Antony and Cleopatra : an immersive production 

Walkabout Productions’ adaptation of Antony & Cleopatra promises a highlight in Durham’s 400^th anniversary celebrations for the publication of Shakespeare’s First Folio. It looks to be the UK’s largest ever immersive student theatre production, with both budget and audience capacity ambitiously unprecedented. 

An electrifying reimagining of Rome and Egypt…

Our audiences will get to explore a unique and multi-room set environment across which unfolds this famous tragedy of two lovers driven to their deaths by power and politics. The Fonteyn Ballroom of Durham’s Student Union will be transformed into an electrifying reimagining of Rome and Egypt, complete with a functioning bar, moving walls, dance beats, and some properly cool tech. Immersive theatre makes the theatrical pure experience: this play puts audience at the heart of the action.

…all in the same room!

Producing such a show depends on pulling together a group of incredibly talented and creative students. In March, we assembled a team of three writers who have constructed a highly complex script that accommodates simultaneous action in each of the two main spaces that audiences will be divided between. These ‘Rome’ and ‘Egypt’ sides of the performance will offer different perspectives on the same story before merging as the play concludes. Walkabout seeks to elevate the idea of each individual’s unique experience of our drama; our two co-directors, Max Shanagher and Freya Williams, hone their own styles in each side of the divide to create this pluralising effect.

A play staged around its audience

Staging a play all around its audience offers individuals an escape from the everyday, breaking down the traditional insulation of a fourth wall, to bring up close a story that has sustained the centuries. Filtering Shakespeare’s original language through a modern setting revives its drama to new proportions. Buy your tickets while still on sale (link below) to experience what will be a head-spinning sensation of a play to wrap the academic year.

Discover more

You can read the news story here: Students celebrate Shakespeare this summer in Durham – Durham University

To buy tickets, visit Durham Student Theatre (savoysystems.co.uk)

Tully Hyams

I’m a second-year History student and the co-founder of Walkabout Productions, one of Durham Student Theatre’s newest companies. I’m currently producing our second show, Antony & Cleopatra, which involves co-ordinating a cast and crew of thirty students (and counting) through to our performances in mid-June.