By Francesca Romana Riello
Australian theatre company Shakespeare South, based in Perth, is bringing The Wind to Verona after winning the international call launched by the Verona Conservatory and the Skené Research Group at the University of Verona. The production has been selected as part of the 12th World Shakespeare Congress, which will take place in the city from 20 to 26 July.
The performance will be staged at the Nuovo Montemezzi Auditorium of the Verona Conservatory on Thursday 23 July at 9pm, before returning on Sunday 26 July at 6pm. Admission is free, subject to availability. The production will be performed in English with Italian subtitles.
A New Tempest from Perth
Written and directed by Alys Daroy, artistic director of Shakespeare South, The Wind emerged from an international selection inviting artists from around the world to develop an original project combining new writing with an original musical score. The production reimagines Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a play in which the relationship between humanity, nature, power and transformation lies at its heart.
In Shakespeare’s original, the island is the domain over which Prospero exerts control through magic. In The Wind, that same setting becomes an unstable and contested landscape, reshaped by environmental change that alters places, relationships and perspectives alike.
At the centre of the story is the wind itself, a force that moves through the narrative as both presence and character. It is performed by Michaela Burger, who also serves as the production’s live musical director. She is joined by Paul Westbrook as Boatswain and Caliban, Aurora Kurth as the Narrator and Sycorax, and Leo Murray as the voice of Prospero.
Original Music Meets Shakespeare
The production’s electronic score has been created by seven students from Professor Federico Zandonà’s Electronic Music class at the Verona Conservatory: Niccolò Ferrari, Pietro Tartarini, Martino Santarnecchi, Paola Cantachin, Leila Gharib, Davide Beveresco and Emil Odorico.
Their compositions are woven into the fabric of the performance, supporting a narrative that blends sound, language, movement and visual imagery to revisit the world of The Tempest without merely reproducing it. The creative team also brings together expertise from a range of disciplines: Paul Westbrook is responsible for movement direction, Leo Murray for sound design, while cinematography is by Joshua Zeunert.
Shakespeare Beyond the Stage
The two performances form part of the programme for the 12th World Shakespeare Congress, Planetary Shakespeare, which will bring leading scholars and theatre practitioners from across the globe to Verona between 20 and 26 July. With The Wind, the congress expands beyond academic debate to embrace contemporary artistic creation.
Themes of environmental change, land ownership and the relationship between those who inhabit a place and those who seek to control it unfold throughout the production. Rather than replacing Shakespeare, the work uses his vision as a point of departure. The journey begins in Australia, joins forces in Verona with the music of seven emerging composers, and culminates on the stage of the Nuovo Montemezzi Auditorium on 23 and 26 July.
