User:RobertTurnbull/The Backyard Bard

The Backyard Bard is a Christian theatre company based in Melbourne, Australia. It specialises in Biblical Storytelling but also in Shakespeare. It was created in 2003 by Simon Camilleri.

History
In 2002, Simon Camilleri directed Mark through La Trobe Student Theatre. It was a Biblical Storytelling production of the Gospel of Mark with twelve storytellers. In 2003, he directed a production of Shakespeare's Othello in the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Othello was the first production under the name The Backyard Bard, which was so named because the desire to make Shakespeare ("The Bard") accessible. After the success of Mark, many of the storytellers continued to do small-scale Biblical Storytelling performances. In order to encourage others to learn Biblical Storytelling, Camilleri organised a 6 week course to teach the skills and philosophy behind it. To advertise the course he directed his second Biblical Storytelling production in 2004, Storytelling Judges, which was a selection of stories from the Book of Judges. This was followed by Daniel - Dream Interpreter in 2005 taken from the first seven chapters of the Book of Daniel. This production pioneered the approach of Ensemble Storytelling. In 2006, the production of Esther was entered into the 2006 Melbourne Fringe Festival. In 2007, Simon Camilleri and Robert Turnbull performed Elijah from 1 and 2 Kings in Melbourne, Geelong and Sydney. In 2008, Camilleri toured this as a solo show in the United States whilst the Backyard Bard team in Melbourne produced the sequel The Adventures of Elisha. Since Easter 2009, Turnbull has performed an abridged version of the Gospel of Luke in Melbourne, Geelong and Sydney. He will perform this show in the 2009 Melbourne Fringe along with another show of the entire Book of Revelation.

Major Productions

 * Mark (2002) - Not under the name The Backyard Bard
 * Othello (2003)
 * Storytelling Judges (2004)
 * Daniel - Dream Interpreter (2005)
 * Godspell (2006)
 * Esther (2006)
 * Elijah (2007)
 * The Adventures of Elisha (2008)
 * Jesus: According to Luke (2009)
 * The Book of Revelation (2009)