Notre Dame Theatre Arts students on the Fringe!

The explosion of performing arts in South Australia happened once again this year when the annual Adelaide Fringe Festival, the second-largest festival of its kind in the world, was held over four weeks during February and March. Second only to the famous Edinburgh Fringe, the Adelaide Festival provided the perfect stage for @Shakespeare.com, a production by The University of Notre Dame Australia’s Theatre Studies students. Under the stewardship of Fremantle Campus lecturers Ms Gabrielle Metcalf and Dr Vahri McKenzie, the play explores social media and contemporary technology, imagined against a backdrop of key texts such as Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. Dr McKenzie explained: “Our Fremantle shows were a sell-out and in Adelaide the Notre Dame team was rewarded with critical acclaim. This was a wonderful result as the Festival is a testing ground for small companies in a large forum. “The local paper, Adelaide Advertiser, summed up the show as ‘original, intelligent and spirited’, while Lowdown, the national magazine for youth performing arts commented on scenes of ‘pure comic genius’. “As well as being a time of revels and artistic indulgence, the Festival is a competitive and professional forum that demands high standards of performance, on and off the stage,” said Dr McKenzie. “The students proved themselves to be consummate and adaptable professionals. “We sincerely hope that this event might prove a regular excursion for Theatre Studies students so that future cohorts can benefit from the experience of involvement in a professional touring theatre company.” The UNDA team performed a sold out season of four shows in Adelaide’s Bakehouse Theatre, as well as taking the production to two high schools in the Adelaide area. Media Contact: Michelle Ebbs (+61) 8 9433 0610, Mob (+61) 0408 959 13