Bard on the Beach is celebrating its 25th birthday this year with its biggest season yet: a packed summer schedule that includes a lively re-imagining of Shakespeare’s final (and, according to some in our office, finest) play, The Tempest.
The production is buoyant. Exciting scenes of shipwreck, fairy enchantment and romance fuel the up-tempo plot, which centralizes on duke/magician Prospero (Allan Morgan, captivatingly assuming a role based on old William himself) settling old scores when a royal ship beaches on his remote island’s shores. Of note is Bard’s delightful gender-swap of the characters Trinculo and Stephano, who, re-imagined as the party-ready dames Trincula (Luisa Jojic) and Stephana (Naomi Wright), bawdily up the physical comedy ante (fighting, dancing and falling over, with equal hilarity). Their mischief had a matinee audience of teenagers in standing ovation.
An exciting performance not to be missed, this play (showing until September 18th) is sure to be a standout in Bard on the Beach’s 2014 season. —Adrienne Matei
Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, 604-739-0559, www.bardonthebeach.org
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