From rarely seen tragedy to popular history play: Bell Shakespeare launches 2025 season

Rarely staged in Australia, Shakespeare’s ‘Coriolanus’ is one of three major productions presented by Bell Shakespeare in the company’s 35th year.
Hazem Shammas will play the titular role in Bell Shakespeare's 2025 production of 'Coriolanus'. A man with dark, curly hair and wearing a brown suit holds his right hand to his mouth. A butterfly is perched on his fingertips.

Bell Shakespeare will stage the political epic Coriolanus in 2025, marking the first time in nearly 30 years that a mainstage production of the play has been staged in Australia.

One of the last tragedies Shakespeare wrote, Coriolanus tells the story of a victorious general who saves Rome from its enemies, only to have its people turn against him, turning Coriolanus against Rome in return.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts