For veteran UK theatre director Declan Donnellan, there has never been a time when theatre generally and Shakespeare specifically has been more relevant.
From Brexit to Trump and Putin to populism, the best productions can give audiences a prism through which to view a disturbing world.
![<i>A Winter's Tale</i>: There is much to learn about humans placed in extreme circumstances.](/web/20170415150954im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/k/8/t/s/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvk8z2.png/1492214009813.jpg)
"Theatre can give us a wake-up call to some of the primitive forces that govern what it is to be a human being," says Donnellan, joint founder of the Cheek by Jowl theatre company, whose Russian language production of Measure for Measure was enthusiastically received at this year's Sydney Festival.
Shakespeare, in particular, helps us experience the actions of people in extremis.
![Declan Donnellan.](/web/20170415150954im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/k/8/t/q/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gvk8z2.png/1492214009813.jpg)
"I love Shakespeare because he helps us share very searing experiences," says Donnellan. "He shows us people saying things we wouldn't say. He shows us doing things we wouldn't do and in situations we wouldn't necessarily be in. But it's important that we authentically connect with that."
Donnellan was speaking ahead of a exclusive live streaming of Cheek by Jowl's much acclaimed production of The Winter's Tale in partnership with The Sydney Morning Herald .
The Winter's Tale is one of the four so-called "late" plays written at the very end of Shakespeare's life.
"We think of him as an old man but he was only 52 when he died," says Donnellan.
"I find them wonderful plays. They are bleak and not at all sentimental, yet there is some sense of home and that life goes on. And in these bleak days politically anything that will give us some sense of hope which isn't sentimental is good."
At the centre of the play is the childish, jealous and vengeful King Leontes, whose unfettered power causes enormous destruction before the final resolution.
There are obvious resonances with the state of the world at the beginning of the 21st century but Donnellan prefers to allow these to become self-evident rather than too overt.
"My production is not about Brexit or America," he says. "My show is about Shakespeare but I am a human being living in the world ... If I tried to put what is happening in politics directly onto this play it wouldn't be very good. But if I am open to the zeitgeist it will inevitably pass through what I am saying."
Donnellan is fascinated by what he sees as humans' innate desire for destruction and how most of us keep those dark forces in check.
"I think that theatre is very good because it reminds us of things that people aren't talking about or dare talk about – which is that people are very, very angry at the moment and just want to destroy," he says.
"But you don't go to a play to learn how to vote. Theatre is extremely political but it's not a party political broadcast.
"Theatre makes you understand and be present with things that are very important to consider when you are thinking about how to vote."
How to see our live stream
Declan Donnellan confesses he was initially sceptical about the benefits of live streaming theatre.
"I've really only started doing live streaming in the past few years because I was a fool earlier and thought there was something rather awful about it," he says. "I think I'd only seen it when it was done badly years ago and had no idea how much it had technologically improved.
"The important thing is not to pretend it's a movie. The audience knows it is watching a play."
Multiple cameras are used to capture the action from London's Barbican Centre, giving viewers worldwide a deep experience
"It will be like you are sitting in a theatre. We're going to capture live a living thing."
The Winter's Tale will be live-streamed from the Barbican Centre on April 20 at 4.30am (Sydney time) and available exclusively on smh.com.au/entertainment
Thankfully, it will also be available on demand until May 7 for Australian viewers.