The Bard will be celebrated at Bower Ponds this summer with a triple-threat season of romantic comedy, high-stakes drama, music and Shakespearean-themed improvisation.
Prime Stock Theatre will be staging three Bard on Bower plays, instead of two, to help mark the 400th anniversary this year of William Shakespeare’s death on April 23, 1616.
Four centuries of the Bard are being commemorated around the world — from authors such as Margaret Atwood writing so-called “deleted scenes” from Shakespearean works, to an English theatre company vowing to stage a Shakespearean production in every country on Earth.
In Red Deer, Julius Caesar and Love’s Labour’s Lost will be staged by a 14-actor cast on the outdoor stage in repertory from July 14-31st, said Prime Stock Theatre’s artistic director, Thomas Usher.
And in this seventh season of Bard on Bower productions, Usher will also present a smaller, scaled-down version of Othello.
A cast of five actors will stage this tale of love, jealousy and manipulation inside the Bower Ponds Pavilion. Seating will be provided for an audience of 40 for this ticketed, 70-minute “pocket production” that runs on July 17-31.
“We’re trying to create more of a festival atmosphere” at Bower Ponds, said Usher. To achieve this, there will be a plethora of special performances around the Bard on Bower productions. “There will be Shakespeare-based improvisation,” he added, from groups including Bull Skit Comedy, Tree House Youth Theatre and Improv Jelly.
There will also be pre-show chats, workshops, and a fundraising musical cabaret at Fratters held July 18-20 and 28-30.
Music will also be heard at Bower Ponds. Red Deer trio Underside Pattern will add Buddy Holly tunes to Love’s Labour’s Lost to go with a re-imagining 1950s plot line. The comedy is about four men who try — unsuccessfully — to avoid the company of women during their three years of monk-ish studies. It will be directed by Emily Pole, a recent graduate of the Red Deer College Theatre Studies program and one of Usher’s former students.
Usher will direct the two tragedies.
Othello, is about a powerful military commander has his emotional strings pulled by his advisor Iago, who’s bent on revenge after he feels another soldier is “unfairly” promoted over him.
Julius Caesar tells of the dramatic fall of the Roman Emperor. Most of the play deals with Cassius’s plans to kill Caesar and Brutus’s psychological struggle between honor, patriotism and friendship.
Bard on Bower is operating with a grant from Heritage Canada and a generous corporate donation from Servus Credit Union and some other businesses.
Usher is seeking more corporate sponsorship for Prime Stock’s Bard on Bower season.
And he hopes the audience will help cover more of the costs. While the Shakespearean productions have been drawing bigger crowds, he has noticed that public donations aren’t increasing. Admission to the two outdoor plays will remain free, but there’s a suggested donation of $20 for adults.
The indoor run of Othello will cost $20 a ticket.
More information on the shows and the cabaret will be available later this spring from www.primestocktheatre.com.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com