Looking to get-out from under lockdown and enjoy a bit of classic drama in the Harbour City? 

Well then, why not go see local girl Eleni Cassimatis starring in a Sydney Opera House production of Hamlet starting early next month.

While rehearsals for the former Kinross-Wolaroi student have been going swimmingly; COVID-19 is still the shadow that hangs over all our lives.

“It’s been wonderful, a bit of a dream really, everyone is so grounded and incredibly talented,” she enthused about the Bell Shakespeare production starting on March 4.

“Thankfully though we haven’t had any COVID cases, though we are testing three times a week; I personally, have been limiting my movements outside of rehearsals to avoid exposure.”

Performing, Eleni says, seemed always in her blood: “I don’t ever remember telling my parents that I wanted to be an actor, they kind of knew that’s what I wanted to do,” she explains.

“I did all the musicals at school, and I also used to put on little shows at home with my sister…but both my parents tell me I got it from them,” she laughs.

With Hamlet, she’s in the unique position of having seen the current production performed live but, which due to lockdown, has now led to her being cast as “the Player Queen” in this “play within a play”.

“The play was meant to happen in 2020 and I actually saw it at the (Sydney) Opera House… I was just blown-away, but the schedule was for it to run in 2020, then 2021, and now 2022, and this led to a couple of casting changes, including for my part,” she said.

With understudies not an Australian tradition for most theatre productions, everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that COVID-19 test results results keep coming-up negative so the show can finally go ahead.

“I think everyone thinks about it; the way things have been for the past two years, I had a friend in another show that had to quarantine for a week after testing positive,” Eleni said.

“I know a couple of large musicals that had to cancel performances. The fear is there, and the uncertainty is there,” she added.

With the official opening on March 9, she is looking forward to seeing a number of familiar faces from the Colour City in the crowd.

“They are going to be there! Quite a few people I know are going. A couple of friends, family friends, best friends from high school, and people that I grew up with,” Eleni said excitedly. 

In the 1960s Danish setting for this production of Hamlet, she will also be touring to the Melbourne Arts Centre and Canberra Theatre Centre, if locals want to wait until the production is a little closer to home. 

Eleni said everyone is looking forward to the ending of all restrictions to do with the pandemic when we can get back to our pre-2020 lives again.

“It’d be so lucky to get past this, everything that you plan, you worry that an outbreak will see it put on hold; it’s caused so much turmoil for the arts,” he added. 

With everyone affected by the pandemic that effectively stalled all live performances in Australia, Eleni determined to remain busy by keeping her craft-up via new technologies.

“During lockdown we were getting on Zoom and reading Shakespeare plays together… I tried always to keep active and passionate about my work,” she said.

With the show already put-off on at least three occasions from its initial 2020 run, the constant daily coronavirus case numbers, restrictions, and rules around its control, has created a resilience in the theatre community, she believes.

“I think it absolutely has created a resilience; being in the rehearsal room, you just try and soak it up and enjoy every moment, it’s a heightened appreciation of the craft, but it’s across society, all occupations,” she said.

“We’ve all gone through this difficulty, now we’re on the point where there’s this groundswell, where things are starting to get better,” she said.

For locals looking to get out from under our two-year COVID blues, seeing Shakespeare’s classic play of betrayal, murder, obsession, and revenge, could just be the perfect tonic.

“I think it will be wonderful,” Eleni concluded.