What happens when Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies collide with Australian humour, physical theatre and a healthy dose of theatrical chaos?
O Woe Is Me is a bold new theatrical comedy coming to Tamborine Mountain this October, taking some of Shakespeare’s most famous characters and stories and turning them delightfully on their heads.
Drawing on Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, the production combines original extracts from Shakespeare’s plays with contemporary dialogue, physical theatre, striking visual imagery and plenty of very Australian popular-culture references.
Audiences don’t need to be Shakespeare experts to enjoy the ride. In fact, O Woe Is Me has plenty of fun with the Bard himself, poking at the conventions of his tragedies while exploring what happens when familiar characters begin to question the stories that have been written for them.
Expect witches, lovers, murderers, ghosts, terrible decisions, theatrical mishaps and some distinctly Australian observations along the way.
Beneath the comedy, however, is a thoughtful exploration of the women who inhabit Shakespeare’s tragedies. Why do their stories so often end in madness, violence or death? And what might happen if they were finally given the opportunity to have something to say about it?
Created with a playful, irreverent spirit, O Woe Is Me moves between laughter and moments of unexpected poignancy. Shakespeare’s original words remain at the heart of the production, but they find themselves in a theatrical world he certainly wouldn’t recognise.
Whether you love Shakespeare, vaguely remember studying him at school, or usually avoid him altogether, this is Shakespeare with a difference.
O Woe Is Me plays at the Zamia Theatre October 16 – 31, 2026.
Tickets are available online at www.trybooking.com/DQDEM.
