Manawatū Summer Shakespeare and Simple Truth Theatre with support from PNCC are excited to announce our upcoming 2026 season
Macbeth, Directed by Rachel Lenart
Season dates coming: 19 – 28 February 2026
Venue: Victoria Esplanade Arboretum, Palmerston North
Something wicked this way comes…
A crowd favourite, this play has it all – witches, battles, ghosts, tyranny and rebellion. The story of one man’s violent rise to power and of his even more violent downfall. Expect leather and lace, glamour and grace in an explosive, elemental and ruthless retelling of a timeless tale. Here, glamour and refinement will clash with the gauche and the crass as ambition overtakes reason and the story races to the only possible conclusion, a remorseless and exquisite destruction of power.
The era for this production is hundreds of years ago, it’s also yesterday, and today, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.
This year we are in the Victoria Esplanade Arboretum!
Celebrating 23 years of high-quality, outdoor theatre, by the community, for the community and presented koha entry so audiences can pay what they can, if they can, to ensure the work is freely accessible to all.
Content warning: violence and child death.
SHOW TIMES
Thu 19 Feb 2026, 7:30pm
Fri 27 Feb 2026, 7:30pm
Sat 28 Feb 2026, 7:30pm
Macbeth 2026: Keep us Koha!
Help Keep us Koha with a donation, big or small! We have a funding goal of 10,000 dollars to deliver the production our community deserves. Click here to see our Givealittle page.
“Summer Shakespeare is a jewel for Palmerston North.”
Times are tough and along with the rest of our sector and community, we are feeling the pinch.
In a fiercely competitive funding landscape, with so many wildly valuable projects vying for extremely limited funds, and despite the extremely generous support of our magnificent sponsors, we find ourselves entering 2026, once again on the brink of viability with a significant budget shortfall.
We are facing external pressure to introduce a ticket price to this beloved event. We believe that Shakespeare is for everyone. By creating large scale, high quality work and delivering it for koha entry, we eliminate financial barriers to artistic engagement. We believe access to and engagement with artistic work is not a ‘nice to have’ that only the wealthy should experience. We believe theatre and creative work helps to build a more empathetic and compassionate society, and we aspire to create a more equitable one, at home in our own community. Can you do it again and help Keep Us Koha?!
In 2025 we delivered The Tempest to a record breaking audience, and in 2026, we are set to present our most ambitious production yet! See our website for all the exciting details about our upcoming show.
Keep us Koha with a donation, big or small and help us deliver the production our community deserves!
“Watching people of all differences fascinated by the art of theatre in a setting that doesn’t cost $$$ is a true gift from the city and sponsors alike.”
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