After 26 years and less than 40 plays to draw on, creativity is the key to keeping things fresh for Vancouver’s leading Shakespearean troupe.
Bard on the Beach enters its second quarter century next month, and this season’s lineup includes a quartet of plays offering unique interpretations of the Bard’s works.
There’s a steampunk slapstick comedy, a rollicking jazz musical, a traditionally-staged tragedy, and the premiere of an original work set in Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
For artistic director Christopher Gaze, the secret to Bard’s ongoing success has been a commitment to quality and collaboration.
“First of all, we do it well,” he says. “Secondly, we allow opportunities for other minds to collaborate. We’ve done a good job of that over the years.”
With 225 performances scheduled for this season, Bard is the sixth biggest theatre group in the country by audience.
“As we have grown, so has our confidence level,” says Gaze. “And our audience has come on that journey with us. I think there’s a real sense of trust [from our audience].”
This season opens with a staging of The Comedy of Errors that substitutes ancient Greece for a somewhat twisted version of Victorian England. Director (and Bard founding member) Scott Bellis came up with the idea of the play itself being a machine, one that would occasionally break down and require repairs, so the Industrial Revolution seemed like the perfect time in which to set the play.
“The original story […] was set in what is now present-day Turkey. Because it’s not a place we’re familiar with, that gives us license to change it,” he says.
Much of Shakespeare's work can be adapted to different places and times, something that has helped his works endure, Bellis notes. Since the plays themselves focus on the human experience rather than the setting, that allows directors to transpose the characters without losing any of the story's impact.
However, given the dynamics of the The Comedy of Errors, which features two sets of twins searching for each other, two of whom happen to be slaves, Bellis found that our modern egalitarian society proved a poor fit.
“That sort of relationship doesn’t really exist anymore, not the way it used to,” he says.
The play features a steampunk visual style throughout, with a “retro-futuristic” feel that blends elements of the Industrial Revolution and science fiction. The works of HG Wells and Jules Verne are definite influences, helping to create a setting that is both oddly familiar, yet totally foreign.
However, the steampunk style the play features is more than just goggles and brass gears, explains costume designer Mara Gottler.
“Things have to have a function,” she explains. A character can’t wear a holster or a mask unless it is central to the character’s purpose. As a result, the design of the costumes is both utilitarian and highly stylized.
“It’s been a fun experience to design,” says Gottler. “We’re hoping the audience comes dressed up for the show, too.”
The Comedy of Errors was one of Shakespeare’s early attempts at comedy, and is arguably his most over-the-top example, bordering on slapstick. But Bellis notes, there are themes in the play to which many will be able to relate.
“It definitely has the structure of a farce, […] but it’s remarkably well-structured,” Bellis explains. “I think the deeper themes are about having a missing piece of yourself. I think we can all relate to that.”
While The Comedy of Errorspresents a highly original take on Shakespeare’s work, Bard’s production of King Learpresents a comparatively traditional staging of the classic tragedy. A co-production with Theatre Calgary, the play finished up its run in Cow Town last month before relocating to Vancouver for the summer.
Veteran stage and voice actor Benedict Campbell plays the titular role of the monarch who must divide his kingdom amongst his heirs, the consequences of which drive him to madness.
For Campbell, who is the son of acclaimed theatre actor Douglas Campbell, the play is one he’s intimately familiar with, having played the role of Edmund alongside his father at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontartio, as well as the role of the Earl of Kent alongside Christopher Plummer, also at Stratford.
“[King Lear] got into my bones in theatre school, it’s part of your DNA as an actor,” says Campbell. “It’s such a monumental play, and it can be very taxing on your voice. It’s kind of exhilarating.”
Over the course of the play, King Lear undergoes what Campbell describes as a “monumental journey”, making it a tantalizing role for an actor.
“As a king or an aristocrat, your connection to the real world is limited,” Campbell explains. “Once [Lear] gives up his kingdom, he finally comes in contact with what it means to be a human being.”
In a move that’s sure to pique the curiosity of musical theatre lovers, Bard on the Beach is presenting an interesting take on the comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Directed by Daryl Cloran, artistic director of the Western Canada Theatre in Kamloops, Bard’s production reimagines Love’s Labour’s Lost as set in 1920s Chicago, at the height of the Jazz Age.
“It’s very much a musical,” explains Cloran. “I’ve cut about half the text and added 23 songs.”
All of the music is from the 1920s period, and performed by a live jazz quartet.
“I’ve been talking to Christopher for a few years about doing a musical,” says Cloran. “There’s definitely some high-kicking. I think it’s going to be a ton of fun.”
Bard on the Beach will also be presenting an original play this season, Shakespeare’s Rebel, based on the novel of the same name by CC Humphreys.
Directed by Gaze himself, the play is set in Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and revolves around a master swordsman who gets caught up in events that could topple the entire kingdom.
While the focus of Bard on the Beach has always been (and will always be) the works of Shakespeare himself, Gaze says that doesn’t mean they can’t introduce new works as well. After all, Shakespeare isn’t writing any new material, and so far, Bard on the Beach has performed all of his works, except for Coriolanusand Henry VIII.
“We have a major opportunity to put on new work. We’re willing to embrace writers, producers, individuals who have new ideas,” says Gaze. “But the focus remains on the Bard and his work. What we have is tremendous, and that’s something we must never forget.”
Bard’s new home
Bard is preparing to move into its new home later this year, a brand new 44,000-square foot facility at 162 West 1st it will share with the Arts Club Theatre. The space will become the new home for the Arts Club’s Revue Theatre, and give Bard a single roof under which it can operate. Currently, Bard’s offices are located below City Hall; while its rehearsal space and costume department are temporarily located at SFU Woodward’s in Gastown.
While Bard on the Beach’s season runs from June 4 to Sept. 26, the logistics involved in presenting 225 performances means the company works year-round.
“I do try to take a little time off in the fall once we’ve finished,” says Gaze. “But it never really ends, it’s massive.”
• Ticket prices for Bard on the Beach begin at $26. Full pricing information, the performance schedule and full site and event details are at BardOnTheBeach.org.
This season at Bard on the Beach
The Comedy of Errors
Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival begins its 26th season withThe Comedy of Errors, directed by Bard artistic associate Scott Bellis. Set in an eye-popping Victorian steampunk world, two sets of long-lost twins meet up unexpectedly, creating hilarious confusion for their friends, loved ones – and most of all themselves.
The gist: After a shipwreck that split his family apart many years ago, a merchant from Syracuse finds himself facing the death penalty for illegally being in the rival city of Ephesus. The Duke, moved by his story, suspends the death penalty for just one day to give him time to raise the money to pay a fine, setting the plot in motion. Meanwhile the merchant’s son has also just arrived in town with a family-seeking mission in mind. Things become complicated, however, when they stumble upon their identical twin brothers. When it seems like things could not get any stranger, a mysterious women named Abbess joins the fray with a secret of her own.
Memorable quote: “He that commends me to mine own content / Commends me to the thing I cannot get.”
Details: Runs June 4 - Sept. 26 (BMO Mainstage). Opening night Saturday, June 13.
King Lear
Also on the Main Stage will be the timeless tragedy King Lear, presented in collaboration with Theatre Calgary.
The gist: Shakespeare’s magnificent tragedy tells the story of an aging king who divides his kingdom between two daughters but leaves out the third, failing to understand that she loves him most of all. His mistake triggers a chain of violence, lies and betrayal – and dooms him to madness.
Memorable quote: “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is / To have a thankless child!”
Details: Runs June 18 - Sept. 20 (BMO Mainstage). Opening night Thursday, June 25
Love’s Labour’s Lost
This adaptation of Love’s Labour’s Lostwill bring a 1920s Chicago feel to the intimate Douglas Campbell Theatre tent, complete with live jazz music.
The gist: It’s the Jazz Age, the music is live and the party is in full swing. But a rum-running kingpin and his pals have chosen to turn their backs on liquor and the ladies to follow a simpler, scholarly life. Will their plan hold fast against the temptations of three winsome and witty women?
Memorable quote: “O, but for my love, day would turn into night!”
Details: Runs June 19 - Sept. 20 (Howard Family Stage). Opening night Friday, June 26.
Shakespeare’s Rebel
Last, but not least, is the world stage premiere of Shakespeare’s Rebel, adapted by CC Humphreys from his best-selling novel of the same name and directed by Bard on the Beach artistic director Christopher Gaze.
The gist: Master swordsman John Lawley just wants to be a good father, win back his true love and arrange the fights for William Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. But when he gets caught up in a deadly royal power play, he can’t escape the fight of his life. And he may be the only man who can save England…
Memorable quote: “Give me a blade in my hand – yea, or at my throat.”
Details: Runs July 2 - Sept. 19 (Howard Family Stage). Opening night Sunday, July 12.
