Special Events

Currently available as part of a season package

A Night at the Library

Join Bell Shakespeare on this epic quest through the remarkable world inside the State Library of NSW!

The State Library of NSW is marking their 200th Anniversary with a dynamic year-long program of exhibitions, talks, installations and performances.

Bell Shakespeare's Head of Education, Joanna Erskine, has created a new play as part of the performance program.

A Night at the Library follows a young student who is not a fan of reading or books spends one memorable night 'stuck' in the Library, discovering that there is far more to the Library and its contents than they ever imagined. Meeting real historical figures and characters from literature, they go on a magical journey of discovery connecting with the human stories behind the Library's vast collection.

For more information and booking please see below.

General Public BookingGeneral Public Booking                 School Performance BookingSchool Performance Booking

Play In A Day 

VOLPONE, OR, THE FOX BY BEN JONSON

MELBOURNE
Wednesday 18 November, 6:30pm
The University of Melbourne
Tickets $50

First performed at the Globe Theatre in early 1606, perhaps just weeks before the premiere of Macbeth, Ben Jonson’s timeless satire Volpone explores the insatiable desire for advancement and power through riches. Volpone is a beast fable, in which every character is named for an animal whose traits they embody. It tells the story of a cunning ‘fox’ who accumulates ever more wealth by pretending to be on his deathbed and starting a bidding war amongst visitors hoping to be named in his will. To what lengths will gullible Venetians go for the chance to be named Volpone’s heir? Will the greedy Volpone’s vaulting ambition pay off in the end? And who will get what they deserve in the corrupt city-state of Venice?

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The Bell Shakespeare Gala 2026

Time Stands Still


Our 2026 Gala will be a moment to come together and celebrate the timeless legacy of Shakespeare's works and the generosity of our community. We will also raise important funds to ensure our future success in sharing Shakespeare with Australians everywhere.   

Tickets to the 2026 Gala are $400, and we ask you to contribute an additional $400 tax-deductible donation, making a total of $800 per person.

Friday 13 November, 6:00pm
The Neilson Nutshell
Pier 2/3 Sydney


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THE INAUGURAL JOHN BELL LECTURE

Thursday 3 June, 2027, 6:30pm
The Seed, Pier 2/3
Tickets $40

In 2027 we are thrilled to launch a brand-new annual lecture series, named in honour of our Founding Artistic Director, John Bell AO.  And who better to kick off the series than the man himself.

John Bell has journeyed through life with Shakespeare as a rich companion. From radical stagings in the 1960s, through to establishing Bell Shakespeare in 1990, he has engaged deeply with Shakespeare’s works as an actor, director, producer and educationalist. So why continue telling these stories?  In our increasingly complex world, how can Shakespeare’s plays speak to us, and what can they tell us about our present and future challenges?

Join us for the first special lecture in this annual series, as we hold the mirror up to Shakespeare’s canon, and ourselves. 

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Panel Series: Performing Gender

Hosted by Joanna Erskine 

Melbourne: University of Melbourne
Thursday 18 March 2027, 6.30PM 

Sydney: The Seed, Pier 2/3 
Thursday 29 April 2027, 6.30PM 

Canberra: venue to be announced.
Thursday 13 May 2027, 6.30PM

Writing in a time period where women were limited in agency and access to the stage, Shakespeare explored gender identity throughout his plays, presenting, and challenging, traditional gender roles. With stories filled with gendered disguise, gender fluidity, complex power dynamics and manipulation – were these mere theatrical devices or social commentary? 
From tragedies to comedies, his works explore what it is to be a ‘man’ as much as what is expected of a woman. When we consider gender identity and relationships through our modern lens, was Shakespeare ahead of his time or a product of his time? 

Join our host, Head of Education Joanna Erskine, and a panel of experts from a range of fields for this provocative conversation about gender in Shakespeare’s plays.

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A DEEP DIVE INTO: 
MEASURE FOR MEASURE  

Sydney: The Seed, Pier 2/3 
Tuesday 22 June 2027, 6.30pm
Tickets $30
Presented by Dr Kate Flaherty

Melbourne: University of Melbourne
Thursday 15 July 2027, 6.30pm
Tickets $30
Presented by Prof. David McInnis 

Rarely performed and widely considered one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem plays’, Measure for Measure is a complex exploration of power, authority, mercy and justice. Rich with moral murkiness, it asks uncomfortable questions within a story that knits religion with gender relations. Join us for a series of stimulating lectures where we lean into the complexities within Shakespeare’s story and consider how the play speaks to us today.

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A DEEP DIVE INTO: 
AS YOU LIKE IT 

Canberra: Venue to be announced  
Thursday 8 April 2027, 6.30pm
Tickets $30
Presented by Dr Kate Flaherty

Fleeing persecution, two women discover love and identity in the Forest of Arden. Shakespeare’s As You Like It is a celebrated comedy filled with music and romance, in which a woman takes on the guise of a man in order to speak her mind. Written during 1599, the most productive year in Shakespeare’s writing career, the play gives us one of the canon’s most intelligent and complex female roles, within a crowd-pleasing romance. In this engaging lecture, Dr Kate Flaherty guides us through the play, uncovering the rich layers in this classical pastoral comedy.

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PLAY IN A DAY

Bell Shakespeare’s lively script reading series celebrating rarely read classics continues in 2027. 

Actors and director have one day together as an ensemble before standing script-in-hand in front of an audience, the bare-bones reading allowing the words to take centre stage

THE TAMER TAMED
By John Fletcher

Sydney: The Seed, Pier 2/3 
Thursday 9 September 2027, 6.30pm
Tickets $50

Many may not know that The Taming of the Shrew has a sequel. In John Fletcher’s 1611 play The Tamer Tamed, Katherina is dead and Petruchio has married his second wife, Maria. In this gender flipped response to Shakespeare’s original, the women turn the tables and vow to tame their husbands. With Katherina’s sister Bianca leading the revolt, Fletcher’s play was a direct response to Shakespeare’s box office success with Shrew, and owes much inspiration to Aristophanes’ Lysistrata.

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SONNETS AND SEMILLON

Sydney: The Seed,Pier 2/3 
Thursday 26 August 2027, 6.30pm
Tickets $85 

The perfect pairing of performance and wine. 

Join us for Bell Shakespeare’s popular annual event where Shakespeare’s language is matched with curated tastings of Tyrrell’s Wines. Immerse yourself in engaging performances from Bell Shakespeare actors while enjoying hand-picked selections from fifth-generation winemaker and Chief Executive Officer of Tyrrell’s Wines, Chris Tyrrell.

This event is strictly for those over the age of 18.

Presented in partnership with Tyrrell's Wines. 

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SCHOOL HOLIDAYS AT PIER 2/3: JUST MACBETH! (ABRIDGED)

By Andy Griffiths
Adapted by Joanna Erskine

Sydney: The Seed, Pier 2/3
Wednesday 29 September, 2027, 11:00am & 2:00pm 
Thursday 30 September, 2027, 11:00am & 2:00pm 
Friday 1 October 2027, 11:00am & 2:00pm 
Saturday 2 October 2027, 11:00am & 2:00pm 
Tickets $35

What do you get when you combine Shakespeare, Andy Griffiths, garden gnomes, daggers, Wizz Fizz and brussels sprouts? Just Macbeth! (abridged) of course! 

Join The Players and journey to medieval Scotland for this perfect introduction to Shakespeare for young audiences, and the young at heart. Just Macbeth! (abridged) is a really silly version of Shakespeare’s great big gory tragedy packed into a pocket-sized play. 

Exploring the themes and story of Macbeth through the eyes of Andy Griffiths’ much-loved characters, this hilarious and irreverent take on Shakespeare’s classic tragedy will have you in stitches. Perfect for the whole family, for ages 8 – 108!

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