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Sally’s recent work featured in new Arden Shakespeare collection, published by Bloomsbury Press in the UK
There are some unexpected and wonderful surprises and and “pinch me” moments that come out of just going for it and taking a risk. “The Experiment”, also known as Shakespeare Republic, dreamed up many years ago when I graduated drama school in London, realised years later in a moment of inspired madness back home in Melbourne, made with love, guts, generosity, blood, sweat (and yes, occasional tears!) by so many clever talented creatives who answered my call of “Hey, do you want to do some Shakespeare?”, starting back in 2015, continuing to the present moment – is the gift that just keeps on giving in just this way. When I started…
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Shakespeare Republic wins Best Ensemble Cast at London WebFest!
Amazing news!! I am so thrilled to share that Shakespeare Republic: #AllTheWebsAStage (The Lockdown Chronicles) is the Q1 winner of the Best Ensemble Cast at London Web Fest! Huge thanks to Guest Judge Chris Tashima & the LWF team & congrats to my wonderful fellow Ensemble members! Reposted from @londonwebfest WINNER – BEST ENSEMBLE CAST ‘Shakespeare Republic: #AllTheWebsAStage’ – Sally McLean Filmed in lockdowns during the global pandemic … Twenty four souls, six cities – one shared experience of being human. Using Shakespeare’s original text and characters, we shine a light on the human experience in a COVID-19 world.
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Shakespeare Republic nominated for THREE awards at London Web Fest including Best Director for Sally
There is so much news coming in for my various projects that I’m just going to add updates as news comes in with shorter posts, such as this amazing announcement that Shakespeare Republic: #AllTheWebsAStage (The Lockdown Chronicles) has been officially selected & nominated in the following categories at the 2022 London Web Fest in the UK: Huge thanks to Guest Judge, Chris Tashima & the LWF team and congrats to my Republic team!
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Sally joins London WebFest Industry Panel with Oscar winner Chris Tashima
So thrilled to be part of this excellent festival with Season Three of Shakespeare Republic! 6am Sunday Melbourne time! See you online! Reposted from @londonwebfest: Join us for our Industry Q&A Panel LIVE this SATURDAY 23RD APRIL! We’ll be chatting with our ‘Official Selection’ Actor/Directors from this season’s festival. The whole thing will be moderated by our guest judge, Academy award-winning director Chris Tashima (who just so happens to be an actor himself) Get your questions in on our Instagram & watch LIVE on our FACEBOOK and new YOUTUBE channel (londonwebfest)
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Sally receives Best Director & Best Ensemble Cast Awards at New Zealand WebFest for Shakespeare Republic
The end of 2021 was an absolute whirlwind of activity, and it only got busier with a new acting gig and a separate new directing gig in the first three months of 2022, which means I’m only just catching up on updating this news section! There is a lot to get through, so there will be a flurry of posts over the next few weeks – fair warning! I have to start the good news sharing with this amazing thing that happened in November over in New Zealand. In a night of amazing outcomes, I was so thrilled to be able to accept the awards for Best Ensemble Cast (International…
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Sally wins Creator Amets at Seriesland in Spain!
It has been a CRAZY time over the past 19 months. Despite my home town of Melbourne spending over 260 days in lockdown, which just ended, I somehow managed to be in more productions as an actor than I had been in the 2 years previous to 2020, performing exclusively Shakespeare in six productions – five of them based in the UK. And, because I can’t sit still, as I’ve written about before on this blog, I also created a new season of my web series, Shakespeare Republic – filming with 23 other actors (I was the 24th) based in seven different cities on three different continents – all working…
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Shakespeare Republic Season Three screening at SeriesFest
It has been a wonderful week of virtually attending SeriesFest in the USA, where my digital series Shakespeare Republic is screening at the moment as an Official Selection. As much as the pandemic has wreaked havoc, there have been some silver linings in respect to opening up the ability to virtually attend these events for those of us based outside of the UK and US, who might not usually be able to take part. Despite the VERY early mornings (most workshops have been taking place at 3am Melbourne time), I have found myself leaping out of bed to get onto the video conferencing calls, anxious that I don’t miss any…
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Sally interviewed on No Rest For The Weekend in NYC
It was an absolute pleasure to be invited onto No Rest For The Weekend hosted by Jason Godbey in New York as a result of my win as Best Director and Best International Web Series at the NYC Web Fest earlier this year. Watch the full interview above. With many thanks to Jason Godbey for such a wide-ranging chat and to NYC Web Fest Director, Lauren Atkins for suggesting me as a guest!
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Sally wins Best Actress award at UVFF 2021
During 2020 I got used to being up early to perform Shakespeare, working with the fab The Show Must Go Online, who are based in the UK. So being up early to participate in a UK-based project was not a new thing for me. What was new, was the outcome of being up that early for that reason. Last Monday morning (at 3am Melbourne time), I had the great pleasure of being part of the UVFF Awards on the last night of the festival, which normally takes place in venues around Islington in London (in a normal, non-COVID world). This year, it was a virtual event attended by over 70…
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Sally nominated for Best Actress & Best Director at the 2021 UVFF Awards in the UK
Last year was a really challenging year for all of us. And I added to this by deciding to create and direct a new season of Shakespeare Republic, set and filmed entirely in lockdown. It was the most wonderful, crazy, sometimes difficult but absolutely rewarding experience I could have had. The creative family that formed around the new season, made up of existing Republic ensemble joined by a whole new swathe of actors and regular Republic crew, creating a total of 24 episodes, was one of the best things about 2020 for me. It was an absolute privilege to work with these extraordinary actors, based in Melbourne, London, Glasgow, Edinburgh,…
