Bell Shakespeare Unveils Ambition, Chaos & Famous Murder in 2026 Season

Sydney’s Bell Shakespeare has pulled back the curtain on its 2026 season, promising a heady mix of political intrigue, macabre hilarity, and “idealised murder”.

The season opens with a new staging of Julius Caesar, followed by the world premiere of Mackenzie by award-winning creator Yve Blake, and concludes with a national tour of Artistic Director Peter Evans’ haunting 2023 production of Macbeth.

“Welcome to season 2026, a season of ambition, guilt and idealised murder.

“Our national tour sees the return of our highly successful production of ‘Macbeth’ with a new cast to take our séance inspired nightmare world around the country.

Excitingly we have a brand-new play ‘Mackenzie’ by Yve Blake. Yve is one of the most exciting and hilarious writers in Australia, and when she sent us her new play about an ambitious teenage TV star and her relentless stage mother we were delighted; horrified and delighted. We can’t wait to welcome audiences to the theatre next year.”

Julius Caesar reimagined

Directed by Artistic Director Peter Evans, Julius Caesar will star Leon Ford (Elvis, Hamlet) as Cassius and Brigid Zengeni (Coriolanus, The Artful Dodger) as Brutus. Shakespeare’s timeless political tragedy will be staged at the Sydney Opera House in March before heading to Canberra and Melbourne.

With its chilling conspiracies and questions of loyalty, Evans says the play feels unnervingly close to today’s headlines: “One of the most famous political plays of all time, centred on the most famous murder in western history.”

Yve Blake’s camp, chaotic Mackenzie

The season’s centrepiece is Mackenzie, a brand-new work from Yve Blake — the queer powerhouse behind cult musical FANGIRLS. Fresh off a London run of that show, Blake now turns her satirical eye on Macbeth, imagining the doomed Scottish general as a 13-year-old child star in the throes of early 2000s TV stardom, with Lady Macbeth reimagined as a ruthlessly ambitious stage mum.

Directed by actor and Adelaide Cabaret Festival Artistic Director Virginia Gay, and featuring original music by Blake, Mackenzie promises to be “hilarious, twisted, and deeply camp.” It will open at Sydney’s Neilson Nutshell in June before transferring to Melbourne.

Macbeth on the road

Rounding out the season, Evans’ critically acclaimed 2023 production of Macbeth will head out on an extensive national tour to more than 20 venues. Set in the shadowy world of the 1920s post-war era, the production stars Anthony Taufa in the title role and Matilda Ridgway as Lady Macbeth. The Sydney Morning Herald praised the work as “utterly compelling” when it first premiered.

Beyond the mainstage

The 2026 season will also see Bell Shakespeare continue its vast education and outreach program in schools, communities and juvenile justice centres across the country.

Special events include the Ambition and the Aftermath panel series in Sydney and Melbourne, the popular Sonnets & Semillon, and the script-in-a-day series featuring Henry VI Part 2. To accompany Julius Caesar, leading academics will deliver lectures on the play’s enduring political relevance.

Learn more at bellshakespeare.com.au.