Spontaneous Shakespeare Company brings back hit show Breaking Bard, January 3
At the Little Mountain Gallery, improvisers draw on Shakespeare plays to craft an all-new tragedy
Spontaneous Shakespeare Company. Photo by Chelsey Stuyt
The Spontaneous Shakespeare Company presents Breaking Bard: An Improvised Shakespearean Tragedy at Little Mountain Gallery on January 3 at 7 pm
MUCH AS ITS name suggests, the Spontaneous Shakespeare Company’s specialty is putting an improvised twist on beloved Bard plays. In 2023, the Vancouver-based theatre artists toured Breaking Bard: An Improvised Shakespearean Tragedy to Fringe festivals in Saskatoon, Edmonton, and Winnipeg, earning rave reviews and selling out shows.
The production is now returning to Vancouver for one night only at the Little Mountain Gallery’s Salazar Stage on January 3. Drawing inspiration from such classics as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, and All’s Well That Ends Well, a troupe of improvisers uses audience suggestions to build an original story set in the Shakespearean era. By speaking in iambic pentameter on the fly and integrating several of the Bard’s best tropes and archetypes, the actors craft a story that’s full of heartbreak and hilarity.
Each time Breaking Bard is performed, its plot gets revamped. Audiences might get a case of murder and betrayal, disguises and mistaken identities, or a shocking marriage proposal—or perhaps a whacky combination of all the aforementioned ideas.
The Spontaneous Shakespeare Company was founded by Zach Wolfman and Chelsey Stuyt under the name Shakespeare After Dark, and originally operated out of the Instant Theatre Company. Following a pandemic-induced hiatus, Brent Hirose (who co-led Instant Theatre from 2016 to 2019) took over as artistic director.
This past September, the company made its Vancouver Fringe Festival debut with Tragedy or Triumph: An Improvised Shakespearean Epic. 
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