This time, we move away from purely monologues. Enthused by the opportunity to be back on set, I set about adapting nine of Shakespeare’s plays into a semi-cohesive story across eight episodes, using full scenes from his work, set at the program launch of the Everyman Theatre Co. (which I thought I’d made up, but turns out there are a couple of actual theatre companies called this! So I’d like to add the disclaimer that this company is fictitious and has nothing to do with any theatre company with the same name that exists in the real world!). I’ve also added a mild horror theme to a couple of the episodes, as well as more comedy, because we need more of that right now!

It was a lot to ask of the graduating acting class of ’22. They had nine classes with me over four weeks to not only learn how to play Shakespeare, but also how to play it on screen, when many of them had never performed Shakespeare or appeared on camera before, other than in class. They rallied, despite the nerves and I couldn’t be prouder of them.

We had a crew made up of some of the full-time graduates from ’21, who were in the cast for Walking Shadows Vol. 1 and I will sing those actors’ praises forever. Isaac Reid, Christine Pearsall, Cassandra Valentine, Michelle Cooper and Tom Fitzgerald all volunteered their time to support this years’ students and were an absolute joy to have on set. Isaac, Christine and Cassandra in particular were there every day of the six-day shoot, swinging boom and fitting mics, doing the Script Supervision and Second Assistant Director work, moving lights, props and sets and just generally mucking in as needed. You should hire all of them. Not only are they beautiful actors, they are also amazing team players that are a joy to have around. Juliano Battaglia (“Iago” in this new season) also deserves mention for doing double duty behind the scenes, filling in for Isaac as Sound Recordist on one of the mornings of filming. Another one to watch.

Fellow Class of ’21 graduates Maria England and Bridgette Kucher then joined Isaac, Christine, Cassandra, Michelle and Tom as they all reprised their roles from the first season on camera as non-speaking theatre patrons, which you will see in all the b-roll footage used in every episode. Again, I am so grateful to all my previous students on this list, all of whom are now working actors in the biz, for coming back to support the series and the Studio in this way. They are good people, lovely actors and deserve all the praise.

And so, here we are with the next evolution of my vision of Shakespeare on screen. Totally irreverent in treatment, but hopefully with something new to say to our audiences about Shakespeare’s works and about the world we now live in.

I must finish by giving my thanks to Philip Hayden, who played “Henry IV” in the third season of Shakespeare Republic and is the Studio Director of Howard Fine Acting Studio Australia. His commissioning and funding of this work for the benefit of the students after I came to him with the idea for the series has also benefitted me with the opportunity to further stretch my wings and the boundaries of what can be done with Shakespeare on screen and contributed greatly to my continuing experiment of bringing Shakespeare to new audiences worldwide.

Sally McLean
Creator, Writer & Director
Walking Shadows Vol. 2