Independent theatre company Sport for Jove has been punching above its weight in the presentation of Shakespeare’s plays (and other classics) to NSW audiences for ten years, so what better way to celebrate than with an epic that encompasses 100 years of the Bard’s history plays?

The company’s artistic director Damien Ryan has brought together Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Henry V and Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3 in a sweeping production that follows the generations of trauma and rivalry between competing factions in England and culminates in the bloodbath of Richard III. The epic is divided into two plays – The Hollow Crown and The Wars of the Roses – and while they can be taken separately, seeing them in a single day, almost eight hours of theatre, gives a wonderful sense of the overall cycle. Not to mention the ambition of the production and the tremendous stamina of a strong cast that juggles multiple roles across several lifetimes.

Rose Riot, Sport for JoveEmma Palmer and Drew Livingston in Sport for Jove’s Rose Riot. Photo © Seiya Taguchi

Appropriately for the Everglades Gardens’ outdoor stage with its verdant hedged wings, strewn...