Overview

Summer Shakespeare has been an annual outdoor theatre event in the capital city since 1983, when students at Victoria University of Wellington under the direction of Adrian Kiernander presented "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" in the Victoria University Quadrangle. For more than three decades since then, Wellington audiences have been treated each year to large-scale, large-cast productions of Shakespeare in a variety of settings including the Dell in the Wellington Botanic Gardens, Civic Square, Te Papa and onsite at Victoria University. Our productions have ranged from some of the most popular to some of the most obscure plays in the Shakespeare canon, approached with diverse concepts and staging, directed and performed by both the country’s newest talents and leading practitioners alike.