This summer, the two productions being staged for Shakespeare in High Park are King Lear, directed by Alistair Newton, and Twelfth Night, directed by Tanja Jacobs.
It’s the first time King Lear has been staged in High Park, and Diane D’Aquila, who appeared in the first-ever High Park production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1983, returns to take on the iconic Lear as a queen.
In King Lear, Lear’s journey is re-imagined as a “fever-dream inspired by the final days of Elizabeth I, the most iconic queen in Western history,” says Newton. In choosing the play, Newton was inspired by Samuel Beckett and none other than D’Aquila herself, who he met a decade ago at the National Arts Centre.
Jacobs was inspired for her selection of Twelfth Night by the comedies of Billy Wilder and by American soul music from the late 60s and early 70s, the music from her adolescence. In Jacobs’ vision of the play, the setting of the enchanted world of Illyria will be a hotel, which “allows an individual to be anyone they like, (…) where the past can be denied and where its guests may be placed under a spell,” she says.
Shakespeare in High Park runs from June 29 to September 3 at the High Park Amphitheatre. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday performances are of King Lear, and Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday performances are of Twelfth Night.
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Diane D'Aquila
Lear (King Lear) / Fabiana (Twelfth Night)
Best park memory:
I was in the very first production of Shakespeare in High Park (Midsummer Night’s Dream) and the stage area was covered in poison ivy. Some of the lovers were plagued with it all summer. Being a country girl, I saw immediately what it was, but didn't get to the rest of the cast in time.
Amelia Sargisson
Cordelia (King Lear) / Viola (Twelfth Night)
Favourite part of performing outdoors:
For me, the scope and scale of Shakespeare's plays are cosmic, so it feels best to perform them beneath the firmament, where the elemental principles his characters invoke—like Time and Fortune and the gods and, indeed, the stars—feel more immediate.
Peter Fernandes
Michael Man
Edgar (King Lear) / Valentine (Twelfth Night)
Favourite part of performing outdoors:
The tan.
Best park memory:
Get me to a dog park on a bad day—an antidote to all of life's worries.
Richard Lee
Duke of Albany (King Lear) / Orsino (Twelfth Night)
Favourite part of performing outdoors:
The fresh air. A chance to get a sun tan. Also, it is the ultimate challenge as a live performer, to have nothing but my body as the instrument to tell the story to the audience.
Naomi Wright
Goneril (King Lear) / Olivia (Twelfth Night)
Favourite part of performing outdoors:
Magic happens in outdoor theatre as the sun sets and the stage lights brighten—everything on stage comes into sharper focus as the night goes on. It’s so subtle that you don’t notice it’s happening, until you realize that the forest is dark and all you can see is the glow of stage lights around you. It's pretty magical.
Hannah Wayne Phillips
Regan (King Lear) / Maria (Twelfth Night)
Robert Persichini
The Fool (King Lear) / Malvolio (Twelfth Night)
Kristiaan Hansen
Duke of Cornwall (King Lear) / Antonio, Captain (Twelfth Night)
Favourite part of performing outdoors:
The fact that it's entirely new to me.
Best park memory:
Dancing the night away at the Canada Day celebrations in Charles Daley Park in Vineland, Ontario as a kid.
Brett Dahl
Edmund (King Lear) / Sebastian (Twelfth Night)
Favourite part of performing outdoors:
Literally anything can happen performing outside—I've endured the presence of angry geese and drunkards, floods and heat waves, stars aligning, and perfectly-timed thunder. Being at the whim of Mother Nature can simultaneously make you a powerful magician and then an insignificant ant. It’s fun to play along and see what chaos is in store.
Jason Cadieux
Earl of Gloucester (King Lear) / Sir Toby (Twelfth Night)
Favourite part of performing outdoors:
“Do our lives not consist of the four elements?” (Sir Toby) The unpredictability of theatre out of doors is alluring to me. We sacrifice control when we work outside and that makes each performance even more a product of that night's audience, temperature, moonlight, moment.
Jenni Burke
Countess of Kent (King Lear) / Feste (Twelfth Night)
Favourite part of performing outdoors:
While the roots of outdoor theatre lie in ancient Greece, Shakespeare has always been closely linked with the outdoors too. To collaborate with history AND nature is extremely inspiring. Outdoor theatre isn’t formal so audiences don’t feel the weight of expectation that they sometimes associate with Shakespeare. All are are welcome, the way it should be.
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