2025 Bard on the Beach opens with Shakespeare's first play, and a set of rom coms
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Vancouver actor Agnes Tong is new to Bard on the Beach this year. She plays Silvia, beloved of Valentine, one of the two gents from Verona. With a lengthy Hollywood North TV and film resume, the Studio 58 graduate fondly recalls attending Bard on the Beach in the past.
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'It's an event with beautiful language floating over to the mountains you see through the open back of the stage,' said Tong of the famous seaside setting.
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Noting she's still somewhat new to Shakespeare, having previously been directed in Julius Caesar at Studio 58 by current cast mate Scott Bellis, Tong says it has been a complete delight diving into the work.
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'It looks hard, but the iambic pentameter rhythm of the writing mirrors a natural speaking rhythm that makes learning the language of the Bard easier,' she said. 'But, yes, there are still some words that are hard to get your mouth around and ensure the image and emotion in what you are saying resonates. We are having the best time with the big hair, bigger shoulder pads and drawing on my previous career as a dancer.'
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Tong plays opposite Matthew Ip Shaw as Valentine. Jacob Leonard appears as Proteus, Valentine's best mate and the other gent of Verona, who is in love with Julia (Tess Gegenstein). The love story between this foursome follows them on an adventure that spans several royal courts, locations, and encounters.
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By end of show, the audience will be able to know the answer to the question posed by the Human League in its 1981 smash, Don't You Want Me?
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Much Ado About Nothing: A romp that is 'as merry as the day is long.' Featuring sparring couple Beatrice and Benedick and star-crossed young lovers Claudio and Hero, this is one of Shakespeares most-loved comedies directed by Johnna Wright. With Sheldon Elter as Benedick, Jennifer Lines as Beatrice, Angus Yam as Claudio and Jennifer Tong as Hero.
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The Two Gentlemen of Verona: Venture back to the weird and wacky era of the 1980s for a music-filled frenzy of rom-com mix-ups and eventual matches in what is considered Shakespeare's first play. Directed by Dean Paul Gibson. With Agnes Tong as Silvia, Tess Degenstein as Julia, Matthew Ip Shaw as Valentine and Jacob Leonard as Proteus. Plus Mason the dog as Crab, the dog.
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Douglas Campbell Theatre:
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The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] [Again]: A sprint through all of the Shakespearean canonical plays in record time with no shortage of laugh out loud moments. A fan fave whether you love or loathe the Bard. Directed by Mark Chavez. With Tess Degenstein, Craig Erickson, Arghavan Jenati and Nathan Kay in many, many roles.
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The Dark Lady: Playwright and actor Jessica B. Hill's story of England's first published female poet, Emilia Bassano, asks if she was the 'Dark Lady' of Shakespeare's sonnets and more. Directed by Moya O'Connell. With Arghavan Jenati as Emilai Bassano, Nathan Kay as William Shakespeare, Sebastian Kroon and Synthia Yusuf as understudies.
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Calgary Herald
3 days ago
- Calgary Herald
Review: It's really something when a theatre troupe can pull off Much Ado About Nothing
Article content There is much to recommend in The Shakespeare Company and Full Circle Theatre's production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Article content It's one of Shakespeare's more problematic plays. It's a comedy, but at its heart, it's about a group of men discrediting an innocent young girl. It's Shakespeare's comic version of his tragedy Othello. Article content A group of soldiers returning from battle stops to rest at the home of the wealthy lord Leonato. The young soldier Claudio is instantly smitten with Leonato's daughter Hero, and she with him, a device straight out of Romeo & Juliet. Leonato's niece Beatrice is a hater of men, most specifically of the vain soldier Benedick, mirroring Katrina and Petruchio from Taming of the Shrew. Beatrice and Benedick's friends conspire to trick them into becoming lovers, but the other conspiracy is to convince Claudio that Hero is not chaste. Article content Article content Any production of Much Ado rises or falls on the chemistry between the actors who play Beatrice and Benedick. Shakespeare has written some of his finest banter for these characters, and Megan Baldrey and CJ Gordon attack it with relish. Article content Baldrey's Beatrice is so voluptuous it's a wonder she isn't fending off suitors, but she does have a viper's tongue, which she turns on Benedick the moment he arrives at the villa. She teases him mercilessly, occasionally winking at the audience to let us know the disdain she holds for him. Article content It's up to Hero, and her lady-in-waiting, Margaret, to drop hints that Benedick is really in love with Beatrice but sworn to pretend otherwise. Baldrey's initial disbelief is hilarious, as is her gradual realization that she does like him. Article content Article content Claudio, the army commander and Leonato are the ones who have to convince Benedick that Beatrice is in love with him. They know that this will feed Benedick's ego. The fun is watching Gordon processing this revelation, and questioning his old philosophy that he is a bachelor for life. Article content Article content Director John Knight turns the scenes in which Beatrice and Benedick overhear the conversations of the conspirators into pure slapstick. He has Baldrey and Gordon crawling about on the floor and hiding behind the small set pieces on the stage. It's the antithesis of the witty verbal matches Baldrey and Gordon had earlier on, but both actors are up to these demands as well. Article content Joel David Taylor runs a gamut of emotions for Claudio. First, he is smitten with Hero, all eager-eyed and puppy-like. When he thinks that Don Pedro is wooing Hero, Taylor becomes petulant and sullen, but turns into the proud peacock when Hero announces she will gladly marry him. Taylor is most convincing when he turns his anger on Hero at their planned wedding, accusing her of being wanton. His anger is palpable. Article content It's always a challenge for modern actors to play Shakespeare's innocents. Hero is probably 15 years old. Caitlyn O'Connor's reaction to being maligned is not that of a child but a woman, and that's not Hero. Her admonishment of Claudio when he discovers the truth is better.
CTV News
4 days ago
- CTV News
Much Ado About Nothing: The original rom-com gets a 21st century makeover
The Shakespeare Company and Full Circle Theatre team up to present Much Ado About Nothing at the West Village Theatre through June 28. Much Ado About Nothing might not be the original romantic comedy, but if's got to be close. The comedy which tells the story of the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick, is thought to have been written around 1598, before daily newspapers -- and theatre critics -- even existed. Talk about a word-of-mouth hit! Now, Calgary's Shakespeare Company is teaming up with Full Circle Theatre to present a new, 21st century production of the romantic comedy that inspired such contemporary Hollywood hits as Anyone But You, the 2024 film starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. It's a follow-up of sorts to past Full Circle productions such as Riverona, which was a teen drama adaptation of Romeo and Juliet by Full Circle, a Calgary independent theatre company launched in 2010 by Erin Weir and Claire Bolton, a pair of U of C graduates. The company, a collective that celebrates women in theatre, is teaming up with The Shakespeare Company, whose artistic director Richard Beaune is returning to the stage in Much Ado to play Dogberry. 'Both companies are committed to approachable, emotionally grounded Shakespeare that feels real and relevant to today's audiences,' Weir said in a media release. As for Much Ado, the themes of a 16th century romance will be recognizable to a 21st century audience, Weir says. 'At the heart of this production is an exploration of trust,' she said. 'How it's built, how it's broken, and what it costs us. As love stories unravel and friendships are tested, the audience is asked: what does it mean to truly believe in someone?' Much Ado About Nothing runs through June 28 at West Village Theatre. For more information, go here or here.
CTV News
06-06-2025
- CTV News
Bard on the Beach to present Much Ado About Nothing with small but mighty edit
People line up to enter Bard on the Beach in Vancouver. (The Canadian Press / Chuck Stoody) To the casual theatregoer, this year's Bard on the Beach production of Much Ado About Nothing will seem delightfully typical of the company's crowd-pleasing spectacles, but to the seasoned Shakespeare fan something might seem afoot. To modify or not to modify? That was the question posed before director Johnna Wright decided to update her version of the 16th century comedy with additional text by playwright Erin Shields. Shields had tweaked the text for Ontario's The Stratford Festival in 2023, including a prologue for one of the lead characters and a new scene for the production's fifth act. Wright assures all the major elements are the same: The production is set in the Italian city of Messina, and the storyline focuses on the two romances between Claudio and Hero and Benedick and Beatrice. The modification addresses a particular element of the storyline without changing the ending, she says. It is an addition to the script, not a rewrite, that Wright describes as 'giving voice' to a character that is silenced in the original play. 'I was very excited when I read Erin's script because it does such a beautiful job of being true to the play and to the characters that Shakespeare created, but also linking it to a modern audience and how we respond to the kind of things that are happening,' she says. Shakespeare's original grapples with the theme of gender as it reflects the expectations of women in Elizabethan-era England. It has elements that Wright says appear in many Shakespeare plays, elements that can be 'difficult to get to grips with' as a modern-day viewer. Often they made gender assumptions or acknowledged societal norms that might seem unacceptable now, she says, but were typical of the times then. 'When you do these plays, you're always thinking, 'How am I going to make that part work?' says Wright. 'Because this is a comedy, and it is supposed to be a happy ending, but there are some things that are kind of disturbing that an Elizabethan audience would have accepted as a happy ending, but we don't see it that way.' Wright expects the additional scene, which sees the young and naive Hero respond to the violence endured throughout the play, to surprise Shakespeare devotees but to ultimately incite a warm reception. 'I will be very interested to find out how people respond to that particular aspect of the show,' she says. 'I think that most people will appreciate it because it just says what most people, I think, would be thinking when they watch these events. Which is 'this is wrong, this is terrible.' We get a chance to address that, so you don't have to feel that you've watched something disturbing and nothing was acknowledged.' Bard veteran Jennifer Lines, who has been working with the company since 1996 and will be playing Beatrice in the upcoming production, says the adjustment made by Wright marks a shift in theatre that will hopefully cause a ripple effect leading to the tweaking of other productions where needed. 'I've been doing this for a long time now and I see the need for accessibility and engaging a modern sensibility, and having those broader interpretations,' says the actress. 'Making it relevant and inclusive, it is important, but it is a dance.' Lines assures the tweaks do not take anything away from the brilliance of the original, a brilliance which, as someone who has performed in the play multiple times as Margaret, Ursula and Beatrice, she says she can attest to. 'It is a play that keeps coming back to me. It's comedic, it's dramatic, it's romantic, it's got everything,' she adds. 'The characters are well fleshed out. There's intelligent banter. It's one of Shakespeare's loveliest plays in my mind, and it's such a thrill to be a part of.'
