Tales of political intrigue and mis-matched love to unfold on Red Deer’s Bower Ponds stage – Red Deer Advocate
An entitled political chief feels betrayed when these closest to him begin questioning his suitability for workplace.
The by now acquainted political story — hefty hubris resulting in downfall — will play out this summer season at Bower Ponds when Bard on Bower presents Shakespeare’s Richard II on the outside stage.
Whereas the play was written in 1595 about an unstable English King who dominated from 1377 to 1399, the theme is common.
It parallels the political drama Albertans witnessed this spring, when Premier Jason Kenney stepped down as UCP chief after greater-than-expected opposition from his occasion members.
It’s additionally threaded by Canadian federal politics, most just lately when Conservative opposition chief Erin O’Toole was punted from energy after a management vote earlier this 12 months.
Actual-life connections with the Richard II plot “have been one of many causes the play was pitched to me,” admitted Prime Inventory Theatre inventive director Richard Beaune, with a chuckle ”The story may be very present in Alberta and proper throughout Canada… (dialogue about) what makes a superb chief may be very present.”
The tragedy of Richard II, who ticked off his nobles and fell from grace, would be the second Bard on Bower manufacturing to take the stage at Bower Ponds ranging from July 15.
It can run in repertoire with the fairies and mis-matched lovers that inhabit the fantasy/comedy world of A Midsummer Evening’s Dream, which opens per week earlier, on July 9.
This summer season’s Prime Inventory Theatre firm of 15 actors began rehearsals for each performs in a vacant Parkland Mall house, off the meals courtroom in Could. Curious mall-goers have been in a position to peek in at a few of the motion by the glass doorways.
Beaune thought a reasonably public rehearsal corridor could possibly be a great way of making some buzz and prompting extra Pink Deerians to take a look at the completed productions on the Bower Ponds stage.
“We’re in search of alternatives to develop the viewers”— together with drawing extra residents from central Alberta and even Calgary and Edmonton, stated Beaune, who’s been networking since arriving her from Ontario together with his Pink Deer-raised spouse in 2021.
After appearing and directing in final 12 months’s Bard on Bower competition, he turned the brand new inventive director of Prime Inventory Theatre on the finish of final 12 months. Firm founder Thomas Usher left for different initiatives after 27 years, feeling assured, by Beaune’s in depth expertise, that he’d discovered the suitable successor.
Beaune has been plying his artistic craft from the Stratford Competition to the Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre for the reason that age of 17. He has labored from the Nationwide Arts Centre stage in Ottawa to many smaller venues — amongst them, summer season inventory Shakespearean festivals in Prescott, Ont. and Prince Edward Island.
Performing Shakespeare open air may be very particular, stated Beaune, and value placing up with occasional showers, mosquitoes, and even air high quality points (one Bard on Bower efficiency final summer season was cancelled due to smoke from wildfires.)
Elizabethan levels within the 1500s have been open to the weather, he famous. “When these performs have been initially produced, they have been executed open air.”
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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Prime Inventory Theatre’s inventive director Richard Beaune (proper) works with forged members Irene Poole and Everett Dool throughout a rehearsal for this summer season’s Bard on Bower productions. (Photograph by Lana Michelin/Advocate employees)
