Bard on the Beach announces return to live performance under the tents for its 33rd season
The Shakespeare Festival will be back at its iconic waterfront site for 2022 after a two-year hiatus
Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival.
ALL THE WORLD’S a stage – or at least Sen̓ákw/Vanier Park is, the site being the 2022 home for the just-announced 33rd season of Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival.
The organization today confirmed its return to the waterfront park from June 8 to September 24 next year, following a two-year pandemic-induced pause.
The lineup includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the BMO Mainstage. Harlem Duet, by Djanet Sears, and Romeo and Juliet will be performed on the Howard Family Stage.
Christopher Gaze.
“We’re thrilled that our Festival will be back onstage after a deeply challenging two years,” Bard artistic director Christopher Gaze said in a release. “Our lead production, Dream, perfectly captures what we want to share as we all recover – it’s a true celebration of hope and joy that will lift the spirits of everyone who sees it. For that reason, and to reach as many people as possible, it will be our single production on the BMO Mainstage through the Festival’s full run.
“Our past two years of creating digital work have taught us valuable lessons,” he said. “But the heart of our 33-year-old Festival is still in presenting live onstage works. We can’t wait to bring back our signature theatre experience under the Bard tents, to delight Vancouver and visitors from around the world!”
Directed by veteran Bard director and actor Scott Bellis, A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs continuously throughout the entire fest.
Harlem Duet, often called a prelude to Shakespeare’s Othello, imagines Othello with a first wife, Billie, the woman he married before Desdemona. It then introduces three couples, each named Othello and Billie, during three key eras in the American Black experience: 1860, before the US Emancipation Proclamation; 1928, during New York’s Harlem Renaissance; and in post-civil rights 1997. Directed by actor-director Cherissa Richards, the play runs from June 15 to July 17.
Romeo and Juliet, meanwhile, will be directed by Anita Rochon and run from August 3 to September 24.
The 33rd season will also see the return of other key events, such as Bard-B-Q & Fireworks night in late July and Opera & Arias concerts in September featuring UBC Opera singers and Vancouver Opera Orchestra musicians.
Sales of 2022 Bard Season and Flex Packs are now open, with early-bird discounts in effect until January. Single tickets will go on sale in April 2022.
For more information, see Bard on the Beach.
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