Ben Apfelbaum

SHAKESPEARE’S POP UP GLOBE COMING TO SYDNEY

After performing to an astonishing before 450,000 people in just two years, the world’s first full scale temporary working replica of one of the greatest theatres in history, the second Globe will  pop up in Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter from the 5th September.

Pop Up Globe Founder and Artistic Director Dr Miles Gregory has observed that ‘our audiences are blown away by the immersive experience of seeing Shakespeare performed in the space for which it was written.’

The first Globe stood for 14 years until a disastrous fire demolished it in 1613. The second Globe was rebuilt on the same foundations by Shakespeare and his Company modifying the original first Globe to create what became one of the most famous theatres in  history. Pop up Globe uses as its historical reference point research by Associate Professor Tim Fitzpatrick and Russell Emerson of the University of Sydney to create the world’s first full scale temporary working replica of Shakespeare’s theatre, the second Globe.

Dr Gregory says that his inspiration came from a children’s book that contained pop-ups including the Globe. Dr Gregory’s daughter was so excited that she implored her father to take her to see it. Dr gregory explained that because the family lived in New Zealand that it was too far away to see London’s Globe. From this encounter came the seed which created the pop up Globe that we have today.

Pop up Globe is a three storey, sixteen sided, 900 persons capacity theatre. It contains 16,000 scaffolding pieces which must be erected by hand. It is 88 feet in diameter and no person is ever more than 15 metres from the heart of the action on stage.

The audacious project was originally planned as a one off in Auckland to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016. Pop up Globe took the city by storm with more than 100,000 attendees in a season extended twice by popular demand. The Pop Up Globe is constructed on the Show Ring at the Entertainment Quarter and will feature all the theatrical spectacle of the Jacobean era including hilarious comedy, gruesome battles, litres of fake blood, hand-forged armoury, and 450 beautiful bespoke costume pieces specially created by the inhouse wardrobe department.

The Company comprises over 30 actors and musicians and a crew of 25 people. To add to this project’s uniqueness, it is worth noting there are about 14 permanent replicas of the Globe around the world but none as yet in Australasia.

In what Dr Gregory called ‘an Anzac production’ Pop Up Globe brings with a Festival of 4 critically acclaimed productions – A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Macbeth, A Merchant of Venice and A Comedy of Errors.

The season runs from the 5th September until the 14th November.

http://www.popupglobe.com.au

All pics by Ben Apfelbaum.

 

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.