While searching for things to do while in Vancouver, British Columbia, I came across Bard on the Beach, a Shakespeare festival held during the summer months in Vanier Park. For 2018, Bard on the Beach offered 4 shows: As You Like It, Macbeth, Timon of Athens and Lysistrata. I’ve never seen a Shakespeare play before so I chose to go to Macbeth.
Location
Getting there and going home
I had three options to get to the venue: take the bus, ride a ferry taxi or drive. Since I had a month pass for the False Creek Ferries, I decided to go that route. There are two ferry taxi services in Vancouver: False Creek Ferries and Aquabus. Of the two, only False Creek Ferries makes a stop at the Maritime Museum Ferry Dock which is the dock that’s close to the Bard on the Beach venue.
The last ferry departing from the Maritime Museum dock leaves at 9:00pm. However, the show ends at about 10pm. I had to find an alternate way to get back to my home base so I took the bus.
Granville Island
When you take the ferry taxi from the Yaletown Dock to the Maritime Museum Dock, you have to switch boats at Granville Island, which is the central location for the ferry taxis. Knowing this, I planned to stop at Granville Island to get dinner before the show. The public market closes at 7pm. I got there about 5:30pm. The evening was not as busy as it usually is during lunchtime. During previous visits to the public market at lunchtime, it has been quite busy where you bump shoulders with people. The late afternoon crowd is definitely a lot better.
Kaisereck Deli
The perogy plate at Kaisereck Deli
A beautiful stroll through the park from the dock to the venue
Once you get dropped off at the Maritime Museum dock, it is about an 11 minute walk to the venue.
The walk to the venue includes a great view of the West End of the Vancouver skyline.
The Venue
The Bard on the Beach venue was easy to find. It’s easy to recognize because it’s a group of big white tents. When I arrived and got my tickets from the box office, I was given a program and a glass of sparkling wine. The wine was a special treat courtesy of BlueShore Financial. The show started at 7:30 but they didn’t open the theater until about 7:10. While you wait, you can browse their gift shop or order food and drinks from their concession stand.
The Seats
I bought my ticket online from the Bards on the Beach website. There were four seat levels available. For the day I went, the most expensive seats were $75.00 and the cheapest seats were $24.00. I settled for the second cheapest which was $49.00. The seat I got was pretty great even though I was more to the side. It was C75. “C” pertains to the row so I was in the third row from the front. The theater and stage were shaped like a half octagon with two tunnels on the left and right. My seat was right next to the right tunnel. During the show, the actors sometimes entered or left through the tunnels or sometimes a scene took place near the front of the tunnels.
Seat C75 at Bards on the Beach
The Performance
The play was wonderful. The actors gave captivating performances and their costumes were wonderful. I loved the lighting effects, sound effects and the smokey atmosphere. I felt really immersed in the production.
I remember reading Macbeth in high school but I completely forgot what the actual story was about so I skimmed the cliffnotes to refresh my memory. I’m glad I did because Shakespearean speak is sometimes hard to follow so knowing what was happening in the scenes ahead of time really helped me follow the story. I think I would have been lost otherwise.
If I had more time in Vancouver, I would have considered going to the other Bard on the Beach performances. If I’m ever in Vancouver again for the summer, I will definitely check them out again.