Shakespeare as you've never seen it

Gerard Cook (left), Jono Sohnge and Mike Webster will star in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), at Church Road Winery this weekend. Photo/Paul Taylor

Church Road turns back the clock this weekend to when knights wore shining armour and William Shakespeare was at the height of his literary powers.

Tomorrow the New Zealand Army, as it did at the inaugural sell-out Shakespeare in the Park last March, moves in to mask the Napier winery's towers so patrons moving among the hustle and bustle of "The Globe" will feel like they truly have stepped back in time.

Spinners, weavers, a blacksmith, cobblers, candlemakers and others, including stallholders offering a mouthwatering array of tempting morsels, will ply their trades while jesters, jugglers, and morris dancers keep the crowd entertained, along with archers, sword swallowers and fire-beaters.

The New Zealand Chapter of the England-based Order of the Boar will also stage a jousting event, featuring four mounted knights in all their finery.

The Wellington medieval jousting group, which has performed throughout the country but never before in Hawke's Bay, will race along a specially marked jousting strip, 140 metres long by 30m wide, in front of the seated embankment area.

For the grand finale, three of Hawke's Bay's finest actors - Gerard Cook, Michael Webster and Jono Sohnge - under the careful tutelage of director Sharyn Hildreth, will present The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).

The trio will work their way through 40-plus characters and many costume changes in this hilarious, extremely fast-paced and condensed version of all 37 of the great Bard's works on the steps of the Tom McDonald Barrel Room.

Members of the public, who are encouraged to don Elizabethan dress, have two chances to attend this year. "The Globe" and its surroundings can comfortably host only about 1200 at a time.

Saturday's spectacular, which opens at 2pm, will be repeated on Sunday.

Shakespeare in the Park was founded by renowned local director Gillian Davies, who had long dreamt of producing Shakespearean epics at the winery.

Presented by the Willpower Trust and hosted by David Brock of Garter Inn fame, the event is supported by the Rotary clubs of Taradale and Greenmeadows. Profits go to good causes.