Bard festival to go indoors
Shakespeare is moving out of the park and into a theatre this summer.
Ed monton’s Freewill Shakespeare Festival is relocating to the Myer Horowitz Theatre as a result of the torn canopy at the Heritage Amphitheatre in Hawrelak Park. A new covering is expected to be installed in midJuly, which is too late for the annual celebration of the Bard of Avon.
A festival spokesperson says the company will only perform one play, The Taming of the Shrew, instead of two this year. (The tragedy about a Roman general, Coriolanus, is getting the axe.)
Freewill is also shortening its run from four to three weeks and shifting its dates. The fest will now run from July 9 to 27, instead of June 24 to July 20.
Managing director Cadence Konopaki says cutting Coriolanus will mean the loss of three positions — a director, sound designer and stage manager. Fifteen actors and five contractors — costume stitchers and set carpenters — will also get fewer hours because only one play is being produced.
She says making the programming changes will save about $100,000, and compensate for the potential loss in ticket revenues. The Myer Horowitz, located on the University of Alberta campus, has 680 seats. Heritage Amphitheatre boasts 1,100 and can accommodate another 2,900 Shakespeare lovers on the grass.
“We understand that not everybody is going to follow us indoors,” says Konopaki. Some audience members traditionally choose to attend mainly because the event is an outdoor experience, she said, “so we are cutting our revenue expectations.”
She says using another outdoor venue wou ld have doubled the festival’s $500,000-plus costs and Freewill couldn’t find any financial angels to help cover the extra expenses.
“We’re trying to be positive. It’s only one year so it will be a fun little experience of being indoors,” she says. “Andrew (Paul, our publicist) has been joking around, saying: ‘Freewill Shakespeare Festival 2014: Now with 100 per cent less mosquitoes.’”
The Heritage Amphitheatre’s new canopy was ripped by winds while construction workers were installing it in January. The $400,000 covering was supposed to replace the amphitheatre’s 25-yearold canopy.
A city spokesperson says the new canopy will take up to three months to manufacture in the U.S.
The organizers of Interstellar Rodeo, a music festival, still hope to use the venue this summer. Co-founder Shauna de Cartier says if the canopy isn’t ready for the event’s dates, July 25 to 27, Interstellar will move to an open area right next to the amphitheatre in Hawrelak Park.