Bard on the Beach will return to Vanier Park next summer with five productions spanning romance, comedy, music and fresh takes on Shakespearean storytelling.
The Vancouver festival’s 38th season will run from June through September 2027, with A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The ’70s Musical and Romeo and Juliet playing in repertory on the BMO Mainstage.
Adapted by Daryl Cloran and Kayvon Khoshkam, A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The ’70s Musical transports Shakespeare’s comedy to the colourful world of soul, rock and 1970s counterculture. The show comes from the creators of Bard’s Beatles-inspired hit As You Like It.
A new production of Romeo and Juliet will take a more traditional approach, combining Elizabethan silhouettes and elegant design with a contemporary emotional sensibility.
The Douglas Campbell Theatre will host three Shakespeare-inspired works, including Juliet: A Revenge Comedy. Created by Pippa Mackie and Ryan Gladstone, the feminist comedy imagines Juliet refusing her tragic fate and recruiting other Shakespearean heroines to help rewrite their stories.
The season will also feature the world premiere of Jessica B. Hill’s Eddie and Will, exploring the relationship between William Shakespeare and his younger brother Edmund, as well as Vern Thiessen’s one-woman play Shakespeare’s Will, which tells the story of Shakespeare’s wife, Anne.
“These five productions invite audiences to see Shakespeare in new ways, through music, laughter, romance, and stories that connect his world with our own,” said founding artistic director Christopher Gaze.
Season packs include one voucher for each production and start at $212 until October 4, 2026.
