SA troupe picked to perform in famed AIDA opera home town of Verona
In the wake of state announcements about a grand production of Verdi’s AIDA leaving fair Verona for the first time for Adelaide, an SA performance group has been picked to fly the other way to the famous Italian home of Romeo and Juliet.
A small Adelaide theatre group has seen its adaptation of a famous William Shakespeare play picked to perform at the World Shakespeare Congress: Planetary Shakespeares in Verona, home to Giuseppe Verdi’s world-renowned opera AIDA.
Shakespeare South is taking its cast and crew of six to perform IL VENTO at the World Shakespeare Congress in July – in the famous city setting of Romeo and Juliet in Verona, Italy.
Its two performances are scheduled for July 23 and July 26 at Conservatorio di Verona which is less than one kilometre from the world-famous Arena di Verona where Franco Zeffirelli’s direction of AIDA is held.
Premier Peter Malinauskas announced that AIDA with its 389 international performers and staff will leave Verona for the first time ever to deliver two Adelaide Oval exclusive performances on Friday, February 26, and Saturday, February 27 next year as part of the 2027 Adelaide Festival program. Around a year after the initial 2026 schedule was postponed.
IL VENTO is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s 1611 play The Tempest, and is written and directed by Adelaide-born artist Dr Alys Daroy who said the production would explore environmental, colonial and technological themes that are uniquely South Australian.
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“We’re passionate about theatrical innovation and experimentation, and how we can think about old texts in new ways, and how we can make them relevant to the current social and environmental climate at the time,” Daroy said.
“Without being didactic, we’re trying to subtly bring in themes of some of the environmental challenges that South Australia has been facing, like the foam on the beaches that we saw with the algal bloom.”
Daroy said the performance marked an “important moment for Shakespeare South” to work within global conversations about Shakespeare and environmental change, while creating “new artistic opportunities and contributions to the state’s art culture”.
In September, it was announced 28 containers of props, instruments, equipment, scenery and costumes will be freighted from Verona to Adelaide, with 389 international performers and staff from the Fondazione Arena di Verona in northern Italy to travel.
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Some 300 local cast and crew, including 155 extras and a 50-member chorus from State Opera South Australia were also expected to join the production that will feature 106 musicians of the renowned Fondazione Arena di Verona Orchestra.
But Shakespeare South’s production is travelling on a far smaller scale, with six production members making the 24-hour trip, including the four cast members Michaela Burger, Melanie Munt, Paul Westbrook and Daroy.
An original score by Italian composer Federico Zandonà will be paired with live music composed and performed by Burger, while soundscapes are designed by Dr Leo Murray and cinematography by Associate Professor Joshua Zeunert.
“Thankfully there’s not too many costumes and sound equipment, we’re trying to keep it pretty light,” Daroy said.
“We’re workshopping it with a view to a full-scale production in South Australia in the next year, which will be a much more elaborate set and sound and costuming.”
While the $20m AIDA production has state government support, Daroy told InDaily the Shakespeare South trip to Verona would be all self-funded.
“We’re trying to raise money to support the artists. We’re holding a fundraiser at Carrick Hill, which will be a sort of taster that we’ve just been working on it for about a year now,” Daroy said.
The fundraiser on Friday, May 23 at Carrick Hill House Museum and Garden gives audiences a first taste of the production. The narrative follows Miranda, shipwrecked on an island where magic and technology intersect under the influence of a corporate entity.
Daroy said the work aims to explore how human and non-human systems might coexist, and what forms of repair might be possible in a damaged environment.
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