Bard on the Beach, Vancouver’s annual outdoor celebration of Shakespeare by the sea is currently in its 37th season. In 1990, Christopher Gaze (now Artistic Director) and a group of actors performed Midsummer Night’s Dream in a rented theatre in Vanier Park, and Bard on the Beach was born.
How Bard Came to the Beach
The beachfront location in Sen̓ákw (Vanier Park) anchors Shakespeare’s great works in the real world. The humble Bard tents, and the view of the North Shore mountains, beach, and city, do not add unnecessary pomp or prestige to the centuries old stories performed on stage. William Shakespeare was a man of the people, after all. And the original Globe Theatre in London welcomed all walks of life to watch performances under an open sky.
As well as preserving this outdoor viewing experience, Bard on the Beach offers a wonderful introduction for anyone new to Shakespeare. Seeing the plays performed live definitely makes the language easier to understand. And, before each performance, audiences are invited to a pre-show talk that provides a short, informal introduction to the story and characters of the plays.
This Season’s Shakespeare
Live Shakespeare is also much funnier, and every year Bard on the Beach performs a comedy. This year’s, The Merry Wives of Windsor, caught the soccer/football-fever that swept through Vancouver earlier this summer. At the centre of the chaos is Falstaff (Ashley Wright) a washed-up former soccer star who hatches a scheme to seduce two married women: Mrs. Ford (Melissa Oei) and Mrs. Page (Jennifer Lines). The comedy antics, clever plotting, deception, delusion, all unfold with a soundtrack of lively musical numbers. Now playing at Bard’s BMO Mainstage until September 19, this lively music-filled comedy traces the hilarious trajectories of romantic trickery and mayhem.
“This is Shakespeare at his most playful and accessible,” assures Gaze. Describing Merry Wives of Windsor as “a joyous, high-energy comedy that speaks directly to contemporary audiences while celebrating the timeless brilliance of these characters.”
On the other hand, but on the same BMO Mainstage, Bard is also performing one of Shakespeare’s darkest tragedies.
A Haunting Horror
I have been attending Bard on the Beach for years, beginning when I was twelve or thirteen when my dad took my sister and I to see Midsummer Night’s Dream. I can say that I have never seen a play as haunting, relentless, or bloody as this season’s Macbeth. Recollecting the performance gives me goosebumps.
Macbeth, often referred to as the Scottish play because it is believed that speaking the name in a theatre, other than as called for in the script, will curse a production, tells the tragic tale of a once victorious general. Macbeth learns from a prophecy delivered by three witches that he will become King. Spurred by his own desires and the ruthless encouragement of his wife, Lady Macbeth, he murders the king and seizes the crown, before descending into tyranny and eventual madness. Director Stephen Drover describes Macbeth as “a play that breathes fear; the dead walk, spirits taunt, visions appear and disappear, and scorpions fill the mind.”
This production is a beautiful horror. The three witches are grotesque, and the effects used to announce their arrival on stage only heighten the sense of ominous foreboding their words carry.
Lady Macbeth, played by Tess Degenstein, first appears in an agonizingly white dress. Her character wears white for the entire performance, that is until her garments become so blood stained that they look crimson. Degenstein depicts Lady Macbeth’s descent into madness in a way that feels not just plausible but determined and destined. Unavoidable. Almost, natural.
Delving Into the Dystopian
The dark direction of not just Lady Macbeth’s character but the whole play is manifested by the words of her opening monologue. Degenstein flings her arms wide and calls to the spirits:
“Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty!”
What unfolds shows how unchecked pursuit of power can devolve into paranoia and violence. In the title role, Munish Sharma delivers a powerful performance as the cursed general turned king.
This version of Macbeth is set in a dystopian near future after a global event has fractured systems and destabilized power. Drover explains, “What interests me is how the pursuit of power takes hold in that environment and how quickly it can distort perception, isolate us, and justify the unthinkable.”
“Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most gripping and intriguing plays,” says Gaze. “It is a story of fate, power, and consequence that feels as urgent today as ever.”
But Wait There’s More
Two other plays are being performed this season at Bard’s smaller and more intimate Douglas Campbell Theatre, Antigone and Goblin:Oedipus. Antigone, adapted by Kate Besworth and directed by Ming Hudson, brings a raw and urgent contemporary lens to a classic tragedy. While the wildly successful Goblin:Oedipus is just what it sounds like.
Also at the Douglas Campbell Theatre this August is Bard After Dark. Catch late-night shenanigans by some of Canada’s best improvisers on August 21 and 28 following the plays.
Over almost four decades, more than 2 million patrons have enjoyed Bard on the Beach. Their current season runs until September 19.
