwis can all be proud. But not before one last incredible season of work which will deliver NZ audiences the Pop-up Globe experience at the top of its game.

“We will retain our headquarters, and our production and rehearsal facilities in Auckland, employing New Zealanders and supporting our international touring, “ Gregory explains, “And we’ll continue to fly the flag for Kiwi innovation and creativity around the world for years to come.”

Pop-up Globe popped up in Auckland in 2016 as a one-off event to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. It was the dream of Shakespeare scholar Miles Gregory who had the idea after reading his daughter Nancy a pop-up book which featured the original Globe in London.

Nancy’s enthusiasm to see the Globe seeded the idea which resulted, just 15 months later, in the Pop-up Globe taking over a carpark in Auckland’s CBD for a historic debut season.

Partnering with an old school friend Tobias Grant, who bought into what others said was an impossible vision, the duo put all of their resources on the line to deliver what was to become a smash-hit in the NZ entertainment and arts scene without a penny of Creative New Zealand funding. Miles’ dream became a reality and the project became more successful than they could ever have hoped.

Facts and Stats on the phenomenal success of Pop-up Globe over the last 4 years:
• 650,000+ attendances at Pop-up Globe and counting (Includes Auckland, NZ Tour & Australian shows).
• 212 individual acting jobs created and filled by 125 different actors.
• 8 different seasons have been staged (five in Auckland, two in Australia, plus a nationwide tour).
• 17 brand new productions have been created in-house, and Pop-up Globe been host to 13 visiting productions/events.
• To date there have been 1206 performances at Pop-up Globe.
• The most popular productions, Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream, have both been performed 130 times each in NZ and Australia.
• Pop-up Globe’s most capped player has given 549 performances. There are 13 other actors who have performed over 250 times on their stage.
• The company has performed in 8 Cities in New Zealand and 2 cities in Australia (soon 3 with upcoming Perth season)
• 1,000+ individual costume pieces have been created.
Awards:
• New Zealand Event Awards: Best Regional event 2016 & 2017
• Winner of 8 Sydney BroadwayWorld.com theatre awards (28 Nominations)
Best Play – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Best Director of a Play – Miles Gregory for A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Best Costume Design – Bob Capocci & Shona Tawhiao for A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Best Choreography – Brigid Costello for A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Best Actor in a Play – Max Loban for A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Best Actress in a Play – Sarah Griffen for The Merchant of Venice
Best Supporting Actor in a Play – Chris Huntly-Turner for A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The Pop-up Globe Farewell Season “Summer of Love” Presented by Anthony Harper

Romeo and Juliet - Justly regarded as Shakespeare's tragic masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet enchants audiences with a spell-binding mix of comedy, love, poetry and - ultimately - tragedy. This new production, directed by Pop-up Globe's Artistic Director and founder Dr Miles Gregory, fuses spectacular Jacobean costumes with edgy contemporary street violence to create our flagship production for the 2019/20 Pop-up Globe season.

Much Ado About Nothing With a glorious South Pacific contemporary setting, and performed by a full cast in spectacular costumes that blend the past and present, Much Ado About Nothing is an invitation to a joyful and uproarious house party, combining live music, dance and performances by a specially formed international ensemble. This production is a revival of the critically-acclaimed 2017 Auckland production, originally directed by Miriama McDowell and here presented with a new cast, having performed to sell-out crowds for 17 weeks at Pop-up Globe Melbourne in 2017/18.

About Pop-up Globe

Pop-up Globe aims to share the extraordinary experience of Shakespeare’s own audiences through his own work performed in the space and style of his own company.

The Anthony Harper Pop-up Globe theatre is a three-storey, 16-sided, 700-person capacity theatre. It unites cutting-edge scaffold technology with a 400-year-old design to transport audiences back in time. No matter where they sit or stand in the theatre, audience members are never more than 15 metres from the heart of the action on stage. Sometimes they’ll even find themselves in the play.

The Anthony Harper Pop-up Globe theatre will again feature all the spectacular theatrical trickery of the Jacobean era, including cannons, hundreds of litres of fake blood, and hundreds of beautiful bespoke period costume pieces specially constructed by the Pop-up Globe in-house wardrobe department.

About Anthony Harper

Anthony Harper is an award-winning, internationally ranked, national law firm.

For more than 150 years we have helped and advised New Zealand and international clients achieve their goals. Our high performing, internationally ranked solicitors are deeply immersed in our 27 specialist areas. As one of the largest law firms in New Zealand we are proud to be able to solve the most complex of problems for our clients, whilst fostering an inclusive work environment and enhancing our local communities.

There is a difference. For further information, see www.anthonyharper.co.nz.

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