ALCHEMY by Come You Spirits Theatre at the Bellingen Northbank Community Garden 11am on 20th December 2026

ALCHEMY
Shakespeare as ritual, as medicine, as transformation
Sunday 20 December 2026, 11am Summer Solstice weekend
Bellingen Northbank Community Garden (open air)
Running time: approx. 1.5 hours

At the Winter Solstice we performed ALCHEMY in the dark and played on into first light. Now, at the height of summer, we bring it into the full light of day on the Sunday prior to the Summer Solstice.

ALCHEMY premiered at Tribe Ascension Festival in May 2026. Next it played in the open air in St David’s Park, Hobart during Dark Mofo. . For the Summer Solstice, Come You Spirits brings it to the Northbank Community Garden in Bellingen.

WHAT IS IT?
ALCHEMY is performed by three actors, built from Shakespeare’s most mystical words. Come You Spirits' Artistic Director, Josephine Mayer, took these lines from across the canon, stripped them of their plots, and wove them into a single journey from despair to love. It follows an “alchemical” thread that runs through many of Shakespeare’s plays. A fallen soul is purified through trials, learns to bring its opposing forces into harmony, and makes itself ready to return to love.

Three figures move through the darkness of the human condition toward something luminous:

• DYER is a man crushed by grief, addiction, fear and self-destruction.

• JAEGER is his volatile companion, ruled by lust, rage and the seduction of oblivion.

• ATHENA is an ethereal winged being who descends into their world. She is part goddess, part spirit guide, and part mirror held up to the soul.

THE LANGUAGE
They speak only in Shakespeare, but this is no anthology. Every line has been alchemised into one new, living text. It moves through grief, jealousy, addiction, lust, desire and surrender, and finally reaches love. The words of the world’s greatest writer are used to ask the oldest question: can a broken soul make the leap?

THE EXPERIENCE
Alchemy is dark, sensual and deeply ceremonial. Its world is one of smoke and ash, hooded figures and harlequin shadows, with the divine feminine rising through a liminal dreamscape. Here the subconscious and the waking world blur, and the line between reality and imagination disappears. Healing sound frequencies move through the space and breathwork is woven into the action. The audience is never just watching. You are inside the alchemy itself.

From the company critics call “utterly indistinguishable from magic.”

AFTER BELLINGEN
In 2027 Alchemy tours with Come You Spirits to ancient ritual sites in Wales, Scotland, England and mainland Europe. It also returns to Hobart for the Winter Solstice Sunrise.

PLEASE NOTE

• This is an outdoor, open-air performance. Bring a hat, sunscreen, water and a picnic rug or low chair.

• Contains mature themes, including addiction, death, grief and sexuality. Recommended for ages 15+.

With consistent ★★★★★ reviews for their touring productions in the wild and in Performing Arts Centres across the country, this is a rare opportunity to catch Come You Spirits and meet the Principal cast. See for yourself why they are hailed as

"Captivating" Sydney Morning Herald

"The best of the best" Sydney Arts Guide

"Nourishment for the eyes, ears, nose and tongue, and offered a weight off the heart and kinship with your fellow human beings" Arts Hub

“Come you Spirits will take you to a place just between the human and the ethereal, to demonstrate just how close we are through language and our connection to the natural world. Utterly Indistinguishable from magic" Theatre Travels