Individual play tickets to Bard on the Beach's 36th season go on sale April 9
Much Ado About Nothing and The Two Gentlemen of Verona are on the BMO Mainstage at the Shakespeare festival, on from June 10 to September 20
Sheldon Elter (left) and Jennifer Lines in Much Ado About Nothing. Photo by Emily Cooper
The 2025 Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival returns to Vancouver at Sen̓áḵw/Vanier Park from June 10 to September 20, with individual tickets available April 9.
The festival’s 36th season features a blend of comedy, romance, and drama with unique twists, company debuts, and new Canadian work. Flex packs for multiple tickets are available now until individual tickets go on sale.
On the BMO Mainstage it’s a new production of Much Ado About Nothing directed by Johnna Wright with additional text by Erin Shields, packed with Shakespeare’s wittiest wordplay. Two tumultuous couples discover all is not as it seems in an idyllic town recovering from war as romance intertwines with darker themes of warfare, deception, and mischief. It will run in repertory with Shakespeare’s comedy of love and disguise, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, directed by Dean Paul Gibson and performed with a unique ’80s twist. The story follows Valentine and Proteus, whose attempts to become perfect gentlemen are derailed by their attraction to the ruler’s daughter. Mainstage productions are on from June 10 to September 20.
Christopher Gaze. Photo by David Cooper
“From the classic to the cutting edge, our marvellous Canadian theatre talent will bring this season to life with love, laughter, profundity, and joy abounding,” Christopher Gaze, Bard on the Beach’s founding artistic director, shares in a release.
The Douglas Campbell Theatre will host two productions from July 1 to September 20, including the company debut of the global smash-hit The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] [again], written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield, with new revisions by Singer and Winfield. Mark Chavez directs the hilarious show in which three players sprint through all of Shakespeare’s canonical plays (plus the sonnets). There’s also the intriguing new Canadian work The Dark Lady, written by Jessica B. Hill and directed by Moya O’Connell, which reclaims the almost-lost story of multiracial, trilingual artist Emilia Bassano, who was the first woman in England to become a published poet.
Special events this year include firework nights, educational and family activities, relaxed performances, and Pride celebrations.
Visit Bard on the Beach to learn more.
Post sponsored by Bard on the Beach.
Related Articles
At The Cultch’s York Theatre, wonderfully weird characterizations meet gravity-defying feats in a raucously unpretentious banger that has “hit” written all over it
Whether you’re looking for a quick drink and snack, conversation, reflection, or people-watching, these airy meeting places hit their marks
Playwright Kate Besworth and director Ming Hudson team up for a contemporary adaptation of the classical Sophocles tragedy
Cheeky, DIY theatre event aimed to throw light on the stage scene’s unsung heroes—and ended up selling out
The veteran theatre artist grappled with big questions of good and evil, and took inspiration from genre films, for his visually stylized new adaptation
Elevated visual design and a strong, multitasking cast bring ample Newfoundland warmth to new Arts Club Theatre Company and Citadel Theatre coproduction
Ashley Wright has helmed it himself, but in Bard on the Beach’s new production, he plays Shakespeare’s dissolute knight under the capable direction of Rebecca Northan
London’s Three Legged Race Productions folds in influences from contemporary circus to cabaret in a raucously funny show that celebrates a ’90s-style birthday at The York Theatre
Boca del Lupo and ArtstageSAN’s show at the Vancouver International Children’s Festival is more of an immersive experience than a plot-driven play
Megan Milton’s Free Kittens and William Rubel’s Robin Redbreast in a Cage converge on close human relationships in an age of reality TV and AI
The Arts Club teams up with Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre for new local production of the international smash-hit musical
Two senior artists play young Newfoundland couple in Western Gold Theatre’s gentle staging
Stephen Drover directs his own haunting adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, laced with tyranny and moral corruption
Boca del Lupo returns to the outdoor stage in partnership with Korean puppet masters for five-metre-tall spectacle
Event’s top works from across the country and the globe leap between juggling, circus, art installation, concert, and more
Laugh-out-loud, music-filled production sets Shakespeare’s play in a fictional soccer-obsessed Vancouver suburb
The Vancouver director says there’s something “extraordinarily intimate” about Nobel Prize laureate Peter Handke’s 1966 “anti-play”
Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life documents the creator’s retirement, cancer diagnosis, and pursuit of a long-deferred passion for music
Sharply funny shows by standup comics Scarlet Chen and Megan Milton get theatrical about themes of immigration and mother-daughter relationships
Veteran actors Craig March and Dolores Drake play the young lovers in David French’s play, set in a Newfoundland outport 100 years ago
Arnaud Hoedt and Jérôme Piron look at linguistic absurdity and educational inequity in their hit shows La Convivialité and Kevin
