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What You Will (or Twelfth Night)

John Marwick directed Bard in the Yard 2013 and gave Twelfth Night Shakespeare's alternative title of What You Will.  Publicity 2013 This year's production is entitled What You WILL - Shakespeare's own alternative name for the play better known as Twelfth Night.Award-winning Director John Marwick is directing a great cast of actors from Eastbourne, Lower Hutt and Wellington and he is also taking the part of Sir Toby Belch.The play will be an exuberant summer celebration of life, love, laughter.This is an outside production so dress warmly - but we will move inside if the weather is bad. Director John Marwick takes a fresh look

Romeo and Juliet

Bard in the Yard in 2014 was Romeo and Juliet directed by John Marwick with a Romeo who was making his debut on any stage and Juliet who has gone on to a professional acting career overseas. Publicity 2014 or 2014’s outdoor summer Bard in the Yard production the Troupe brings the greatest love story of them all to the magical Muritai School Yard. Shakespeare’s superb tale of tragic young love will be brought to life in a simple, timeless production that focuses on the story, the people and the passion. For this production, Director John Marwick has chosen the pared-back style of some of his

Hamlet

William Shakespeare's great tragedy was directed by Emanuel E Garcia for our Bard in the Yard 2015. Cast Bernardo: David Gledhil Claudius: Hayden Rogers Fortinbras: Iain Gordon Francisco: Peter Hughson Gertrude: Renee Christie Gravedigger: Anne Manchester Hamlet: Benjamin Haddock Horatio: Laurie Ward Laertes: Mike McJorrow Marcellus: Andy Hall Ophelia: Harriet Prebble Osric: Erin Murphy Player King: Anne Manchester Player Queen: Sandra Gillespie Players: Erin Murphy, Iain Gordon (who will perform on mandolin during “The Mousetrap”) Polonius: Manny Garcia     Publicity 2015 The Hutt News 3 Mar 2015 Hamlet in original form Something is rotten in the state of Denmark: Actors in Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe’s production

The Merchant of Venice

The Troupe's Bard in the Yard production in 2017 was The Merchant of Venice direcetd by Peter Baldock. John Marwick won an excellence in acting Antoinnette award for his part as Antonio.

Trials and Tribulations

Trials and Tribulations was a programme of scenes from Shakespeare, loosely based around trials in the various plays. Scenes were chosen and adapted by John Marwick and were directed by a number of people: Lian Butcher, Anna Rodgers, Emannuel E Garcia, John Marwick, Anne Manchester, and Laurence Ward.

As You Like It

Bard in the Yard 2019 was As You Like It. This was the second time the Troupe had produced the play although the previous production had been in 2001 when we still performed in people's back yards with book in hand. The 2019 production was directed by Anne Manchester. Publicity 2019 I'd like to let you know that Eastbourne's Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe is putting on its summer Bard in the Yard Shakespeare production in the first week of March. This year (our 23rd annual Shakespeare production) Anne Manchester is directing As You Like It. She's giving the Bard's romantic comedy a contemporary New Zealand twist. As in

Othello

Our Bard in the Yard production was Shakespeare's great tragedy of jealousy - Othello. We sneaked in just before the COVID pandemic. Publicity 2020 Love, jealousy, race, revenge and madness -- such are the major themes of Shakespeare';s Othello. And like all of the great tragedies, nothing is quite as black and white as it may seem. How pure was Desdemona? How gullible was Othello? How evil was Iago? Join us for a fast-paced production of a drama that builds towards a passionately explosive conclusion like no other.

The Winter’s Tale

As its 25th annual Shakespeare production the Troupe presented The Winter's Tale for the second time in February / March 2021 (the first production was 21 years earlier). It was directed jointly by John Marwick and Elspeth Cotsilinis. Allen Burne won an Antoinnette Award for Excellence in Acting in the Wellington District Theatre Federation's Full Length Play competition. Watch a recording of this production on YouTube Publicity 2021 Eastbourne’s prize-winning Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe celebrates 25 years of Shakespeare with a Bard in the Yard outdoor production of his magical, romantic, tragi-comedy The Winter’s Tale. A fairy tale of how love, laughter, music and dance

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Muritai School Yard Muritai Road, Eastbourne, Lower Hutt, New Zealand (+64), New Zealand

Bard in the Yard 2022 was A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Anne Manchester. Watch a recording of this production on YouTube Publicity 2022 A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare c. 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict among four Athenian lovers. Another follows a group of six amateur actors rehearsing the play which they are to perform before the wedding. Both groups find themselves in a forest inhabited by fairies who manipulate the humans and are engaged in

Henry IV, Part 1 – William Shakespeare

Muritai School Yard Muritai Road, Eastbourne, Lower Hutt, New Zealand (+64), New Zealand

Our Bard in the Yard production for 2023 was Henry IV, Part 1 - directed by Tanya Piejus. The play was presented with a Star Wars theme. Publicity 2023 Captain Henry Bullingbrook of the USS Britannia faces a new challenge as an unprecedented alliance of Romulans, Klingons and Andorians is forming, bent on taking control of the planet Muritaria. Meanwhile, Henry's daughter is hanging with a dodgy crowd from Engineering, pranking the debauched Lieutenant Falstaff and generally behaving in ways unworthy of a future starship commander, unlike the Romulan Hotspur who is seemingly everyone's idea of an up-and-coming leader. Star Trek meets Shakespeare in Eastbourne

Macbeth

Muritai School Yard Muritai Road, Eastbourne, Lower Hutt, New Zealand (+64), New Zealand

This was the 28th consecutive year that the Troupe had presented a Shakespeare production - and the second time we have presented Macbeth (previously 2008).  This year's production was Bard in the Yard and the weather gods were favourable with only one night having to move into the school hall. Allan Burne, who played Macbeth, won an Antoinette Award for Excellence in Acting at the annual Wellington District Theatre Federation Full Length Play Competition. The play was presented in a crime family setting. The three witches were described as Three Women and were present on stage during the whole production playing multiple roles. Cast Woman

Richard III

Muritai School Yard Muritai Road, Eastbourne, Lower Hutt, New Zealand (+64), New Zealand

For Bard in the Yard 2025 Michaeljohn Butcher directed Richard III. Cast Richard the Third (Duke of Gloucester) Colton Stuart Duke of Buckingham Allan Burne Edward the Fourth Philip Rossiter Queen Elizabeth Tilly Potter Lady Anne Lian Butcher Lord Hastings Rhiannon Bertaud-Gander Earl of Richmond Philip Rossiter Prince Edward Timothy Prebble Prince Richard Scout Hunter Sir James Tyrell Philip Rossiter Duke of Clarence Tom Martin Sir Thomas Stanley Tom Martin Lord Rivers Sandra Jean McClean Sir Robert Brakenbury Nicola Tod Sir William Catesby Michaeljohn Butcher Jane Shore Lian Butcher Sir William Brandon Rebecca Brennan Duke of Norfolk Will Clannachan Bishop of Ely David Gledhill Murderers