Bard on the Beach – A Cultural Phenomenon

The main stage tent seats over five hundred viewers, and offers two different productions during the festival’s running. These productions are performed in repertory, and the main stage tent is open-air so that the actors perform against a backdrop of mountains, water, and sky, which is a huge part of what makes the Bard on the Beach such a popular experience. The Douglass Campbell Studio Stage seats roughly two and a half hundred people and runs from June to September as well, and provides an intimate seating area for lesser known Shakespeare plays and less traditional stagings.

Bard on the Beach is a not for profit festival, and is fully registered as such. It has a mandate to present the works of William Shakespeare, both professionally and with integrity, and strives to make the annual festival both affordable and accessible to a wide audience. The festival is also dedicated to nurturing and promoting a passion for, as well as an interest in, Shakespeare’s work. In 2009, the festival is featuring The Comedy of Errors, Othello, All’s Well That Ends Well, and Richard II. The festival also features an array of other events such as a Bard-B-Q, fireworks, operas and arias, a lecture series on Shakespeare’s work, Chatterbox Tuesdays (which allows people to attend before a show and learn more about the piece), and the musical group Chor Lioni.

The festival is always accepting donations, volunteers, and actors to help expand the experience, and it can be just as much fun to become a part of it as it can to attend. If you’re looking for a great way to be of service to the community, and you have a passion for Shakespeare’s work, then the Bard on the Beach festival presents a unique opportunity to represent both. The Bard on the Beach festival is quickly becoming one of Canada’s favorite summer pastimes.