What would William Shakespeare think about the festivals today that promote his literature?
Likely, the Bard would be in awe of the hundreds of thousands of people who flock from far away lands to get a piece of live theatre that he penned more than 400 years ago.
Christopher Gaze, the founding artistic director of Vancouver's wildly popular Bard on the Beach, sees many of those visitors each year, flying in - sometimes specifically for the summer production at Vanier Park - from places like Florida, Germany and Hong Kong.
"We've made a standard of quality that people trust now and they feel that, no matter how long their trip, it's worth coming," Gaze said, while on a Christmas break in Tofino last week.
Often, Gaze will rub shoulders with guests from Ashland, where the Oregon Shakespeare Festival produces 11 plays on three stages during its February to October run - four of which are Bard works.
Gaze believes his Vancouver fest is on equal measure to the Shakespearean events in Ashland as well as in Stratford, London and Stratford-upon Avon and, as such, can compete as a destination market.
The professional actors hired by the society are top notch, Gaze said, and take on months of intensive coaching and training before they're before a paying audience from June to September.
"It's a long and arduous season," Gaze said. "An actor has to play 120 performances, eight hours a week. How do you hold on to your health? How do you hold on to your voice when you're fighting, dancing, singing, speaking yards and yards of this glorious text? It's a challenge."
Last year's 25th anniversary season was a banner year for the society, which set an all-time attendance rate. Almost 101,000 patrons - 10,000 more than its last record year of 2009 - witnessed A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, Equivocation and/or Cymbeline.
"It was a pretty fantastic year," the English native said.
And Gaze, who will be speaking at Coquitlam's Place des Arts next week, hopes to build on that success and continue to improve the "package" for guests and fellow thespians.
Summer tends to be a hard time for the arts in B.C. as most people want to get outside and not sit in an air-conditioned venue, Gaze said.
As a result, his company strives to offer the "whole experience. It's not just the show. It's the pre-show chat, the dinner, the time with family and friends," he said. "We encourage people to come an hour beforehand to enjoy it all."
Gaze, who plays Frosch the jailer in the upcoming production of Die Fledermaus for the Vancouver Opera, is in the director's chair for this Bard on the Beach season, opening the world premiere of a new play based on C.C. Humphrey's historical novel Shakespeare's Rebel.
Also during the June 4 to Sept. 26 run will be The Comedy of Errors (directed by Bard artistic associate Scott Bellis); King Lear (directed by Theatre Calgary's artistic director Dennis Garnhum); and Love's Labour's Lost (directed by Daryl Cloran, artistic director of Kamloops' Western Canada Theatre).
Tickets are $5 to hear Bard on the Beach's Christopher Gaze on Thursday, Jan. 15 at Place des Arts (1120 Brunette Ave., Coquitlam) as part of the facility's 2015 Salon Speaker Series. Call 604-664-1636 or visit placedesarts.ca to buy tickets or for more information on the speaker series.
@jwarrenTC
