Jennifer Lines as Beatrice and Sheldon Elter as Benedick in Bard on the Beach’s production of Much Ado About Nothing. (photo by Tim Matheson)
For a Vancouver summer experience, almost nothing beats an evening at Bard on the Beach. The appearance of the red and white tents in Vanier Park signals the start of the Shakespearean season. This year, two comedies – Much Ado About Nothing, done in its proper period, and Two Gentlemen of Verona, set in the 1980s – are featured alternating days on the BMO Mainstage.
There was much excitement in the air on Much Ado’s opening night. From the moment I walked into the tent and saw the stunning set (kudos to Pam Johnson), I knew I was in for a treat. The scene is 17th-century Mediterranean Messina with an elevated balcony, vined pillars, terraced gardens and a flagstone wishing well, all drenched in a cornucopia of brilliant colours.
One of the Bard’s most entertaining comedies, the story revolves around two couples, one young and naïve, for whom love is just one romantic whisper away, and one mature and skeptical of what love can bring into their lives. Jennifer Tong and Angus Yam play the young Hero and Claudio while Jennifer Lines and Sheldon Elter, the more experienced Beatrice and Benedick.
The action starts off with a trio of soldiers, Don Pedro (Matthew Ip Shaw), Benedick and Claudio, who, upon returning from battle, stop to rest at the home of Lord Leonato (David Marr), Hero’s father and the governor of Messina. There is instant chemistry between Claudio and Hero, but, while it initially appears that the younger couple will be the main protagonists, it becomes apparent that the play is really about the older two. Lines, with her mass of red hair, comes across as a fiery feminist and is sublime in her role as she exchanges witty bons mots with Elter’s Benedick, a confirmed bachelor. They both mock love and he makes it very clear that marriage is not on his agenda. However, they both “doth protest too much” and it really comes down to “will they or won’t they?”
The journey to their final epiphany is a furious romp through a masked ball (with an erotic pas de deux), mistaken identities, athletic eavesdropping, false allegations of infidelity and a faked death. The language is peppered with double entendres.
Don Pedro attempts to play cupid (“some cupids kill with arrows some with traps”) for both couples but is hindered by his dastardly half-brother Don John (deliciously played by Karthik Kadam), who tries to sabotage the Hero/Claudio nuptials. Cue a motley crew of the local watch, helmed by Bard veteran Scott Bellis as the inept Constable Dogberry, who are tasked with bringing Don John and his co-conspirators, Borachio (Tanner Zerr) and Conrad (Kristi Hansen), to justice. Steffanie Davis, as one of the watch team, entertains with priceless facial expressions and physical antics and, along with her cohorts, injects slapstick comedy into this rom-com.
A prologue precedes the first act, with the inclusion of text written by Erin Shields that is meant to provide a counterpoint to 400-year-old misogyny, including with respect to a woman’s supposed holy grail – the snaring of a husband. Lines challenges the audience with her passionate monologue while Tong mimes the actions from the balcony. As Shields notes in the program, “this additional text both gives an opportunity for a limited character to reach her heroic potential and provides a framework for this incredibly successful comedy to reach contemporary audiences in an even deeper way today.”
In addition to the gorgeous set, the show boasts fabulous costumes by designer Mara Gottler – leather doublets and earth-toned breeches for the men, corset frocks for the women, including frothy gowns and veils for the wedding scene. Jewish community member Mishelle Cuttler provides the sound design.
The production is fun – and it makes a powerful statement. But I have a problem with the script and the suggestion that virginal Hero might risk her marriage to Claudio by having a pre-wedding night tryst with someone else, and with Claudio’s readiness to believe the gossip, leading him to abandon her at the altar. Her subsequent fainting “death” and ultimate resurrection, leading to their reunion, does not account for the wrong that was so easily done to her. Even her final monologue, describing her pain and path to reconciliation, does not ease the blow.
The Much Ado cast shifts gears on alternating nights and pivots to 1980s Verona, with all the colour and decadence that entails.

In Two Gentlemen of Verona, best friends Proteus (Jacob Leonard) and Valentine (Ip Shaw) separate, as Valentine goes to Milan to find excitement while Proteus stays behind to be with his girlfriend Julia (Tess Degenstein). However, Proteus’s parents, Antonio (Craig Erickson) and Ursula (Jennifer Clement), think it best that he follow his friend to Milan, to stay out of trouble. So, off he goes with his manservant Launce (a terrific Bellis) in tow and Crab, Launce’s dog (Mason in real life and artistic director Christopher Gaze’s own yellow Lab). As expected, Crab steals every scene he is in, without making a sound. On opening night, he even stopped to nuzzle some front row patrons as he exited the stage.
Valentine, on arrival in Milan, is immediately smitten with Silvia (Tong), the daughter of the Duke (a mafiosi-like Elter). When Proteus arrives, he conveniently forgets about his girlfriend Julia and is equally taken with the glamorous femme. So, when Valentine tells his best bud that he intends to elope with the duchess, Proteus, to have Silvia for himself, tells the Duke. After all, as Proteus states, “in love, who respects friends?” Meanwhile, the Duke wants Silvia to marry Trurio (Zerr), although who knows why, because he comes across as a big, dumb athlete.
Valentine is banished from Milan and Proteus attempts to woo Silvia, who makes it quite clear that she is not interested. Julia arrives, disguised as a man, to check up on her boyfriend and the fun/intrigue begins with swapped rings, torn love letters and a gang of Gothic outlaw rockers armed with various weapons, including a chainsaw, who intervene and provide for a surprising ending.
The production values are high and the designers have done a great job in creating a 1980s vibe, from Johnson’s multi-arched set to Gerald King’s lighting design. Costume designer Carmen Altorre highlights exercise leotards and leggings à la Jane Fonda, padded shoulders, caftans and tennis whites, as well as Miami Vice pastel-coloured suits to clothe the posh crowd. Of course, there is the hair – voluminous back-combed dos for the women and mullets for the men. A lot of the action takes place around the pool house, with props including a floating pink swan, multi-coloured beach balls, boom boxes and skateboards.
Malcolm Dow’s sound design brings back all the 1980s oldies and goldies, including theme songs from Dallas and St. Elmo’s Fire, with some funky choreography courtesy of Nicole Spinola.
Director Dean Paul Gibson has taken liberties with the script and not just a nip and tuck here and there, but major surgery, particularly with the ending. Purists may be appalled but the #MeToo generation will applaud the final scene.
Running on the smaller Douglas Campbell stage are The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] [again], a 90-minute romp through all 38 Shakespeare plays and 150-plus sonnets, including a version of Hamlet done backwards, and The Dark Lady, about Shakespeare’s supposed muse, collaborator and lover, Emilia Bassano, a Crypto-Jew.
For tickets, visit the website bardonthebeach.org or call 604-739-0559. The festival runs to Sept. 20.
Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.