Shakespeare's Best Bits

Overview

Get a crash course in Shakespeare in the Royal Botanic Gardens this summer. Running from December through to mid-March, Shakespeare's Best Bits offers a refreshing take on the works of history's most famous playwright, mashing up everything from Macbeth to Romeo and Juliet — with a healthy amount of silliness thrown in.

The show follows the six amateur thespians known as The Mechanicals, who originally appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Only this time, rather than the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe, they're tackling the oeuvre of the very writer who created them in the first place. How meta.

Loaded with slapstick humour and at least one King Lear-themed rap battle, this production under the stars sounds utterly, intentionally ridiculous. Don't go mistaking it for the work of amateurs though. In fact, it's being run by the Australian Shakespeare Company. Not sure how the Bard would feel about all this, but at least you can expect some quality performances.