Bard on the Beach

Bard on the Beach is Western Canada's largest professional Shakespeare festival, which is held every year in open-ended tents on the waterfront in Vanier Park in Kitsilano, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival’s 19th season runs May 29 to September 27, 2008.

History

Bard on the Beach was established in 1990 with a mandate to provide Vancouver residents and tourists with affordable, accessible Shakespearean productions of the finest quality. The festival began as an Equity Co-op, funded primarily by a Canada Council Explorations grant awarded to Artistic Director Christopher Gaze. Bard on the Beach is now a fully professional, not-for-profit theatre company with a budget over three million dollars and producing over 200 shows a season.

The site

Bard is located in Vanier Park just below the Burrard Street Bridge in Vancouver. It consists of two stages: The Mainstage and The Douglas Campbell Studio Stage. There is also a group of tents known as the Bard Village which contains the box office, a gift shop, and a concession.

Mainstage

The mainstage is a 520 seat stage which houses the two main performances each season. It is open-ended with a backdrop of False Creek, the Coast Mountains and city skyline. The set itself changes year to year to accommodate the performance.

Douglas Campbell Studio Stage

The Douglas Campbell Studio Stage was added in 1999 and is named after the Canadian stage actor, Douglas Campbell. The studio stage now presents two of Shakespeare's plays each year. The tent itself seats 240 people. The stage configuration and set for the studio stage, like the mainstage, changes every year.

Young Shakepeareans Workshops

The Young Shakespeareans workshops are workshops for youth aged 8 to 18, put on at the festival throughout the summer. They include junior groups and senior groups which last for two weeks at a time, as well as a one week intensive for more experienced actors. The current director of the program is Mike Stack.

Chronology of Plays

*1990
**A Midsummer Night's Dream
*1991
**A Midsummer Night's Dream
**As You Like It
*1992
**Twelfth Night
**The Tempest
*1993
**The Taming of the Shrew
**Romeo and Juliet
*1994
**The Merry Wives of Windsor
**King Lear
*1995
**The Comedy of Errors
**Hamlet
*1996
**Much Ado About Nothing
**The Merchant of Venice
*1997
**Love's Labour's Lost
**The Winter's Tale
*1998
**As You Like It
**Richard III
*1999
**A Midsummer Night's Dream
**Macbeth
**Measure for Measure
*2000
**The Tempest
**Henry IV, part 1
**All's Well That Ends Well
*2001
**The Taming of the Shrew
**Antony and Cleopatra
**The Two Gentlemen of Verona
*2002
**Twelfth Night
**Henry V
**Cymbeline
*2003
**The Comedy of Errors
**The Merchant of Venice
**Pericles, Prince of Tyre
**Shylock (a modern play about the character Shylock)
*Bard in the Vineyard:
**A Midsummer Night's Dream
*2004
**Much Ado About Nothing
**The Merry Wives of Windsor
**Macbeth
*2005
**As You Like It
**Love's Labour's Lost
**Hamlet
**Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (by Tom Stoppard)
*2006
**A Midsummer Night's Dream
**Measure for Measure
**The Winter's Tale
**Troilus and Cressida
*2007
**The Taming of the Shrew
**Romeo and Juliet
**Timon of Athens
**Julius Caesar
*2008
**King Lear
**Twelfth Night
**The Tempest
**Titus Andronicus
*2009 (planned)
**All's Well That Ends Well
**Comedy of Errors
**Othello
**Richard II

External links

* [http://www.bardonthebeach.org Bard on the Beach] - Official Website