About

Come you Spirits is a touring theatre company now bringing their magic to schools.

They run in-class Takeover workshops for a specific play - personalised for syllabus needs with performance and detailed discussion. They also tour their repertoire of acclaimed full productions to school grounds. Celebrated for creating 'magic' and doing Shakespeare in the wild.

Wildly physical - parkour from boulders and over creeks; a harnessed performer rigged to a 4.5m high central stone at Stonehenge Esperance; in the rigging, mast and crows nest of a Tall Ship sailing Sydney Harbour; scaling trees & clambering riverbanks; weaving audiences through multiple chambers of an underground tunnel.

It’s completely immersive and celebrates nature’s wildness. They use an off-grid system of high performance solar powered battery units to bring full sound & lights to otherwise inaccessible areas of natural beauty allowing them to perform anywhere.

They heighten Shakespeare’s written magic by including traditions from around the globe: sound healing instruments from India, Africa and Tibet, a composed soundscape attuned to natural frequencies, physical representation of the power of the elements...to name a few. Characters numbers are condensed to “4 magnificent actors” (Sydney Arts Guide) to abridge the plot, amplify the magic and condense the time to 1.5 hours making it accessible and engaging.

Company History

The Co-Founder is also the Education Director - Jo Bloom who has been working in Shakespeare in Education for 18 years across UK, Melbourne and Sydney and holds a Post Grad in the Teaching of Shakespeare (Melbourne Uni).

She has presented regularly at the National and State English Teacher Association Conferences and International Shakespeare Conferences at Sydney Uni and recently at the Shakespeare Symposium at James Cook Uni in Townsville QLD.
The troupe have been individually working with schools and young people for many years and their offering of personalised in-class sessions marries their performance experience and syllabus knowledge with specific class needs.

After sell-out seasons this troupe are activating spectacular spaces - inside the stone circle of Stonehenge in Esperance, A 100 year old Tall Ship sailing Sydney Harbour, a 100 year old amphitheatre in Sydney's North Shore, the boulders of the bushland reserve in Sydney’s East, inside the tunnels and chambers of the Coal Loader in Sydney’s North, an old distillery at The Rocks, the iconic Brunswick Picture House in Brunswick Heads, Marvell Gardens in Central Byron Bay, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Bondi Pavilion and Beach, the Riverbank of St Albans in regional NSW, Queens Gardens in Townsville, the Willow Globe in Wales, UK and the Dell in Lancashire, UK. Head to comeyouspirits.com for more information.

Further Information

Academic and Industry Reviews...
"Come You Spirits put the rhythms of Shakespeare's language in tune with the frequencies of nature and the elements, breathing new life into words and characters with which we have become too familiar. Enthralled by these performers in a production pared back to bare essentials, I found myself finding Shakespeare made new again as if by alchemy." Professor Laurie Johnson, QLD university, President, Australian and New Zealand Shakespeare Association

"Come You Spirits are a theatre company with a difference. Not only do they offer strong, sharp performances of Shakespeare’s works (in well-paced productions), but they also engage uniquely with the space around them, and offer audiences an experience designed to enhance their connection to nature and wellbeing. They are making innovative steps in ecological or environmental theatre, and their site-specific work is spectacular. They are also generous practitioners who were much valued participants at our recent ‘Ecological Shakespeare in Performance’ conference at James Cook University." Dr Claire Hansen, Lecturer in English at the Australian National University

"The moonlight performance was just magic. The costuming and acting were brilliant and the acoustics were extraordinary. The community can be very grateful to have such stunning cultural experiences” Commendation in NSW Parliament with a Community Recognition Statement by MP Tim James

“Come you Spirits will take you to a place just between the human and the ethereal, to demonstrate just how close we are through language and our connection to the natural world. Utterly indistinguishable from magic.” - Theatre Travels

"This is next-level experiential theatre. One of the best theatrical and outdoor adventure experiences you can possibly have in this or any other city." - City Hub

“⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Shakespeare but not as you know it...The troupe had done the work for us, so all we needed to do was show up. Nourishment for the eyes, ears, nose and tongue and offered a weight off the heart and kinship with your fellow human beings.” - Arts Hub

“Minimalized cast, delivers maximized SHAKESPEARE. Highly Recommended. Magnificently performed by 4 outstanding actors.” - Sydney Arts Guide

“An experience that spiritually rejuvenates while also entertaining."- Sydney Scoop

Website

comeyouspirits.com