The new incarnation, Two Sticks Theatre, is a collaboration between Anita Brown and Mr Robson.

“When we got together to create our vision statement it was to create theatre that was accessible, playful and creative,” Ms Brown said.

“Two Sticks started when I was visiting Alex in Sydney and we both said we still want to create theatre in Armidale.”

Their first project, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Far from a traditional performance, the pair were looking for a cast that could communicate the 1500’s comedy with their bodies.

Sticking true to the text, the adaptation will contextualise the play to modern New England.

“It’s absolutely playful, surprising, and just when they audience thinks they’ve got it they’re going to be surprised again,” Ms Brown said.

“If you’re going to do a classic Shakespearean play, we had the liberty to play with it and Shakespeare wanted us to have fun.”

Working as a drama teacher for a number of years has helped Ms Brown work collaboratively with the cast.

After all, both herself and Alex Robson will feature alongside them in the play.

“My style as a director is to work with the actors to create, to workshop – and when there are too many ideas in the pot to make a call,” Ms Brown said.

“We wanted them to be able to use physical theatre, to be very comfortable in their bodies to present ideas and pictures with their bodies.

“We wanted them to be experienced in performing Shakespeare, just a desire to work collaboratively.”

Two Sticks held a group audition for the play, where aspiring cast members were required to improvise a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Some were invited to play parts in the cast of 20, because of past experience with Shakespeare.

“I’m not sure these days there is a to-the-letter Shakespeare performance, we are true to the script and we want to make sure we don’t Shakespeare things up so that people understand what is happening,” Ms Brown said.

“We will physicalise that as much as possible to engage the modern audience who either love Shakespeare or need to fall in love with Shakespeare.”

The play features a mix of experienced and aspiring actors.

“Whilst I am relishing the challenges of making theatre in Sydney, I miss the people of Armidale, the actors and the audiences,” Mr Robson said. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is on at The Hoskins Centre on January 12 and 13. Tickets are available twostickstheatre.com and Carr’s NewsXpress.