"The course of true love never did run smooth," — William Shakespeare, The Two Gentleman of Verona
It's been said all the world's a stage. Enter the Shawnigan Players. The Cowichan Valley Shakespeare Festival is celebrating its 13th season with a double header next month with thespians bringing the bard's earlier works of The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Love’s Labour’s Lost to life at Gem o’ the Isle Farm from Aug. 7 to 18.
"It's amazing that we've reached 13 years of Shakespeare at The Gem O' The Isle," said Two Gentlemen of Verona director Alex Gallacher. "Ben and Patty Verduin have been so gracious in allowing us to perform the plays for over a decade at their beautiful farm. When we started in 2012, we never dreamt it would become a successful annual event. I'm so pleased that Cowichan audiences support the festival — our attendance increases every year to the point where 1,500 people come through the gates during the 10-day event. I'm very happy that families have embraced the festival — we try to keep ticket prices very reasonable for family groups. Shakespeare is my favourite playwright, and I'm always thrilled to work with wonderful actors to produce the most entertaining and beautiful performances we can muster."
Shakespeare enthusiasts can catch a sneak peek of old Will's works on Aug. 5 in the hustle and bustle of Duncan for the last hurrah of 39 Days of July at Charles Hoey Memorial Park with The Two Gentlemen of Verona setting the tone at 11 a.m., followed by Love's Labour's Lost at 1 p.m.
Gallacher, who has been directing plays since 1988, with 14 of them written by Shakesspeare, brings his signature style to The Two Gentlemen of Verona. This year's production boasts gender-swapped leads with Laura Faulkner and Senya Pike playing the titular gentlemen. Playing friends Valentine and Proteus, they vie for the affections of Silvia and Julia in a complex romantic comedy complete with unrequited love, and desperate disguises.
Poor Julia! Her boyfriend has fallen in love with his best friend’s fiancée! What to do? A clever disguise should help.
"Lately I've been exploring Shakespeare's lesser-known plays and have been happy to see that audiences will come out to see them and enjoy them," said Gallacher. "The Two Gentlemen of Verona is not well known, and is one of Shakespeare's earliest plays — it's fresh, funny, and very moving. This story is a Shakespearean comic romp that explores the joys, pitfalls, and agonies of true love. Don’t miss it!”
The complexities of infatuation continue with Love's Labour's Lost. Set in the '60s, it tells the story of three noble lads who dedicate themselves to their royal comrade’s aspirations which include studying for three years while giving up the finer things in life such as the female persuasion. Their lofty plans go awry when four noble lasses enter the picture to match wits with them, and send their hearts aflutter.
The lords have given their word, but can they keep it when pretty faces enter the picture? Will it be be a summer of love for these romantic royals or no?
Rob Foell, an accomplished actor and pillar in the local theatre scene who most recently appeared in Mercury Players’ Tartuffe, makes his directorial debut. Foell said his appreciation of theatre came about during his studies at The New School of Drama in Toronto during the 1990s. He had put his passions of acting and directing on the back-burner for several years but it was seeing his son in a production of Midsummer Night's Dream at Sunrise Waldorf school years ago that catapulted himself back into the world of acting, and he said it was the reaction of the actors who came out for the first cold read of Love's Labour's Lost that made the decision to choose it an easy one.
"The lack of a perfectly resolved 'happy ending' was curiously enticing in their cold reading. 'Yes, isn't Love just like that?' was my reaction — immersive and blinding, uncertain, volatile and delicate," said Foell. "LLL is to do with Idealism. The 'golden boy' ruler of a tiny ascendant nation on the European scene wants to make his country the model for academic excellence. He wants glory for himself, his buddies and his nation, that will shine on long after the instigators are gone. Perhaps his older and wiser self would have condemned his efforts as more than naive, completely foolhardy; but, much as with the young Boomer generation of the '60s, it seemed like a good idea at the time. It's also to do with Cupid. Promises were made and broken big time at the height of the '60s; just as in 16th century Navarre, they were popularly detonated in the name of love."
Shakespeare aficionados can follow the adventures of these classic characters and their pursuits of the heart against the beautiful backdrop of Gem O' the Isle farm at 2465 Koksilah Rd. in Duncan.
Get tickets for this year's festival in person at Ten Old Books or online at shawniganplayers.com. General admission singles tickets are $25, or $40 for both plays, while family tickets are $50, or $80 for both plays which allows two adults and up to three youth to enjoy the show.
"I'm happy that we have returned to producing two plays for the festival for the first time since the pandemic," said Gallacher. "I hope that new and returning patrons will take advantage of the chance to see both plays, and enjoy several actors who appear in both shows."