Bard serves up exciting mix

TOVA KORNFELD

For its 19th season, Bard on the Beach brings Vancouver audiences three well-known Bard plays – Twelfth Night, King Lear and The Tempest – and one play it has never produced before – Titus Andronicus, reputed to be one of Shakespeare's goriest works.

Twelfth Night opened June 5 under the guidance of local director David Mackay, who sets the comedy amid the glamor of Manhattan and the roaring twenties.

This story of mistaken identity and unrequited love begins with a short black and white silent film, with Viola, seaside, telling a captain and his mate of her rescue from a shipwreck, the apparent drowning of her less fortunate twin brother, Sebastian, and her decision to go to the court of Duke Orsino disguised as a boy named Cesario to work as the duke's page.

Orsino's palace is a Central Park penthouse. Todd Talbot plays the playboy count as a cross between Clark Gable and Cary Grant and looks very good in his white tux and spats, as he promenades across the stage singing ragtime tunes. He sends Viola/Cesario to woo the Countess Olivia but that good lady falls for Viola who, in turn, falls for the count. Meanwhile, Sir Toby Belch (played to perfection by veteran David Marr) – an indolent, alcoholic freeloader who defies Prohibition at every turn and lives off the good graces of his cousin, the countess, and the finances of his friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Ryan Beil, who literally steals the show in a number of scenes with his quirky antics) – encourages Sir Andrew to seek the countess' affection and to fight Viola (a duel you will not want to miss).

The set is simple, two sets of stairs leading to a bridge. The costumes by Mara Gottler are divine: flapper gowns, plus fours on the gentleman golfers, old-fashioned ball game uniforms and double-breasted pinstripe suits. Original music by musical director Murray Price, mixed with some Gershwin-, Coward- and Porter-inspired "oldies but goldies," takes us back to the giddiness of the pre-Depression era. This Bard production is a sassy, cheeky delight, which probably has old Will himself doing the Charleston in his grave over Stratford-on-Avon way.

Playing under the big tent with Twelfth Night is King Lear, which opened June 11. The title role goes to Bard artistic director Christopher Gaze, who has not played a Bard lead since 1998.

This company also pushes the envelope, by setting this, one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, in a modern-day nursing home. An aging, wheelchair-bound Lear, king of Britain, decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, benefiting she who proclaims her love the most. The two evil daughters, Goneril and Regan, declare false love for their father and obtain their shares. However, Cordelia, the youngest, does not come forward to speak and a furious Lear disinherits her. She marries the king of France and leaves the country.

Lear goes to live with his two "loving" daughters but is so ill-treated that he escapes into the cold one stormy night with his nurse, the one stabilizing force in his chaotic life. Then begins his slow descent into madness.

In King Lear, director James Fagan Tait uses the metaphor of aging to portray the decline of the British royalty. The concepts of lust, greed, jealousy and sibling rivalry resonate with contemporary audiences as much as they did with audiences 400 years ago.

The Tempest, a lighthearted fantasy, directed by newcomer Meg Roe, opens on Bard's smaller Douglas Campbell Studio Stage on June 26.

Prospero, the duke of Milan, is a scholar and magician. He loses his throne to an ambitious brother, who usurps him and sets him adrift at sea with his three-year-old daughter. He is rescued and ends up on an enchanted island. As fate would have it, Prospero is able to exact his revenge on his brother and other enemies by conjuring up a storm that shipwrecks their ship on his island's shores. There, alliances form, murderous plots unfold and romance fills the air. This is the only one of the four plays set as a period piece, in the 17th century, with a classical setting and original live music performed by a string quartet.

Finally, Titus Andronicus, a bloody revenge drama, opens on the small stage on July 9, directed by Kim Collier. Never in a span of two and one half hours have so many been mutilated, murdered, raped and abused by so few. It is definitely not a play for the faint-hearted.

Titus returns victorious from battle with the queen of the Goths, her lover and three sons as prisoners. When he kills her eldest son in a ritual sacrifice, the queen vows revenge. Titus is chosen as the next Roman emperor but he refuses the honor and offers the crown to Saturninus, son of the last emperor. Saturninus then marries the Goth queen. From her position of power, she arranges for her children to kill one of Titus' sons and rape his only daughter (cutting off her hands and tongue to keep her from identifying them). Titus cuts off his own hand and delivers it to the emperor, in exchange for the promised release of his imprisoned sons. Instead, he gets back his hand and the heads of his two sons. This is a strong, physical production and, in a contemporary setting with modern costumes, the play is compelling and provocative.

The Bard site, with its red and white tents twinkling with lights against the mountain and ocean backdrop, is magical, so bundle up and get down to the beach for at least one of these shows. If you really want a treat, go on fireworks night (salmon barbecue, Shakespeare and an unobstructed oceanside private-viewing area). Bard also runs three solstice serenades, with the Chor Leoni Men's Choir, and four opera nights, featuring Don Giovanni, performed by the University of British Columbia Opera Ensemble, accompanied by the Vancouver Opera orchestra.

The festival runs until Sept. 27. Check out bardonthebeach.org for more information.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

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