The company in it's current form began life as Shakespeare Under the Stars in 1987 under the direction of Glenn Elston, who pioneered the experience of outdoor theatre in Australia. Glenn joined the Australian Shakespeare Company in 1998 as Artistic Director and Producer. He has since developed the company into Australia’s largest independent theatre company.Over the last thirty-years Glenn’s award winning annual outdoor productions of William Shakespeare’s texts and The Wind in the Willows have played to over a million people within Australia.The Australian Shakespeare Company performs and tours from regional cities, to remote and outback settings.
Performance spaces range from Melbourne and Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens to Kew Gardens and Beswick Falls in the Northern Territory. Audiences include families, seniors, tourists, students and young professionals, all of whom experience the magic of outdoor performances with some of Australia’s finest professional performers and creative artists.Although best known for performances in parks and gardens, the Australian Shakespeare Company has also created and continues to create extraordinary productions for a range of locations that are not only outdoors.
Productions previously have been site specific and adapted for particular communities and occasions.In 2010 the company launched the Young Bards education programme for 7 to 18 year-olds. With this programme the Australian Shakespeare Company extends its vision to continue to develop exciting, contemporary theatre produced the way Shakespeare intended; unshackled from traditional constraints, accessible and above all entertaining for everyone.
The Australian Shakespeare Company was founded in 1982 by British actor and director Neale Warrington, with co-founders Ivan Calnin, Laurence Balshaw-Blake, David Peake, Phillip Beckensall, Barry Robinson, Barry Berger and Rex Perry. Under the Artistic Directorship of Neale Warrington, activities included numerous Shakespeare productions in Melbourne and regional Victoria. A significant achievement during this period was the establishment of the Shakespeare on the River Festival in 1992 at Stratford in Victoria. This annual festival has played an important creative role in rural Victoria, growing to include over 20 different events over a two and a half week period.
Glenn Elston OAM is a leading figure in Australian theatre, having directed over 250 seasons of Shakespeare, classic works, musicals, and family theatre.
He is best known for pioneering outdoor picnic theatre in Australia and for creating immersive, family-friendly experiences that have become beloved traditions.In 1987, Glenn founded a small performance collective that has since grown into the Australian Shakespeare Company—Australia’s largest independent theatre company. His mission has always been to make Shakespeare and other classic stories accessible to a broad audience, particularly through open-air productions that have become a hallmark of the summer season.
His Shakespearean repertoire includes celebrated productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, Comedy of Errors, Henry IV – Part I, Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet, Macbeth, and As You Like It.
He has also written and directed original adaptations of beloved family stories, including The Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland, Toad’s Birthday Party, The Caribbean Pirates, Jack and the Beanstalk, Tinkerbell and the Dream Fairies, and Jungle Book – The Next Chapter. His adaptations of literary classics include Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Wuthering Heights, The Crucible, and Pygmalion.
A founding producer of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 1987, Glenn also helped establish the Melbourne Comedy Club alongside Rita Rudner, Martin Bergman, Greg Hocking, Tim Woods, and the Michael Edgley Group. In 1990, he co-produced Hair, directing its national tour across cities including Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra, Darwin, and Hobart.
In 2002, Glenn adapted and directed Much Ado About Nothing into a rock musical with collaborator Paul Norton, touring it across Australia to sell-out seasons. Six of his productions have featured in five different Adelaide Festivals.
Since 2003, Glenn has co-presented the Walking with Spirits festival with Djilpin Arts at Beswick Falls in the Northern Territory. In 2010, he produced Noel Tovey’s Little Black Bastard at the Edinburgh Festival.
Glenn has also produced major concerts and international acts, including Sir George Martin, David Strassman, Barry Humphries, and three national tours of Marianne Faithfull.He received the Melbourne Award in 2014 and was honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2018.
This year marks his seventh season presenting productions at London’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
