The Oberon Shakespeare Festival is back in 2026

Yes it’s back … so save the dates: 5-7 March. We’ve included in the programme the favourites from the 2025 Festival: The Feast and Performance at the Malachi; and the performance in the Oberon Common. In 2025 we focused on myth and magic featuring Shakespeare’s romantic comedy fantasy romp ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’; in 2026 we are focusing on romance with the final show in the Common being the classic Shakespearean tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

Acclaimed Shakespearean theatre troupe ‘Come You Spirits‘ will be back in 2026 and will be a pivotal part of each event.

And we’re adding in a few festival surprises.

The Bard of Avon has a new look

You may notice that our promotional material for 2026 features a new Shakespeare. We thought the old one looked a bit too earnest, so we asked two-time Emmy Award-winning animator and friend of Rotary, Jen Dickinson, if she could give us a Shakespeare that was less serious, one with a cheeky, playful twinkle in his eye. We think that she’s managed to do that and capture the spirit of our Festival.

As it was with the 2025 Festival, the 2026 Oberon Shakespeare Festival is being produced and funded by the Oberon Rotary Club. Mayfield Garden have also offered additional support for Festival 2026 for which we are extremely grateful.

We are excited to be able to do it all again, bigger in 2026.

The 2026 Festival Programme

Thursday 5 March

Senior Citizen Events
We’re kicking off the Festival, as we did for Festival 2025, with a special visit to our citizens in aged care. In 2025 we took the Shakespeare Troupe to Columbia Aged Care for a workshop and tailored performance for the residents. In 2026 we’re doubling up with visits to both Columbia Aged Care and Oberon Hospital. These visits are not open to the general public.

Friday 6 March

A Shakespearean incursion at Oberon High School.
Come You Spirits present a tailored key scene performance by their founding actors, interspersed with interactive discussions on language, context, themes and character motivations. In 2026, Oberon High School will host students from Bathurst, Kelso and Lithgow High Schools for a unique opportunity to gain perspective and interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s classic plays ‘Macbeth’. This event is limited to students and teachers from the schools mentioned.

Feast and Performance at the Malachi – 5:30pm – 10.00pm
A feast for the senses! Enjoy a banquet inspired by the food of Elizabethan England: hearty spit roasts, loads of potatoes, an array of salads and desserts. The night features a performance by Shakespearean troupe ‘Come You Spirits’ who bring their unique perspective to a selection of pieces from Shakespeare’s canon of classic plays. In 2026 we’re focusing on love and romance – the good, the bad and the tragic.

We hope you’ll come and bring a hint of Shakespeare with you (a hat, a feather, a brooch, a quote …).

There’ll be some prizes, good food and heaps of fun.

Tickets now available.

Saturday 7 March

Festival Market – from 9am
The monthly Oberon Community Market has become a staple in the Oberon calendar with local makers and sellers regularly attending to show their wares and engage with each other and the community. In March 2026 the existing market will expand into a bustling festival marketplace!

Special Market Events

Meet Romeo and Juliet. We’ll be featuring a special FREE Q and A session with the actors: Charlotte Edwards (Juliet) and Ciarán O’Riordan (Romeo) from Shakespearean Troupe ’Come You Spirits’. Charlotte and Ciarán will answer questions about their roles in their troupe’s production of Shakespeare’s classic play and about Shakespeare and his plays generally and their relevance to us today.

Elizabethan Era Fight Workshop. Actors from the troupe will conduct a FREE workshop revealing some of the historical stage combat techniques, focusing on safety, character, and the specific weapons of the period, such as the rapier and dagger. The workshop will combine physical training in footwork, parries, and attacks with theoretical understanding of how fights were choreographed and integrated into Shakespearean plays.

For more information about the Festival Market, including information and booking link for stallholders click here.

Full Performance of Romeo and Juliet in the Oberon Common – Performance time 6.30 – 8.15pm
Acclaimed Shakespearean troupe ‘Come You Spirits’ will perform Shakespeare’s classic tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet, live at the Oberon Common. Pack a picnic, bring a rug or chair, gather the family, and prepare to lose yourself in one of Shakespeare’s greatest tales of love and fate. Entry to the performance area will be by gold coin donation and Rotary will have sausage sandwiches, water, tea and coffee for sale on site from 5.00pm.

But why a Shakespeare Festival in Oberon?

There are some who would ask why Oberon needs a Shakespeare Festival. They might say that Oberon has done quite well for a very long time without one. And they would be right.

Inspired connection

But there is an inspired connection between Oberon (the town) and Shakespeare.

The story begins when a young Elizabeth Berry, at the age of 22, was transported from Britain to Australia as a convict in 1803. She married Charles Whalan in Sydney in 1810. Charles had also been transported to Australia as a convict arriving in 1791. Elizabeth had eight children, two of them born before she married Charles Whalan. Among them were Charles, Elizabeth, and James.

Charles (the son) married Elizabeth Harper in 1836. Elizabeth Harper, of course, on her marriage, became known as Elizabeth Whalan. James moved to the area then known as Fish River and Bullock Flats around 1833. Charles (the son) and Elizabeth (Harper) followed him a few years later.

Charles (the father) died in Sydney in 1839. Elizabeth Whalan (Berry) joined the family in Bullock Flats sometime after his death. Charles (the son) and Elizabeth (Harper) were the first permanent settlers on Fish River. James is credited with the discovery of Jenolan Caves.

That’s the background, now for the mystery …

The Crown Lands Alienation Act of 1861 set apart a site for a village of about 456 acres (185 hectares) adjacent to Bullock Flats, Fish River Creek. Staff Surveyor, J. F. Mann, eventually forwarded his plan to the Surveyor-General in 1863. On this plan the printed name on the map, ‘Bullock Flats’ had a line through it, with the name Oberon printed above it.

Now, who was responsible for altering the surveyor’s map is the subject of myth, legend and some controversy. Some say it was Elizabeth Whalan (Berry), who would have been 82 at the time; some say it was Elizabeth Whalan (Harper), who would have been 52. Certainly, both carried some local influence and both were highly respected and as such would have had access to this map if they had wanted it. And it’s generally accepted that they were both fans of Shakespeare’s work.

We’ll probably never know for sure, but I think it was most likely Elizabeth Whalan (Harper) who altered the map. I like to think, though, that it was with the encouragement of and possibly even in collusion with her mother-in-law Elizabeth Whalan (Berry).

It appears that either or both believed that the countryside was a fairyland, and that Oberon, King of the fairies in Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ provided a more pleasing name.

So, can we make sense of all those pretty words?

Shakespeare was, among other things, a master story teller. Many of his stories, though, were not original tales but retellings, reimagined popular stories of the time, mythical tales, histories.

So, what’s going on? What makes Shakespeare so special? If it’s not the stories themselves, what is it? There’s the language, the poetry, of course. Shakespeare wrote these plays to appeal to wide audience and were extremely popular with every level of society at the time. But that beautiful poetic language can be dense and difficult for a modern audience. Today his works are often perceived as something for elites, the highly educated, or something not relevant, something to be suffered through at school.

It seems that there’s a magic woven through these tales; something other than the poetic language that has lead people to want to tell and retell these stories for more than 400 years. There can certainly be no doubt that his writings have profoundly affected the way we express ourselves and even the way we tell our own stories.

Revealing the magic

The Shakespearean theatre group ‘Come You Spirits’ promise to reveal the magic of these stories in a fresh and exciting way, showcasing the beauty, humour and wisdom of the way they were originally told, but reworking these pieces for a modern audience.

We think it’s going to be fun.