Come you Spirits Theatre brings the magic of Shakespeare to life. Co-founders Charles and Josephine Mayer perform from the heart in every production — every school incursion, every regional festival, every Sydney mainstage season. We never delegate to graduates: the principal artists are on stage at every single booking.

In 2026 we are staging three Sydney mainstage productions — Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth and Othello — alongside 32 school incursions and a growing schools-equity programme for low-socioeconomic and remote schools. It is ambitious, and it is stretched. Our mainstage evening seasons carry real cashflow risk. Our schools-equity work depends entirely on subsidy. And the operational backbone that holds it together — booking, bookkeeping, coordination — is currently absorbed personally by the founders.

This campaign is how we close that gap, and keep this work reaching the people who need it most.

The proof is in what the work does. Our school bookings have grown twentyfold in three years. Our 2025 Macbeth drew two independent five-star reviews. Academics call our work “Shakespeare made new again as if by alchemy”.

But the real measure is the moments. An 88-year-old named John, who volunteered to play Puck and remembered how much he loved performing. Eighteen-year-old Leven, who stayed after a show to ask how to become a professional actor. A group of Year 9 girls who suddenly declared: “Yes, we get it now — this Shakespeare thing makes sense”.

Our first ACF campaign in early 2026 raised over $10,000 and carried this work to Mt Annan, Gosford, Oberon, Maitland, Jindabyne and Canberra — into school halls, retirement villages and hospitals.

This is theatre that changes how people feel about themselves, and about each other. It works. It simply needs the means to keep going.

Your gift does three things, directly and immediately.

It underwrites our 2026 Sydney mainstage productions of Macbeth and Othello, where ticket income alone does not cover the cost of staging Shakespeare at full professional quality.

It extends our schools-equity programme — subsidising incursions for low-socioeconomic and remote schools that could never afford a full-price visit, the schools where a single performance can re-invigorate a young person’s whole engagement with learning.

And it sustains the operational capacity — coordination, booking and bookkeeping — that keeps a small touring company running, so the founders can spend their time on the stage and in the classroom rather than the back office.

Every dollar is 100% tax-deductible. Every dollar keeps the principals on stage, in front of the audiences who need them most.

Please give what you can — and help us bring the magic of Shakespeare to life.