Why Shakespeare matters to Rich Lister Katie Page

Katie Page, 67, is the chief executive officer of Harvey Norman. She lives in Middle Dural, Sydney, and is No.38 on the 2024 Rich List with an estimated wealth of $3.39 billion.

When did you first get into William Shakespeare’s plays?
I studied Shakespeare at high school, like most other people. And I loved it from the start – the passion of the characters, their egos, the humanity of it all. Here I was, this Queensland country girl [Page was born in Mareeba, west of Cairns] and I could relate to this stuff written in England 400 years ago.

What is your favourite work by Shakespeare – or is there more than one?
Hamlet’s always been my thing. You look at the political undertones of that and think yeah, nothing much has changed. The thing about Shakespeare, too, is that you get talking to most people and they will be able to name a favourite. Even if they think they’re not into him, they’re actually into him. You realise later in life that you miss a lot of the meaning of his plays the first time around.

Do you have any go-to Shakespeare quotes?
Not really. But we all quote Shakespeare all the time, whether we know it or not.

Did you perform Shakespeare at school?
We’d all read aloud in class from these big books, everyone taking turns to play their part. That’s absolutely the best way to appreciate the language. I think I was in a proper school production of Hamlet, but don’t ask me which role. It was 50 years ago!

You have become a production patron for the Bell Shakespeare company, underwriting its hit The Lovers in 2022. How did that come about?
So Phil Crutchfield [KC, the chair of Bell Shakespeare] is a mate, and in early 2021 he says we’re turning A Midsummer Night’s Dream into a musical, come to this pre-production showcase we’re doing. I took Gerry [Harvey, her husband] along – he loves Shakespeare too – and we had a blast. We were upstairs at a warehouse in The Rocks, with cask wine and a handful of us socially distanced on plastic chairs. It was edgy, but the energy in the room was fantastic. Laura Murphy had spent 10 years writing this musical, which these other talented young people were performing so brilliantly . . . I look at supporting things like that as an investment in community.

A musical is one way of reaching the youth and their shortening attention spans. But do you think kids are still up to learning straight Shakespeare?
I remember when The Lovers came out, one of the reviews said, “Shakespeare gets the Gaga treatment”. It kept what makes Shakespeare powerful but put it in a contemporary context . . . But the original plays are great too if they’re taught in the right way. We go to Bell Shakespeare’s donor dinner every year, and the actors will do some scenes from their current play, and then [artistic director] Peter Evans gets up and has this fantastic way of relating the themes back to what’s happening now. I remember last time I turned to Gerry and said: “Why didn’t I have Peter as my teacher?” Bell do a lot of school visits and take small productions to regional areas, so I hope kids can be inspired too. Especially the country kids.

So they’ll be studying Shakespeare in another 400 years?
When my son finished school, he loved two things: Russian authors – Dostoevsky et cetera – and Shakespeare. So I took him to Russia – this was a few years back – and then to the reconstruction of the Globe Theatre in London. Sure, the place didn’t have a roof, it didn’t look like [Bell Shakespeare’s home at] Walsh Bay, but it was still actors in front of an audience, telling the same stories as centuries ago. Those plays brought the community together back then, and I think they’ll always be with us.

The Rich List issue of AFR Magazine is out on Friday, May 31 inside The Australian Financial Review. Follow AFR Mag on Instagram.