Production still for "Venus and Adonis". L-R: Susan Prior, Melissa Madden Gray. Photographer: Jeff Busby

Venus and Adonis

11 April 2008 – 04 May 2008 Beckett Theatre

Malthouse Theatre, Bell Shakespeare Company,

Classic Theatre Co-Production

In 1593 William Shakespeare has a hit on his hands. London is in the throes of the Black Death and the playhouses are all shut up, along with most else in the city. Now struggling to earn a living, young Will sets himself the task of rewriting Ovid's story of Venus and her lover Adonis, and the result is one of the most celebrated carnal poems of desire and death. In its day, it's said, Venus and Adonis was the reading of 'courtesans, lascivious nuns, adulterous housewives, or libidinous young girls' and the well-thumbed text of university students.

In 2009 this production toured to Sydney Theatre Company's The Wharf (11-28 February) and the Bruce Mason Centre in Auckland (18-21 March).