Wherefore art thou audience?

Julian Toy-Cronin (Romeo) and Elizabeth McGlinn (Juliet). Picture / The Aucklander

Summer Shakespeare. Two words that go together like winter and snow, forming a tradition played out in cities across the world.

The University of Auckland's Summer Shakespeare is an institution in its own right which has played every year bar two since 1963, making this year's Romeo and Juliet the 40th playing season.

Staging an outdoor production of a full-length Shakespeare for a month is no mean feat, as Auckland's weather is such an inconsistent factor.

Add to that a young director, a cast with varying experience, an overseeing committee of students and a budget of up to $70,000 and it can be a recipe for disaster - or one very good party.

Provided by the university, the impressive-sounding budget is not automatically renewable. Each year's production is responsible for maintaining the bank balance so the next year's show can go on.

A shortfall over the past five years, and last year in particular with Twelfth Night, means Romeo and Juliet director Matt Gillanders had a smaller-than-usual budget.

"Summer Shakespeare was in a terrible financial state," he says. "This year's production has the potential to end the tradition if it proves to be as poorly attended as last year."

A considerable chunk of funds is spent on hiring a seating block and on all-important advertising. Juggling the balance to provide 25 costumes, set, props and professional expertise is an act all on its own.

With the future of Summer Shakespeare in his hands, the young director has put himself and his cast to task since mid-November.

I have been playing Lady Capulet, my first foray onstage in nine years. What I failed to calculate was how much of my summer I had to sacrifice.

Three-hour "conditioning" sessions peppered the early rehearsal schedule, with stage fighting, rolling and falling, and circus skills. Unaccustomed limbs threw awkward cartwheels, contact exercises look like Keystone Cops' routines and early sword-fights were a comedy of errors.

We rehearsed late into the night then escaped inside from the mosquitoes for notes. Frequently the hour hand passed 11pm and those of us with jobs longed for our beds. Occasionally the director's visible strain was fiercely vocalised, and there were mutinous mutterings.

Pascal Tibbits (Mercutio) appeared in Oliver Driver's production of Coriolanus in 1998. . He was aware of the hours and dedication Summer Shakespeare demanded and returned for Romeo and Juliet because "I thought Mercutio was a good part and that I probably wouldn't get to do much with a baby coming along".

His wife's due date is two weeks after the run ends on Saturday, but the landscape designer says it was his customers who suffered the most from his hectic schedule.

Occasionally, a forlorn stranger would appear at rehearsal to steal moments with their estranged loved one. One night Elizabeth McGlinn (Juliet) arrived home to find her boyfriend sleeping in the company of a pillow dressed in her pyjamas with a note that read, "This is what you have reduced me to".

Cast members with non-speaking roles did not get off lightly either, with exhausting six-hour blocks of fight rehearsals on hot Saturdays. "I didn't think I'd have to be here so much to provide a body standing on the stage," said royal guard Carly Moulding.

"Three to four rehearsals a week is a lot. And without pay, the only reason we can find for doing it is love."

Julian Toy-Cronin, who plays Romeo, is a long-time fan of the Bard and said, "There's so little opportunity to do this sort of thing in New Zealand. Something like Summer Shakespeare is invaluable. It can't be allowed to slip away and die."

Preserving the tradition of outdoor Shakespeare for Auckland has seemed high in the minds of many of the cast and crew. Even those who were paid dedicated more time to the project than their payment warranted.

"I have been required to sacrifice my career and my personal life to ensure the production's success," said Gillanders. He has relied, too, on people such as The Lord of the Rings' stuntman Peter Calveley, who has given his skills and his passion for a fee that probably covered his bus fare.

Meanwhile, the actors keep stumping up for parking, public transport, takeaways and energy drinks. As the season winds down, all we can hope is that people come and see us. That is why we are here.

We can act until the cows come home, but if no one watches, Summer Shakespeare will die.

Performance

*What: Summer Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
*Where and when: Old Arts Quad, Auckland University, to Saturday, 7.30pm