A theatre company has cast two Shakespeare plays with all male actors, claiming the “controversial” move was an attempt to explore gender equality in the age of #MeToo and #timesup.

The Pop-up Globe theatre in Auckland will stage Richard III and The Taming of the Shrew in November, but a decision to cast only male actors has drawn criticism for being discriminatory, “bizarre” and tone-deaf.

The new season has been named by the theatre “the abuse of power season”, followed by the hashtags #MeToo and #TimesUp in promotional literature.

The theatre says they have staged and cast the plays as they would have appeared in Shakespeare’s day more than 400 years ago in Elizabethan England, despite claiming on their website that the company “isn’t dusty old Shakespeare. It’s now. Alive. Like a party.”

“In the age of Weinstein, #MeToo and #TimesUp, it feels entirely right for us to reflect current conversations in the world through ambitious and thought-provoking programming. As is so often the case, Shakespeare seems to have got there first,” said Pop-Up Globe founder and artistic director Miles Gregory in a press release announcing the new season.

“When it comes to the gender debate we’ve never been shy, and neither was Shakespeare ... Our audiences will not be disappointed with the treatment we’ve given to these global issues.”

Gregory later told Radio New Zealand: “To perform it all-male with a feminist reading is intriguing. It’ll be very funny but it’ll also make you think.”

But gender equality campaigners failed to see the humour in the casting, saying the theatre’s decision to market the plays as an exploration of the #MeToo movement was cynical and flawed.

So the Pop-up Globe is using the MeToo movement and the abuse of power to market its new season, while simultaneously including a "proto-feminist play" performed by an all-male cast, and dropping their all-female cast production... erm... — Erin Banks (@ErinRBanks) July 17, 2018

I wish I could say #notallmen, but Pop-up Globe's #MeToo Taming of the Shrew is #allmale. You can't just slap a 'proto-feminist' label on the play and avoid scrutiny - its misogyny and abuse can be normalised and played for laughs as equally as it can be exposed and critiqued. — James Wenley (@JamesWenley) July 17, 2018

Female actors and directors also pointed out that casting all men meant female actors lost out on parts and work.

The company has since apologised.

“It has become very clear that referencing these movements has offended and upset many people, some deeply ... I believe theatre is fundamentally about celebrating the diversity of the human condition.” said Gregory in a twitter statement.

“We are a young organisation, we are learning, and we don’t get everything right. It is clear that today we haven’t.”

The Pop-Up Globe will also perform Measure for Measure and Hamlet in the new season, plays they have cast with both men and women.