In 1990, when Gerry Mackay was playing Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream during the inaugural season of Bard on the Beach, curious passersby would often approach the back of the small performance tent at Kits Point.
"What's going on here?" they would ask. "Is this a concert?" Mackay and his fellow cast mates found themselves handing out plenty of pamphlets that summer and explaining to folks that, actually, they were putting on a Shakespeare festival. That debut season, Mackay says, company members were responsible for just about everything, from ticket-taking to night-time security to mingling with the audience during intermission.
"That first year was really exciting," he says, remembering how hopeful he was that the festival would return the following summer.
Two-and-a-half decades later, Bard is celebrating its silver anniversary season — a milestone that coincides with Shakespeare's 450th birthday. Under the helm of artistic director and founder Christopher Gaze, the annual festival has expanded its Vanier Park site to accommodate two performance tents — the 733-seat open-ended BMO Mainstage and the 240-seat Douglas Campbell Theatre — which are now iconic parts of Vancouver's summer skyline. From 1990 to 2013, attendance has soared from 6,000 patrons to 89,000, the festival's budget has grown from $35,000 to $4 million, and programming has expanded from one play to four. This year's lineup includes A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, Cymbeline and Equivocation.
As Bard on the Beach marks its 25th anniversary, Mackay has found himself looking back on his time with the company, from his mid-20s when he played Shakespeare's young lovers to recent years when he's taken on more mature roles. Over the years, he's watched himself develop professionally and he's accumulated some fond personal memories along the way. During the early ’90s, Mackay met his wife-to-be one season when she was working in wardrobe at Bard. Another unforgettable moment happened in 2000. On a two-show day, he popped home for dinner after a matinee performance of The Tempest. But before he could get back to Vanier Park for the evening show, his wife went into labour.
"I remember phoning Christopher [Gaze] and telling him, 'I don't think I can make the show,' and he didn't bat an eye, he just said, 'No worries, we'll work it out, we'll do it.'" Today, Mackay has two daughters, both of whom come out to the festival to watch their dad perform.
This year, Mackay is in both studio stage productions. He plays the titular king in Cymbeline, directed by Anita Rochon, joining a cast of just seven actors who transform to play multiple parts.
Cymbeline plays in repertory with the Shakespearian-themed Equivocation, written by contemporary American playwright Bill Cain. Directed by Michael Shamata, the show is a co-production with Victoria's Belfry Theatre. Mackay plays Richard Burbage, an English actor and the star of Shakespeare's theatre company.
"There's a bit of history there that the audience can identify with about Shakespeare and his company, and also there's a great story by Bill Cain."
Meanwhile, to mark the festival's 25-year legacy, two reprisals of earlier successful productions will be mounted on the mainstage.
Ian Butcher appears in both. He is revisiting the role of Oberon, King of the Fairies, in the magical comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream, a character he last played at Bard in 2006. Director Dean Paul Gibson, along with about half the original cast, have returned for this year's re-imagined production.
"It's been a lot of fun because as soon as you start rehearsing again it all starts to come back, what you did before," Butcher says.
With a strong foundation to build on, Butcher says the cast and crew have been able to look back on their work from eight years ago, tweak bits and pieces, and present it anew.
"The power and the sexiness of Oberon, which he's supposed to be in this particular production, was a lot more fun to do because I had already done it and I had ideas to bring to the counter this year."
Butcher also plays Antonio in director Meg Roe's reprisal of The Tempest from 2008, though he was not part of the original cast.
With six seasons of Bard now under his belt, he says the three-month-long Shakespeare festival is one of the best gigs in town for a theatre actor.
"You walk away tired," Butcher says of the season end. "But you just long to get back on [stage] again. You can't wait until the next summer."
Bard on the Beach runs until Sept. 20. Visit bardonthebeach.org for performance schedule and information.
