SIR

Breaking News

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 20:40:21 GMT

Dear friend, we have BIG news for SIR we’d like to share with you: Our 2025 production of Samuel Beckett’s WAITING FOR GODOT will be revived as part of the 2026/2027 Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre MainStage season! We are SO back!

This is an exciting collaboration, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. As Estragon would say, “ What do we do now? Now that we are happy?!! ”

The full stellar cast will be back, and we will re-imagine this stunning - and timely - text back to life, transporting the action from the outdoors and into the expansive indoor stage of the Royal MTC - what a great honour!

I couldn’t be more grateful. Godot is my favourite (non-Shakespeare) play, and after the chaotic weather we faced at the Ruins last Summer, it is incredible to be given more life to explore this truly profound and delightfully silly play.

ALSO, speaking of being grateful, I’d like to express how deeply moved I was by your generosity during our recent donation campaign - ‘Protect What You Love’. Your support is vital and brilliantly inspirational. THANK YOU ! 2025 was a challenging year, but also full of creation, daring, and love.

We will be holding auditions this coming week, and in March we will announce our 2026 Ruins playbill - I cannot wait to share our plans with you!

Here’s to the Future - our shared Future; we are your Shakespearean company.

Lots of Love,

Rodrigo , artistic director

Leif Norman. L - R: Arne MacPherson & Cory Wojcik. Costumes by Anika Biding.

SIR’s Rodrigo speaks at the RMTC announcement

RMTC Artistic Director Kelly Thornton says she’s never seen a clearer interpretation of Beckett’s renowned work!

2026 Auditions

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 18:15:22 GMT

Shakespeare in the Ruins is holding auditions for our 2026 outdoor production of “As You Like It”, with director Michelle Boulet and Artistic Director Rodrigo Beilfuss.

Audition dates: January 26 & 27, 2026.

Possible callbacks on February 12 & 13.

Rehearsals begin: April 27, 2026

Performance dates: June 04 – July 05, 2026

The season will be officially announced to the public early in 2026. “As You Like It” will run in repertory with a solo Classical-adjacent show that has already been cast.

Audition requirements: all roles in “As You Like It” are available, and actors will be asked to choose and prepare which ever of the sides below speak to them. Only one scene is required. Please state which character in the chosen scene you are reading for:

– Act 1, Scene 3 Duke Frederick/Rosalind:

Start Rosalind’s “Look, here comes the Duke”

End Duke “…and in the greatness of my word, you die”

– Act 3 Scene 2 Clown/Corin:

Start Corin “And how you like this shepherd’s life, Master Touchstone?”

End Corin “…and the greatest of my pride is to see my ewes graze and my lambs suck”

– Act 3 Scene 2 Rosalind/Orlando:

Start Orlando “Where dwell you, pretty youth?”

End Rosalind “Nay, you must call me Rosalind. Come, will you go?”

– Location/Time will be emailed when you book your audition.

– FULL TEXT OF THE PLAY FOR REFERENCE: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/as-you-like-it/read/

Please submit by Friday, January 16, 2026. Email your CV & Headshot AS ONE SINGLE PDF DOCUMENT, please, to Rodrigo at ad@sirmb.ca to express your interest.

We appreciate all submissions but please know that only those selected for an audition will be contacted with an appointment. Priority will be given to members of CAEA.

Artists must be able to work as Winnipeg-local. Thank you!

Lucky Liam!

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 18:12:23 GMT

As we continue to celebrate what makes SIR and the people of SIR so special in our year-end campaign, we wanted to share with you a lovely conversation with LIAM DUTIAUME , who performed in both Macbeth and Waiting for Godot this last season. This was Liam’s first professional contract, and he was remarkable in both shows, displaying tremendous wit, verve, and heart. In fact, the Winnipeg Free Press agrees with us wholeheartedly, featuring Liam’s performance as one of the stand-out moments of the year in critic Holly Harris’s piece: SHINING STAGE MOMENTS OF 2025 .

We were so lucky to have him join SIR this year! Enjoy the conversation below:

What inspired you to join Shakespeare in the Ruins as an actor?

I was drawn to SIR for a couple of reasons, but of course one of the biggest pulls for me (as I’m sure it is for a lot of people) was the location! Getting to perform outside in the summer, in front of and inside the Ruins feels like being a kid again. I get to run around a “castle” with a sword and play with a bunch of people?! Who wouldn’t want that? Another big reason is getting to do Shakespeare with other people who love Shakespeare, and with actors whom I admire for their craft. It was an excellent way for me to get my foot in the door of the professional scene in Winnipeg.

What is the most rewarding part of performing in the unique setting of the ruins?

Thinking of this question my mind goes two directions. Firstly, from a more technical aspect as an actor, it really helped my voice. Having to run around the Ruins, jump into a scene, and then make sure people on the other end of the ruins can hear me through distant thunder and rain is the best kind of practical experience an actor can have. You can immediately tell when someone is straining to hear you on the other end, and it made me work hard to find a way to project safely without ruining my voice. The other direction my brain went was, as I mentioned in the previous question, getting to play outside. We had a great summer (if you don’t count the smoke) so getting to do something I love outside in front of an audience is such a treat. There were so many moments where having the elements to play with added to the experience for myself and for the audience, and that is truly special.

Performing in the Ruins can be unpredictable—can you share a time when you and the team had to think on your feet to keep the magic alive?

Towards the end of the run we had gotten some serious rain. At one point it had rained so much during the day that parts of the Ruins were full of ankle-deep puddles, and we couldn’t perform or have the audience sit in that. We had done blocking for a stationary run, but because it was an evening show we needed lights and all of the plugs that were available were in the flooded Ruins. Thankfully, the Technical Director Cari had the bright idea to drive her car up, so the headlights would shine into the area we would be performing. So we had to do this stationary run with minimal prep time and practice, and with only the lights from a car to light us for the end of the performance as the sun set. It was one of the more exciting and fresh runs we did because everything felt new and uncertain, which is something I think every actor should get to experience.

Could you share what it was like to perform in both Macbeth and Waiting for Godot? How did those experiences differ for you?

Tiring and rewarding. Both of the shows were so different from each other in terms of content, pacing, ideas, and character; but both were very demanding, especially at the start. With Macbeth, the action starts right from jump; we’re running around, yelling at each other, running again and then we’re onto the next scene and a different character. We kept that pace until we’re at the third location and then we get intermission, and the second half felt more calm for me. Fewer changes, less running, more stakes for the characters though, because of course we’re reaching the climax and we’re overcoming the tyrant Macbeth. On the flip side of this with Godot, once I got on stage a third into act one, I stood still with minimal shuffling for probably 40 minutes staring at one rock on the wall with my mouth hanging agape. At the end of my mental dissociation, I then have this mind boggling rant that is 5 minutes long where I hobble after the other characters, and once that’s done I don’t talk again for the rest of the show, but I am still present. One show is extremely high active energy and the other is extremely low active energy. With Godot I still had to be present as there were a lot of bits where I was yanked or had to shuffle and drop a bag, but I have to give the impression that there is no thought running through my head. Both of these were extremes for me, but so much fun. It was a marathon for both shows, but so rewarding to have these completely different experiences simultaneously.

What did it mean to you to win the “Unexpected Phone Call Award” in memory of Glen Thompson?

It was such an honour, and in all honestly completely unexpected. I had heard of the award before and knew people who had received it, but I wasn’t clear on the criteria of the award, so I wasn’t thinking I was in the running for it. When I heard we were going backstage to help give the award as a cast I thought that that was a fun idea, because I’d get to see who won it and how they reacted. You would have had to have been there to see the silliest grin plastering my face when they said my name in the phone call, but I couldn’t have been more honoured. To win an award that’s made after such a great actor is a real treat, and really helped me realize just how much I love the theatre community and the people in it. I never met Glen, but I heard others talk about him, and he is the reason the theatre community is so special, so to get the recognition of an award named after Glen is amazing and makes my heart feel very full for theatre and the people that make it happen.

Why do you think it’s important for the community to protect and support Shakespeare in the Ruins?

It’s important because small companies like SIR are where the heart of theatre lives. We get to have an intimate and touching experience with the audience that they can’t always get in other larger companies around the city. It’s a smaller crew, a smaller cast, and you get to see a show that has made people laugh or cry for more than 400 years. You get to learn about history, and see these characters that are so brilliantly written, so brilliantly that you can see yourself in them. It may sound romantic and overwrought but there is something so transfixing about the characters that Shakespeare writes, because most people can see parts of themselves in these characters and maybe understand actions they take, good or bad. Of course there is also a certain visceral nature to being outside with the actors, experiencing the heat, the rain, the thunder, that is unlike so many theatre experiences elsewhere. When you combine the writing of Shakespeare, the nature you’re surrounded by in the ruins, and the performances of some wonderful actors, you get to have a really magical experience with a community of other people.

Toil & Trouble

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 16:07:42 GMT

As we continue to digest what a landmark and slightly bonkers year 2025 was for SIR, we caught up with Macbeth director EMMA WELHAM, who bravely survived the famed cursed play! Emma reminds me a lot of myself when I was starting out: passionate about the work, a true lover of the form, and an enthusiastic collaborator who lives and breathes for the joy of making words jump off the page and come alive. Directing Macbeth was her first professional contract as a director, and she talks about the importance of companies like SIR – a place where emerging talents get to shine and join the professional industry. – RODRIGO, artistic director

*****

How is life now, Emma, after having survived a legendary season at SIR? What have you been up to?

Life is grand at the moment! After the SIR season finished, I returned to Montreal to begin my final year in the directing program at The National Theatre School of Canada. At the time of writing this, I have just finished the fall term where I had numerous wonderful experiences including directing My Name is Lucy Barton as my capstone project, and spending two transformative weeks studying Shakespeare with Sir Gregory Doran, former artistic director of The Royal Shakespeare Company. Now I’m back in Winnipeg for the holidays and enjoying catching up with the community here.

What attracted you to Macbeth, and why did you want to direct such a complex text?

I wrote about this in my director’s notes – Macbeth holds a very special place in my heart because it was the first SIR show I ever saw! The stripped down tour came to my high school when I was in grade 11 and I’ve never forgotten the experience. Outside of those fond memories, I think Macbeth is a very timely show. I was attracted to its tale of how unchecked ambition can throw a whole society into turmoil. As well, the conversation the play raises on toxic masculinity and how, for me, it questions what happens when we shut ourselves off from our feminine side was extremely compelling. I also became fascinated by the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth – they start off as equals, and once Macbeth starts to shut out Lady M, charting how both of them unravel through this new found isolation was a delight to explore with the actors. Finally, it was a very exciting challenge to examine and explore all the possibilities that were opened up to us because we were staging Macbeth at the Ruins!

What do you think are the biggest challenges of directing at the Ruins?

When you work at the Ruins, because you’re outdoors, every day comes with unknown variables and you have to be prepared for many possibilities. For example, you might plan to spend all day blocking, but if, suddenly, a massive storm comes, you’ve got to be able to change plans real quick. I don’t think I’ve ever checked my weather app more than when I’ve worked at the Ruins! I also echo what others have said, in that I think climate change is becoming an increasingly difficult challenge for not just the Ruins, but for all outdoor theatre. Even comparing my experience working on The Dark Lady in 2023 to Macbeth in 2025, in just two years there has been a massive increase of shows cancelled due to smoke and storms. It’s heartbreaking.

And the best things? Things you can only do and experience at SIR?

I love working at the Ruins. Out there in nature with the team, feeling slightly removed from regular life, I always feel like I’m away at summer camp. SIR allows you to create a theatrical experience unlike anything else in Winnipeg. The whole site is really your playground, and you can create these sweeping moments that engulf the audience and immerse them in the story. The promenade nature and the fact that you can see the audience for the majority of the show also enlivens that bond between performer and audience in a unique way – it becomes very intimate. Especially in Shakespeare, with all his soliloquies, the audience really becomes a collection of people that the characters can turn to and bare their souls. As well, while all theatre offers a sense of liveness, of anything-can-happenness, at the Ruins I find that liveness heightened because TRULY anything can happen – Will you see wildlife? Will the weather create a perfect atmosphere for the climax of the play? Will a rock calypso band be playing next door? (All real examples of things that I have experienced at the Ruins.) It is always an unforgettable night of theatre.

What are some of your fondest memories of enduring Macbeth? During the process, did you ever wish you were directing another Shakespeare play? Perhaps a comedy?

I have many! First, I have to say the resilience and unwavering dedication of everyone, from the cast and crew to the full-time SIR staff as we took on everything this season threw at us will always inspire me. In terms of specific memories, I will name the following two: 1. Before the show opened to the general public, we had several student matinees – seeing them engrossed in and reacting to the story was a true highlight. 2. Our witches were crafted around birds, with their costumes being inspired by owls. And when we got out to the Ruins, we had two majestic owls who joined us and could often be seen and heard. What’s more, these owls are barred owls (pronounced bard) – we had our very own Shakespeare owls! To answer your second question, no, I never wished I was directing a different Shakespeare play while doing Macbeth. However, as we worked, I did get flashes of how I might do other Shakespeare plays out at the Ruins – there are several I’d love to do out there!

When one of the actors fell sick, about 3 weeks into the run of the show, you were called upon to perform in their place, book-in-hand. How was that?! Did it make you want to act again? Was it very different experiencing the play from inside?

It was an exhilarating experience! The last time I had performed Shakespeare was in a 2019 production of Love’s Labour’s Lost directed by Rodrigo (which is how we met, and this wonderful journey began), so to be able to stretch those muscles again was a challenge I had a lot of fun meeting. And it must be said how incredibly supportive the entire team was – from gently nudging me where I needed to go, to helping me learn fight choreo before curtain, to cheering me on through-out – it was a beautiful thing to know I was amongst people who always had my back. What I loved experiencing from the inside was getting to see all the intricacies of everything going on backstage, some of which I was aware of, and some of which I was not, that allowed the show to run smoothly, and which I never saw while watching the show from out front. Also, I will say: it was 28 degrees and sunny the day I went on, and by the time we got to act 5, I had gained a deep appreciation for the stamina it takes to do a show in those weather conditions! I don’t know if I’ll act again (I’ll never say never!), but I certainly will remember my SIR acting debut for the rest of my life!

Why do you think it’s important to protect the future of a company like SIR?

SIR is a vital part of not just our theatre community, but our Winnipeg community. From an artistic stand-point SIR not only allows artists to sink their teeth into these beautiful heightened texts, but also gives many emerging artists, myself included, some of their first professional opportunities, allowing them to grow by working alongside and learning from the immense talent we have in Winnipeg. From a community stand-point, there is no theatrical experience in Winnipeg like what you experience when you go to a show at the Ruins. To me it has always felt like stepping into another world.

And finally, what’s a favourite play by Shakespeare you’d love to direct one day?

My favourite play by Shakespeare is Much Ado About Nothing. A long-time lover of the Kenneth Branagh film, that’s a show I very much hope is in my future as a director!

*****

PS. IF YOU HAVEN’T YET, PLEASE CONSIDER A DONATION, AND PROTECT WHAT YOU LOVE: YOUR SHAKESPEAREAN COMPANY, SIR!

Cari Speaks

Sat, 06 Dec 2025 16:03:21 GMT

The incredible Cari Simpson, SIR’s Technical Director and all around crew magician, reflects on her time with the company, overcoming the challenges of the great outdoors, and the importance of protecting our unique theatrical practice:

I first started working with SIR for purely practical reasons; on my end it filled a gap in my work schedule before Fringe started up, and on the company’s end the shows had started getting so large and complex that the actors couldn’t do everything themselves anymore like they used to. They had hired Steve Vande Vyvere on as crew a couple years before that to help with the workload, and when he took over as PM (production manager), the shows had grown even more on their return to the Ruins in 2012 that he brought me on for extra help.

After my first show, which was Comedy of Errors (2014), I was hooked and immediately let Steve know I wanted to come back next year. It was a like a weird chaotic summer camp; I was dressed in a costume, pulling the old sound system around on a wagon, and dragging a crash mat from window to window for the actors to jump onto. In most theatre jobs, you spend your days inside, in my case often in a dark booth, so the change each spring to the fresh air and beautiful sunsets and wildlife running around is a nice way to balance my year out. And the actors and crew that think “yeah, I want to spend 2 months being outside, sometimes for 12 hour days, in all kinds of weather,” are my kind of people. There’s always a great camaraderie among everyone out there, and I’ve added a few truly close friends to my life from my time at the Ruins. That’s what keeps me coming back every year.

I mentioned Comedy of Errors was my first mainstage show with the company, so it’s been 11 years now! The biggest change I’ve seen in my time with SIR is sadly the climate crisis and its effects on everything. Wildfire smoke is a new challenge from the last couple of years for sure, but the biggest hurdle is the storms. When I first started, we would regularly move under our giant tent if the rain was too bad to continue performing outside, and we would only cancel for the occasional thunderstorm. Now it’s almost the reverse, we so rarely have rain that isn’t part of a storm system, our eyes are always glued to the radar watching for lightning strikes to get too close. That’s why we sold off the tent; we had 2 years in a row where we basically couldn’t use it because you can’t tell the audience to go stand beside a giant metal tent pole in a lightning storm. It used to be fun to occasionally watch the actors speed through the last scene to finish a show just before the rain hit, but now we spend at least a third of the shows just wondering if we’ll make it to the end at all.

I think the most rewarding part of doing shows at the Ruins is being so close to the audience . You can feel their reactions so much more than from a booth, and lots of people come up to talk after and say how much fun they had, or that this was their first theatre show ever! There was a man last year who told us he comes up from the States every year to visit family and times it so that he can see our shows. It’s always just great watching people have fun.

The biggest challenge of doing shows at the Ruins is trying to be prepared for as many strange circumstances as possible. Steve had to go wade in the river after a pup tent that blew away in R&J, squirrels have wandered into scenes and stolen props, and one year we had a pilot flying training loops over the Ruins and drowning out the actors. Last year, we had our first storm cause power outage, which meant we couldn’t use our work-lights to light the sword fight scene for safety. In Richard III, we had lit the final scene with the headlights from the limo that was in the show, so I pulled a leaf from that book, drove my car up on the grass, and hoped I wasn’t going to kill the battery (thankfully it didn’t). No two performances in the run are ever the same out there, so trying to be prepared for all eventualities really keeps us on our toes.

I think we need to protect SIR for it’s wonderful uniqueness . The beautiful interplay between the show and the nature of the park is something I feel just can’t be found anywhere else in the city. The Ruins truly are a setting and a character in every play we do, and for people to lose the opportunity to come experience the beauty of a performance in that space would be heartbreaking.

Please support SIR if you can!

– Cari Simpson, SIR Technical Director, Running Crew & Jedi

Adam chats with Arne!

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 16:00:25 GMT

Recently, I had the good fortune of sitting down with Arne MacPherson over coffee to talk about his work with Shakespeare in the Ruins. I first met Arne many moons ago when he was the instructor for a directing course I took at Prairie Theatre Exchange. Since then, he has been someone I deeply admire, a true pillar of Winnipeg’s theatre community whose legacy I greatly respect.

As a founding member of Shakespeare in the Ruins and now a dedicated board member, Arne brings a wealth of experience and insight. That connection gave me the perfect opportunity to ask him about the origins of the company, his most memorable roles, and why it’s so important to protect what you love, especially when it comes to preserving unique cultural experiences for future generations.

*****

Adam : As one of the founding members of Shakespeare in the Ruins, what inspired you to help create this company, and what does it mean to you today? That’s kind of two questions.

Arne : Well, the legend goes, memory is selective and unreliable, but the story is that Lora Schroeder, Deb Patterson and I were out at an event at the Ruins in St. Norbert. I think it was Lora who had the idea: Wouldn’t it be great to do Romeo and Juliet here? That was the spark. The site had never been used for theatre before, and we thought, That’s a great idea. So, the first impulse was the site. The second was Shakespeare, specifically Romeo and Juliet. When we started planning, we decided to create a co-op so there was a sense of collective ownership. We stayed a co-op for over ten years until the organization grew, and we realized we needed a board of directors. Structurally, a co-op didn’t make sense anymore. So, we shifted to the structure we have now: an artistic director, a general manager, and a board. But at the beginning, there was a real ethic of collective effort. Those were the three impulses at the start. Today, I’m much less involved, mostly as an audience member for quite a while. For me now, it’s all about the site: doing theatre in that space. For example, this year I didn’t do Shakespeare, I did Waiting for Godot. I love that the company’s scale is friendly, the staff isn’t too big, and the personality of the company is easy to access. I really like that. I prefer it to working in big institutions. So, for me, it’s the size of the company and the place where we do it.

Adam : So last season you performed Waiting for Godot. What was that experience like? And do you have any memorable roles over the years that stand out?

Arne : Waiting for Godot was a hit, top three of my time at Shakespeare in the Ruins, maybe top three ever. The experience was incredible: the quality of the script, the company of actors, the direction, and the way the play worked in the ruins in a way you could never recreate in a traditional theatre. I’ve been lucky to play some of the great roles, Hamlet, Richard III way back in the late ’90s. Malvolio in Twelfth Night was big fun. Even lesser-known ones, like Don Armado in Love’s Labour’s Lost, were a blast.

Adam : If you could revisit one role today and do it all over again, which would you choose?

Arne : Oh, I wouldn’t play Richard III again, nobody who’s able-bodied should play that part. That was a thing of its time. Honestly, every production was what it was. Revisiting a role means revisiting the whole play with a different director, a different time, and a different world. I’m different now, physically. I wouldn’t want to play Hamlet again; Hamlet shouldn’t be a 60-something-year-old guy. So, I’m happy with all those experiences as they unfolded.

Adam : If you could go back and talk to Arne, Lora, and Debbie when you started the company, what would be the most surprising thing about where Shakespeare in the Ruins is today?

Arne : First of all, none of us would have imagined it lasting three years, let alone thirty-five. The fact that it exists and has become such an important part of Winnipeg’s cultural ecology is something we never could have predicted. I think it would surprise young Lora, Deb, and Arne that it’s not a co-op anymore. The company has grown into a very functional, efficient organization.

Adam : And my last question: Why do you believe it’s important for the community to protect and support Shakespeare in the Ruins for future generations?

Arne : All you have to do is talk to an audience member about how special the experience is. It’s unique. It’s like saying, we don’t need the Winnipeg Folk Festival because you can go to the Concert Hall. Sure, you can hear music elsewhere, but it’s not the same. Shakespeare in the Ruins offers an experience people cherish. If it disappeared, it would be a real loss. It’s the only theatre in Winnipeg that creates work outdoors, in the real environment. And beyond that, it’s in an incredible setting, with promenade staging. It’s unique, and people value it deeply.

*****

After I stopped recording, Arne continued to share fascinating details about Shakespeare in the Ruins’ early days. For instance, after some productions, the company would serve food to the audience, a gesture that speaks to the intimacy and community spirit of those beginnings.

He also told me that in the first few seasons, there wasn’t a full production team. There was just a stage manager, which meant the actors and team members themselves were responsible for laundering costumes, building props, and creating sets.

One of my favorite stories was about the journeys audiences used to take during performances. In The Tempest, for example, the audience would walk down by the waters, swatting away mosquitoes, to encounter characters in unexpected places. Arne described how, instead of seeing Ferdinand chopping wood, audiences found him breaking boulders, a striking image that captures the immersive and adventurous nature of theatre in the ruins.

These stories remind us that Shakespeare in the Ruins has always been about more than just theatre. It is about creativity, resilience, and a deep connection between artists, audiences, and the land. To keep that spirit alive, we must protect what you love, because experiences like this are rare, and losing them would be a true cultural loss.

Adam Jennings , managing director
SIR

PS. PLEASE CONSIDER A DONATION , AND PROTECT WHAT YOU LOVE: YOUR SHAKESPEAREAN COMPANY, SIR!

Protect What You Love

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 23:00:03 GMT

Ensuring the Magic of Outdoor Theatre Lives On

Dear friend,

What a year! I’ll never forget the night we staged the final duel of Macbeth under a stormy, electric sky. As Macbeth and Macduff clashed swords, the clouds above flashed and rumbled as if nature itself had decided to join our production team. It felt like the most breathtaking special effect we could have ever asked for – one that no theatre budget could ever buy!

It’s these moments – when nature and art dance together – that make outdoor theatre at SIR so magical and utterly irreplaceable.

Or the time during Waiting for Godot when, just as two characters strained to hear the heartbeat of another, a distant train whistle echoed through the park, blending the real world and the play’s world in a moment of pure, cheeky serendipity.

And then, of course, there was the night when the power went out entirely at the park. Instead of cancelling, our resourceful crew lined up their cars and lit the stage with headlights. The show went on, bathed in this impromptu glow of shared determination. That night, the audience saw not just a performance, but a testament to the spirit of our community – the spirit that makes SIR truly unique.

These are the types of wonderfully surprising moments that only SIR can offer. We live in search of surprise, in search of wonder, in search of something that lifts us from our everyday existence – and that’s exactly what this theatre company brings to life. But these moments are also fragile…

SIR is a unique experience, and it’s worth protecting.

And now, we need to share the reality: this past year’s climate instability has had a tangible impact. We faced 14 performances that were either modified or cancelled entirely due to conditions like wildfires, air quality issues, flash storms, and smoke . We had cast members struggling with vocal strain from the smoke, we had to bring in replacement actors on-book, and even I had to step in script-in-hand for a performance of Waiting for Godot (what a night that was!)

All of this represents not just a brutal financial loss, but an existential challenge. It’s a hit to morale and a reminder of how fragile this beautiful endeavour is. Yet through it all, YOU – our audiences, our friends – have never lost faith in us.

This is the moment to strengthen that belief. By supporting us now, you’re helping protect the wonder of theatre in nature, the joy of experiencing the greatest plays ever written under the open sky. We can’t do it without you, and with your help, we’ll continue to create these moments of surprise and wonder for years to come.

Where Your Support Goes: Taking Action Together

Your generous support will go directly into tangible actions that will keep SIR thriving and ensure our unique experience is protected into the future. Here are just a few of the critical areas where your donations will make a real difference:

Enhancing Audience Care and Accessibility: With growing audiences, we need to ensure everyone has a comfortable experience. That means adding more porta-potties to reduce wait times, and make it easier for everyone to enjoy the show without missing a beat! We would also like to add more ‘stationary performances’ to our calendar, ensuring that patrons with mobility challenges can still enjoy a magical night out without the pressures of our promenade experience.

Upgrading Our Infrastructure: We’re transitioning to a new digital system that will revolutionize how we communicate with you, streamline ticketing, and improve our overall audience engagement. This upgrade will make it even easier to stay connected and enhance your experience from the moment you get your ticket to the final bow. We also need to invest in additional chairs for your comfort and care!

Expanding New Play Development: We’re proud of the new works that have emerged from SIR, like Dark Lady, The Player King and Pandora, which started right here in Winnipeg and have since been performed across provinces. We want to continue nurturing Manitoba talent, developing new plays, and sharing our unique voice with even wider audiences. New plays require deep care: workshops, many re-writes, try-out readings, time and resources!

Ultimately, your support isn’t just about helping us survive; it’s about helping us thrive and continue to enrich the cultural life of Manitoba.

Your support is about protecting what you love and ensuring that the magic of outdoor theatre continues to surprise and inspire us all.

I can’t wait to share our plans for 2026 with you : expect romance, laughter, music, and pure storytelling…travelling from idyllic pastoral forests to action-packed mythical lands of the ancient world…

Please consider donating today so that SIR can continue to thrive, rain or shine. With your help, we’ll keep the wonder alive.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Rodrigo Beilfuss, artistic director

SIR As A Bridge

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 22:57:21 GMT

Hello friend,

I’m currently acting in “A Number” at the Royal MTC’s Warehouse Theatre, and not only am I having a blast onstage in a brilliant play alongside one of Canada’s greats, Victor Ertmanis — but backstage, I’m surrounded by some truly lovely and familiar SIR faces: stage managers Katie Hoppa and Larissa Shabaga, technical director Alex Sinclair, head of lights Evan King, and assistant director (and SIR legend!) Sarah Constible.

The other day, sitting in my dressing room, I heard giddy laughter coming from the kitchen backstage. It filled me with joy — enough that I had to snap that photo. Honestly, I felt like a doting dad. Katie, Larissa, Alex and Evan all worked with me at SIR this past summer during one of the most challenging seasons in our history — wildfires, cancellations, smoke, oof — and they were absolute heroes.

And now, just a few months later, here we are again, together, doing something completely different but with the same joy, professionalism, and tenacity. I’m so proud of this team. I say “proud dad” because SIR gave them some of their very first professional contracts, and now they’re thriving at the celebrated RMTC.

It made me think of my own journey. SIR was the first company to hire me, straight out of university in 2007, when I was just a kid with a thick Brazilian accent, acting alongside none other than the brilliant Sarah Constible in “The Merchant of Venice”. And now, somehow, I get to lead the company. I get to collaborate with artists like these — and (this is truly the best part of my job) I get to do what Jack Lemmon called “sending the elevator back down.” Through SIR, I now get to do what SIR once did for me: fostering new voices, emerging artists, and future leaders; giving them their first opportunities.

That’s what SIR is. We are the bridge between training and the professional world.

It is a wonderful responsibility — to support the next generation, to invest in emerging Manitoban talent; to mentor, build, and collaborate with the young artists who will continue to make this province shine across the country.

That is worth protecting. That is worth supporting.

Without SIR, I might never have made it to the RMTC stage — and I certainly wouldn’t have had that sweet moment of hearing laughter from the kitchen, prompting me to capture a photo of these wonderful humans I get to make art with today.

How precious.

Please consider supporting the next generation. Invest in Manitoban talent. Protect the company we love.

Donate today .

Yours, with deepest gratitude,

Rodrigo, artistic director

Heartbreak & Transformations

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 18:11:00 GMT

Hello dear friend,

And suddenly, Autumn.

When I was walking my boy home from school the other day, he said something that hit me quite deeply about this time of year; he said, “Fall isn’t really a season, daddy, it’s just a time between hot and cold, in-between the only two real seasons, summer and winter.”

Children sometimes have this incredible way of framing things that, if you’re prone to self-analysis and love a good metaphor, really hit you in the feels.

A fleeting, transitional time between hot and cold…

That’s very much where I feel Life is right now for me, personally as an artist, and for SIR as well, our mighty little shop that keeps on chugging along.

I have just returned from a trip to Stratford, Ontario, where I was rehearsing our re-imagined remounting of the 2023 production of PANDORA , by Jessica B. Hill. Remember that one?! Delightfully, it’s been produced by Stratford’s new contemporary plays festival, Here For Now Theatre . So SIR is, as per tradition every Fall, “on tour” again this year, and playing in Stratford between November 05 – 14. If you find yourself in Southern Ontario, you should definitely go re-live the magical design by Winnipeg’s extraordinary visual artist jaymez.

Speaking of travels; like Fall, airports are also a sort of “in-between” place. I must say, I found myself doing a lot of “transitional” thinking during my visit to Stratford, while re-rehearsing Pandora and seeing old friends in a town I once called Home; and I specially did some serious contemplation at airports on my journey back. There are many changes ahead, and the moment begs reflection.

Adam Jennings , SIR’s new Managing Director, begins work this Monday, October 20. Adam and I go way back, back 20 years – when we met studying at the U of W and putting on Fringe plays together as the romantic, passionate young artists we were ( are…? ). And suddenly, here we are, reunited in mid-age, as the co-leadership of SIR. I am so excited to re-meet Adam in this new context, and to work alongside him to make sure we continue to give YOU a great, great time out at the park every Spring ( ha, there’s another ‘in-between’ season ) and into the resolute Summer. He’s going to be so good for SIR.

Transitions are exciting, vital, but they are also nebulous by nature. When I was a kid, whenever things felt uncertain in life, Dad used to bring up that old riddle “how far into the woods can a lost dog go?” The answer is half-way, because after that he’ll be technically coming out of the woods and into the clear. So yes, the only way through, is through. We just need to keep on going; rocking on; moving along; and as Pozzo repeatedly exclaims in Waiting for Godot when times get tough, “we wait till we can get up, and then we go on, on…”

Theatre itself is a transitional, liminal, in-between realm – both in form and as a practice; a brief suspension from “real life”; a feverish dream that actors and creatives assemble during a compressed amount of time with dedication, purpose and a bit of poetry; we then unleash that process into a sort of public conversation with an audience, and then one day, we simply decide to do it all one last time, and never again. The curtain comes down. The show closes. Things end.

And it feels…heartbreaking. “Is that it?!” All that work and deep, intimate connection between artists…*poof*…In the biz, we often talk about “post show blues”, that sort of period after closing when everyone involved in the production feels like they’re coming out of a daze…re-calibrating their senses back into the real world; no more conversations with an audience – until the next show of course; but when is that?!

For a couple of years now, I’ve been plotting a sort of “ after care ” program with SIR’s friend and local therapist/performance coach Scott Erickson. The idea being that in a series of guided conversations before, during and after a production, members of the creative team would get a chance to discuss their work with a professional coach, and thereby digest the phases of the creative process with emotional support, rigour and insight – and be able to then let it all go in a more organic, articulate and fulfilling way.

We are still in the piloting/dreaming phase of this idea, but more and more, given how emotionally unstable, immature and completely unfocused the world feels daily, I’m thinking this type of artistic program is more needed than ever.

Artists become attached to their craft; as actor Ethan Hawke once said, we pour our very sense of self-worth into our work, only to lose it all at the end; because Theatre – ever the urgent mirror to the very nature of being alive – is poetically ephemeral. It’s here, and then it’s gone. How precious.

Speaking of being wonderfully precious, I’d like to thank three very special humans who kept SIR moving forward during the absence of a Managing Director in the last few months, and into the process of hiring Adam, they are: Joanne Zuk , Jennifer Chan , and Katrina Dunn . These tenacious, highly skilled and insightful Board Members worked incredibly hard, kept SIR financially stable, supported my artistic impulses, and brilliantly set the company up for future success – I am everlastingly grateful.

I’m truly excited about the future of SIR . This Fall, we will embark on a new strategic planning process that will shape the next five years of the company; we will set Adam up to bloom into the community leader we know his charisma can fuel; we will fundraise and nurture relationships; we will begin casting and designing our two 2026 Ruins productions (get ready for laughs, music, love, poetic melancholy, lovers, letters, shepherds, soldiers, forests, battlefields, war and peace…) – we will work hard and energetically for YOU. This is your Shakespearean company .

Yes, Theatre is ephemeral, and we are in the business of memory-making; of experience, not product. I cannot think of a more open, hopeful, and generous and wholehearted way of living and making a living. It is by embracing the transitory cycles of artmaking and growing into maturity that we make ourselves available for transformation . Poet and philosopher David Whyte – a constant presence in my reading life – defines that vital transformation as the very essence of heartbreak :

“Heartbreak is an indication of our sincerity; in a love relationship, in a life’s work…in an attempt to shape a better and more generous self. Heartbreak is the beautifully helpless side of love and affection and an emblem of care. Heartbreak is how we mature, yet we use the word heartbreak as if it only occurs when things have gone wrong. But heartbreak may be the very essence of being human, of being on the journey from here to there, and of coming to care deeply for what we find along the way.”

The journey from here to there …the Fallen leaves of Autumn transitioning us into a new season.

Adam and I started our theatrical journeys in school together, and then we didn’t cross paths again for 20 years. And here we are now, a little more mature, a little wiser; transformed.

The readiness is all.

May you relish every heartbreak in life, dear friend!

Love,

Rodrigo

New Co-Leadership At SIR!

Sat, 04 Oct 2025 02:56:00 GMT

On behalf of the SIR Board of Directors, I am delighted to share the exciting news that we have selected our new Managing Director, Adam Jennings , who starts with us on October 20.

When we interviewed Adam, we saw in him what we see in you , our community members – a passion for the arts, a love for Shakespeare, and a deep excitement to experience the work of our community of artists on our stage at the St. Norbert Trappist Monastery Ruins. He is the right person to step in and manage the company at this moment in time, and we can’t wait to start working with him.

Adam has roots in theatre, having studied with our Artistic Director Rodrigo at The University of Winnipeg’s theatre program – in fact, the two of them acted in a Fringe play together back in 2005! He has worked in the financial sector for 18 years, with experience in banking, investments, and insurance. His roles have included manager, coach, and most recently, administrative assistant. Alongside his professional career, he spent many years in ‘showbiz’, involved as an actor, student, director, and producer. He considers theatre his first love, and is excited to bring both his financial expertise and passion for the arts to Shakespeare in the Ruins.

Adam is joining SIR at a critical time in our evolution. This summer we cancelled 7 shows during our season – a record we never imagined we would set. The reality of our changing environment has placed pressure on us to manage risks in new ways and plan contingencies that can help us weather the unpredictability of storms, smoke, and other unplanned challenges.

So as he steps into his role with us, we will be working together with Adam and Rodrigo to develop proactive and strategic approaches to delivering the experiences you love, in ways that are safe for artists and audiences. To that end, we will be developing a new strategic plan this winter, which will help guide us forward. Keep your eyes on your inbox, because we will be asking for your input as well.

Before I sign off, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the heavy workload that Rodrigo has assumed over the past few months. If your only experiences with SIR have been at the Ruins during our season when we are working with a full team of cast, crew, volunteers, and seasonal staff, you may not know that we operate with just two full-time team members during the rest of the year: the Artistic Director and the Managing Director.

The end of a season comes with a wave of administrative work – reports, reconciliations, and many, many, many bills to sort through and pay. But it also is the opportunity for the Artistic Director to envision next year’s season – in other words, take a beat and dream a little. With the Managing Director role vacant, Rodrigo filled all of these roles and more. We were able to bring in some wonderful temporary support from Erin McGrath , and the Board and I stepped in to help where we could. But Rodrigo has truly kept the heart of SIR beating over the past few months. We are deeply grateful for his commitment, his professionalism, and the care and kindness he brings to his work every day.

We have so many exciting updates to share with you, and I promise that SIR will be in touch more frequently as we bring Adam on board. In the meantime, the final thank you I have to share is with you – the person who comes to our shows, reads our newsletters, and donates to support the art we love so much. We don’t exist without you (it certainly wouldn’t be much fun without you there), and we are so delighted that you are part of our community. To that end, we can’t wait for you to meet Adam – we think you’re going to love him!

Joanne Zuk

Chair of the Board of Directors

A Message

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 03:43:00 GMT

Hi dear friends,

I hope you’re doing well and swiftly adjusting to this cheeky, brisk change in the air…I heard geese today already. The panic!

All joking aside, I hope you had a very delightful summer, and THANK YOU for sharing your days with us at the Ruins.

Curiously, August and September are quite busy months for me at SIR post-season; that’s when I dream about the future and have many conversations about next year, bouncing around ideas about shows, artists, dates…and budgets. And speaking of being busy, things at SIR feel quite dynamic these days. We said farewell to our Managing Director Sara Malabar at the end of the season, and next week we will be interviewing candidates for the position – we expect to have someone new at the office as my partner-in-fun by early October, though the timeline may shift depending on the successful applicant. Indeed, there are big changes ahead.

Speaking of last season: wasn’t that just wild?! Everything happened, on/offstage: smoke from wildfires, flash-storms, replacement actors…in the end, 30% of our season was heavily affected – 14 performances were either modified or cancelled altogether . Sadly, cancellations due to extreme weather and wildfires happened in festivals and theatres across Canada this Summer, from BC to Newfoundland – 2025 was, tragically, a very challenging summer for outdoor theatre. The future demands ingenuity and adaptability, and we are already in the midst of those complex conversations with partners and collaborators. It is both an uncertain, but also an exciting time.

BUT, there was also beauty and great shows this season, and YOU, our lovely supporters and patrons who continue to believe in the magic and unique quality of the type of live theatre that only SIR can deliver – immersive, elemental, irreverent, joyous. Every year we return to one of the most beautiful parks in Manitoba and delight in the opportunity to immerse our audiences in a sanctuary of sound and meaning .

We will be busy this Fall preparing that magic for you once again. This is what I can tell you for now, bearing in mind plans are still developing… we will likely have a great comedy as our main Shakespeare show in 2026…our second offering will be something quite fresh and daring in both form and content…both directors are beloved and highly experienced SIR friends…and there will be the occasional surprise and educational/training opportunities throughout the year.

BUT ALSO, even more crucially…in order for all of that fun and essential community work to happen, we will be doing a LOT of fundraising this Fall to make up for the losses from our challenging past season, and to make sure we can deliver a 2026 that is full of adventure and pleasures and poetry and vital conversations.

Speaking of conversations and fundraising: we have recently partnered with One Great Lottery as one of the charities they support from across the country! This is a great way to learn more about local organizations and how you can support them – and win prizes . You have likely received a few messages from us about it already in your inbox, so keep your eyes open for more soon. Visit THIS LINK to learn more!

Stay tuned for more anon, my friends! There’s much fun still to be had – and hey, it IS still Summer!

Happy Back to School / Back to Work / Denial That Winter Is Coming season, xo

Rodrigo, artistic director

SIR 2025: DESTINY

Thu, 15 May 2025 17:36:00 GMT

Wed, 14 May 2025 02:39:00 GMT

2025: DESTINY CALLS

Mon, 12 May 2025 19:02:00 GMT

“O that I were a man!”

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 20:20:28 GMT

“O that I were a man!”

Gender, Evolution, and Adaptation in Shakespeare’s Plays

By Lauren Chochinov

Heather Russell-Smith gender-occupies the role of Hamlet, 2019 (photo by Leif Norman)

During Shakespeare’s lifetime, women were famously not allowed to act on stage. This is not to say that women didn’t act at all – there are records of aristocratic women performing in private pantomimes, for example – but women could not be paid actors in public venues. Curiously, no law existed that outright banned women from public performance. Yet it was a rule socially enforced throughout the period. This is, perhaps, due to the homosocial environs of the theatre world during Shakespeare’s time. Plays were performed and written specifically for acting companies that essentially functioned like trade guilds – all male spaces that would not be suitable for women. The division between the public and private sphere is also crucial in understanding why women were not allowed to be professional actresses. Women were typically relegated to the private sphere of the home where they played specific roles that were not to crossover into public spaces.

As such, Shakespeare obviously wrote his plays knowing that young men would play the women’s parts. His plays are full of references to gender – the comedies especially lean heavily into tongue-in-cheek references to interiority and exteriority with their incorporation of disguise. In Twelfth Night, for example, the heroine Viola disguises herself as a man and proceeds to secretly fall in love with Duke Orsino, inadvertently creating a queer love triangle between her male persona, Cesario, the Duke, and Duchess Olivia. When Viola realizes that Olivia has fallen in love with Cesario, she exclaims “I am the man: if it be so, as ’tis,/Poor lady, she were better love a dream” (II.ii.25-26).[1] A male actor, playing a female character, who disguises herself as a man announcing, “I am the man” is a clear reflection of Shakespeare’s meta commentary on his actors and characters.

While this gender confusion provides comedic moments, it also illuminates Elizabethan concepts of masculinity and femininity beyond the exterior trappings of costume and makeup. Shakespeare’s characters often discuss the nature of the sexes. Renaissance theories of medicine believed in the four humours – body fluids that controlled mood and disposition. The balance, or more often, imbalance of the four bodily humours were used to explain ailments and temperament, as well as gendered stereotypes about men and women.

On August 9, 1588, Queen Elizabeth I stood before her army at Tilbury and in a rousing speech said, “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king.”[2] Early Modern medicine and scientific theory supported the idea that men and women were different in all aspects from their outward physical appearance to their temperament to the temperature of their bodies. When Lady Macbeth demands, “Take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers” (I.v.48),[3] she is asking that her natural feminine kindness be replaced with “gall,” yellow bile from the gallbladder that was associated with ambition and aggression. She is asking for not only a change in demeaner, but a change in the physical composition of her body that defies nature itself.

From 1642 – 1660, England’s Puritan government banned all theatre, shuttering stages across the country. With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, theatres reopened under new guidelines enforced by King Charles II. In a 1662 patent, Charles ordered that ownership of the entire catalogue of existing English plays would be divided between two acting companies and, perhaps more intriguingly, that women were now to play women’s roles on stage.[4]

When the first woman actress appeared as Desdemona in a December 1660 production of Othello, her arrival marked a permanent change in the way Shakespeare’s play were performed.[5] All-male companies were no longer the norm and by the eighteenth century, actresses were playing male roles too, forging a new path of gender expression that continues to this day. While Shakespeare liked to point out that what was on the outside was not necessarily what was on the inside, his exploration of identity and sexuality enables an endless variety of interpretations and adaptations that shift and change with each new production of his works, offering audiences moments of celebration, humour, tragedy, and defiance.

[1] https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/twelfth-night/read/

[2] https://tudorhistory.org/primary/tilbury.html

[3] https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/macbeth/read/

[4] https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1112956/patent/

[5] The role was played by either Anne Marshal or Margaret Hughes.

2025 Newsletter

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 19:23:10 GMT

SHAPING A NEW DESTINY

Theatre is a conversation.

As artists we are moved by a relentless desire to keep the conversation going. We wish to connect; to reach; to examine; to reveal; to poke; to provoke; to feel…

I have recently learned from poet David Whyte that the word ‘conversation’ comes from Latin: “converse/to turn about/inside out”. It’s a gorgeous concept; a conversation is turning things inside out. The whole point of what we do in the theatre is to inhabit someone else’s perspective; to learn about somebody else’s experience; to turn ourselves inside out, and in turn, we turn YOU inside out. What a stunningly hopeful thing theatre is, when one really thinks about it…

Our trade is an incredibly challenging and economically precarious one, but so vital – particularly considering how the world has transformed itself in the last two decades. We have expanded into a “global village” and lost the immediacy of community, and we are now dealing with the consequences of that expansion as our conversation breaks down. We seem to be stuck; hoping and waiting, like characters in a Beckett drama.

How do we heal from that?

It is time to turn ourselves inside out again. It’s time to dare to share our desires and vulnerabilities without fear – it’s time we wrote a new story for us; a new story for humanity that values collective intimacy and community above all; a new destiny!

MACBETH and WAITING FOR GODOT were written so long ago. And yet here we are, turning them inside out, yet again; trying to once again make sense of what they were saying when they were first written, and finding new meanings and connections for them now – and in that way, we are reshaping those plays (and ourselves) for the future.

I’ll see you at the park for a great conversation!

SIR’s 2025 season confronts the question of destiny with two towering works that illuminate the tension between fate and free will. In Macbeth, Shakespeare’s tragic hero hurtles toward a foretold future he cannot escape. In Waiting for Godot, Beckett’s vagabonds linger in limbo, suspended between hope and inevitability. Together, these plays ask: do we shape our own paths, or are we merely following the stars?

This digital newsletter is your invitation to step into the heart of the season—through interviews, artist web chats, curated playlists, and more.

The Director’s Chat

Artistic Director, Rodrigo Beilfuss & Macbeth Director, Emma Welham discuss her vision for bringing Shakespeare’s story of destiny foretold and fate fulfilled to the Ruins.

Defying the Original

Workshopping translations & meditations on Shakespeare as a cultural bridge. A paper for The 2023 First Folio Symposium by Rodrigo Beilfuss.

ON MACBETH & HORROR

by Lauren Chochinov

Of Shakespeare’s many plays, Macbeth is, perhaps, the one most closely associated with horror. Yes, Hamlet has its ghost, but Macbeth’s witches dominate stage and screen adaptations of the tragedy. Witches are, of course, a common trope of horror literature and film. And while Macbeth’s witches certainly belong amongst the list of literature’s greatest, the play contains far more horror genre connections than just The Weird Sisters.

“Horror” as a genre, came into prominence at the end of the eighteenth century with the Romantic literary movement. While stories of ghosts and vampires are prevalent in nearly every culture and in every age, the development of the Gothic formalized what had previously existed for centuries into a coherent literary genre with conventions and recognizable features. Macbeth, usually dated to 1603, obviously far predates the Gothicism of early nineteenth-century Europe, but in many ways, it is a perfect example of the Gothic in action, a foundational work whose influence cannot be overstated.

Bloodied soldiers roam a broken landscape. Witches lurk in storms. Characters sneak in and out of darkened castle hallways. A woman loses her mind culminating in tragedy. There would be no Jane Eyre, no Wuthering Heights, no Jekyll and Hyde without Shakespeare’s Scottish play.

With the advent of cinema, horror exploded in popularity, the genre dividing into countless subgenres, each with its own tropes and parameters. Amongst these is “folk horror,” which emerged throughout the 1970s in British cinema with films like Witchfinder General (1968), Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), and the genre defining The Wicker Man (1973).

Folk horror, at its most simplified, is horror that incorporates aspects of folklore. More accurately, folk horror is concerned with ideas of the past reemerging in the present. It is usually set in rural environments and heavily features the natural world, pre-Christianity, and the intrusion of modernity. Like many horror subgenres, “folk horror” has only grown in popularity as filmmakers around the world have mined their cultural folklore and turned it into the stuff of cinematic nightmares. At its heart, folk horror is obsessed with idea of encroachment, of a buried past emerging to consume the present – either as an act of vengeance or as a reminder that humanity is powerless against the force of nature.

Macbeth is a play at odds with nature. Its characters constantly speak of weather, of the night. Before meeting the witches for the first time, Macbeth remarks, “so foul and fair a day I have not seen” (1.3.39). On the morning following Duncan’s murders, the nobleman Lennox explains that the previous night had “been unruly.” He describes “lamentings heard i’ th’ air, strange screams of death/and prophesysing” (2.3.61-69). The king’s horses break free of their stable and cannibalize each other while Macbeth and Lady Macbeth call to the darkness and shun the light. By murdering Scotland’s rightful king and usurping the throne, Macbeth defies his own natural state – corrupting the social hierarchy, which, in turn, brings chaos.

Folk horror’s obsession with encroachment and return provides a fascinating lens to consider Macbeth and Lady Macbeth throughout the remainder of the play. From the moment Macbeth murders Duncan, he is haunted by his actions. There is a sense that Duncan’s death and the subsequent murder of Banquo are the true ghosts of Macbeth – a lurking, omnipresent horror that reveals itself in blood and madness. The play’s constant use of personification to signify how the natural world reacts to the actions of its human inhabitants is one of the hallmarks of folk horror. Scotland bleeds as Macbeth tyrannically cuts down his enemies, “each new morn/New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows/Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds/As if it felt with Scotland, and yelled out/Like syllable of dolor” (4.3.3-9).

The genre’s great strength has always been its ability to mirror the societal concerns of its moment. Macbeth is a time capsule of a nation experiencing change. With the death of Elizabeth I in 1602, England found itself with a Scottish king upon the throne. James I (VI of Scotland) brought with him much needed stability in the form of his family – he already had heirs at the time of his ascension, unlike Elizabeth whose lack of children was a constant point of anxiety for England. Interest in Scotland and all things Scottish flourished in the early years of the king’s reign, a king who was notoriously obsessed with witches and believed himself descended from the quasi-historical Banquo.

For Shakespeare, whose livelihood depended on the king’s patronage, Macbeth is purposefully crafted play, undoubtably written with James in mind. A story set in Scotland, about kingship and power, that concludes with the ascension of Scotland’s rightful heir to its contested throne. Not to mention the witches. But by pandering for favour, Shakespeare inadvertently lay the foundation of a new genre that would dominate literature and, eventually, cinema well into the twenty first century.

Shakespeare, W. (n.d.) Macbeth. The Folger Shakespeare. https://folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/macbeth

Waiting for Godot: A Playlist for the Absurd and the Eternal

Nothing happens. Then it happens again. This playlist traces the strange emotional arc of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot—a journey through silence, stasis, absurdity, friendship, and the quiet ache of existing.

From bleak beauty to surreal repetition, from soft dread to fleeting joy, these songs live in the space between arrival and absence. They wait with you. They loop. They linger.

Best listened to in order. Boots on. Hats on. Let’s go—we can’t.

Macbeth: A Folk Horror Mixtape

Step into the shadowed moors of Scotland, where prophecy crackles like thunder and fate hangs heavy in the air. This playlist traces the arc of Macbeth—not as a retelling, but as an atmospheric journey through music.

Beginning in mystery and foreboding, we follow the slow spiral of ambition into madness, through spectral hauntings and burning guilt, down into blood-soaked consequence and eventual collapse. The songs—drawn from folk, rock, blues, and cinematic soundscapes—don’t just illustrate the play’s moments; they breathe with its themes of destiny, nature’s revenge, and the fragile human psyche.

By the end, the storm clears—but not without leaving scars. A final stretch of reflection, strange beauty, and quiet reckoning reminds us: in Macbeth, as in life, the past always echoes.

Listen in order. Let the witches lead.

2024 Newsletter

Sun, 15 Dec 2024 20:18:06 GMT

I hope you’re ready for a proper great time.

At SIR we believe that Joy is vital to navigating a persistently volatile world, a “distracted globe” – as Bill once wrote. This season promises a restorative time in nature, as your ears are tickled by beautiful, transformative language; and your senses are reawakened to serenity and wonder!

Our choices for the upcoming season embrace the theme of transformation. These plays celebrate our ability to adapt, to embrace magic and storytelling, and to ultimately change, as individuals and communities. My fellow (but much more famous) South American, the revolutionary Che Guevara once said: “let the world change you, and then you can change the world”. I love this quote because it implies a surrender – a leap of faith. In other words: magic. It is an invitation for us to be open and to stay curious about the possibilities and surprises of life.

For the first time since 1995, A Midsummer Night’s Dream will return to the Ruins and deliver that much-needed jolt of magic you’ve been craving. Playing in repertory alongside Dream, we will once again celebrate a new Canadian play: Iago Speaks , by Saskatoon’s incredible Daniel Macdonald. This cheeky and highly intelligent sequel to Othello isn’t afraid to ask the big existential questions that haunt us – and it does so with a spectacular sense of humour and charm.

Join us at the Ruins this summer to have your expectations both shattered and met! Be surprised, puzzled, delighted and ultimately…

Be transformed.

Rodrigo Beilfuss , Artistic Director

SIR’s 2024 season embraces the theme of transformation with two electrifying plays that celebrate our ability to adapt, to surrender to magic and storytelling, and to ultimately change – as individuals and communities.

This ‘digital newsletter’ is your invitation to become intimately acquainted with this season through audio interviews, web chats, playlists & more.

Iago Speaks: Making a Canadian Shakespeare

Playwright Daniel Macdonald and Rodrigo discuss the making of Iago Speaks and how Shakespeare continues to inspire new works.

The Director’s Chat

An intimate, audio conversation between Director, Rodrigo Beilfuss & Stratford’s Jessica B. Hill on Dream, Iago Speaks and all things Shakespeare.

Board Chair, Joanne Zuk, in 1994 as a high school Shakespeare nerd and now. (As an adult Shakespeare nerd.)

Reflections of an O.G. patron

When I close my eyes, I can go back in time to that Saturday night in 1994. My mom and I (pictured above) had come to the St. Norbert Ruins to see Romeo and Juliet : the quintessential teen drama. I was over the moon with the kind of excitement only a 15 year old bookworm could truly understand.

We arrived early and settled in, our knees tucked under our chins as we sat on little squares of carpet. Shoulder to shoulder with other patrons, we sat patiently in the shadow of the timeless stone wall, waiting for the show to begin.

Angry shouting broke out in the distance. As it came closer, my heart started pounding. Suddenly we were surrounded by a gang of leather-clad sword-wielding punks. It was the Capulets and the Montagues – and we were in the middle of the fight. As the play began, the Ruins wrapped us all in a blanket of magic, complete with a soundtrack of birdsong and a moon that seemed to appear as if on cue.

I remember being astonished at how the Ruins themselves were part of the play. The façade was Juliet’s balcony. The warring families clambered over the walls. And the promenade experience meant that we were transported to new stages every time an actor, in character, announced, that we were to retrieve our squares of carpet and move to a new location.

I was blown away by the director’s interpretation of the play. When Gene Pyrz rolled in on a motorcycle, all my beliefs about how classical theatre should be presented went out the window. Looking back, I think this is one of my favourite aspects of SIR. You know you’re going to see a great performance. You know it’s going to be Shakespeare or Shakespeare-adjacent (speaking of, I can’t wait for Iago Speaks this summer!). And you know it’s going to be totally different than anything you could have imagined. That’s the magic of SIR.

As an O.G. patron, I couldn’t be more proud to be the Chair of your Shakespeare company as we celebrate our 30th season this summer. Thankfully I’m no longer that 15 year old nerd swooning over the cute actors. And happily, I no longer have to sit with my knees tucked beneath my chin on the cool limestone ground (seriously; kudos to the sponsors, team, and Board that made those chairs a reality). But I know that when I take my seat and the play begins, once again, I will be impossibly lost in the magic of art. I hope you’ll join me.

Joanne Zuk, Board Chair

“O THAT I WERE A MAN!”

Dr. Chochinov follows up on her Community Classroom workshop with this piece exploring the evolution of gender roles and representation in Shakespeare’s plays. (Coming very soon!)

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC: A PLAYLIST FOR MUSIC LOVERS

From the mind of audiophile, and General Manager, Sara Malabar comes a playlist inspired by marriage, passion, heartbreak, jealousy, love spells, immortality, forests and MAGIC. From Motown’s back catalogue, to hidden folk gems, to classic rock, modern indie and new wave – this playlist is for the serious music lover. (Featuring, Queen, Queen & more Queen thanks to Rodrigo Beilfuss.)

Achieving Grace in Giving

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 22:01:38 GMT

I took my 8-year-old, Zeke, to the theatre recently, and during a scene change where two actors carefully and efficiently transformed the set into a whole other room, he vocally exclaimed “Wow, that’s magic daddy!”

I can’t stop thinking about that moment. The memory makes me smile in wonder. It wasn’t that I was particularly surprised he’d say that; after all, he’s a boy whose imagination had just been tickled by the powerful simplicity of live storytelling. What I found disappointing about that moment was the fact that I had caught myself once again in my “detached adult” mode, realizing how rare those fleeting moments of awe are in daily life; being an adult is such a bummer sometimes!

But you see, here’s the twist: I don’t think those moments are rare at all! We just fail to find room in our busy lives for them, and that’s where Theatre comes in; as a reminder; as a restorative.

Live theatre is an invitation for you to reconnect with your inner need for wonder.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how vital and primal that human need is. And that in turn makes me think about how lucky we are at Shakespeare in the Ruins, to not only perform the most astonishing plays ever written in the English language, but to do it surrounded by gorgeous nature – and with YOU.

If that doesn’t make you shout, “WOW THAT’S MAGIC!”, I don’t know what will.

A CULTURAL REVOLUTION

As we continue to navigate this age of mass distraction and digital chaos, I have been trying to think of ways to pepper adulthood with a bit more magic and awe, and I have found answers and relief in the simplest of acts (a walk; a fresh coffee; a well-timed nap!) And one of the things that never fails to fill me with gratitude is the act of helping or doing something nice for someone. Indeed, what Juliet says is profoundly true: My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have…

There truly is something healing and awe-inspiring in the act of giving – it is then when community happens. I recently gifted one of my favourite books to a friend, just out of the blue – no special occasion – and he was completely delighted and charmed by the gesture. And seeing that sparkle in his eyes made me feel complete joy – and grace.

As actor Rainn Wilson once said, “the meaning of life is service to others. When you are in the service of others, your anxieties are vanquished. It brings you into the moment.”

The cultural sector has undergone profound transformations since 2020, and one of our biggest challenges has been to remain economically viable during a time of instability. We have historically and infamously been a very underfunded field, and for a long time we have normalized the idea of being underpaid “struggling” artists because, we love what we do; this is a calling, a feverish passion, after all.

However, the cultural shifts of this moment have completely transformed our expectations – rightfully so, cultural workers now long for a more balanced, and economically stable career in the Arts. It has become painfully evident that while we do make Art for love, robust and immediate investment in our field is crucial to its future. Sadly, we are running the risk of losing an entire generation of artists because this work no longer seems like an attractive career proposition. The romance of it all feels a bit faded nowadays…it has hardened.

But I go back to that idea of achieving grace. As the famous South American saying goes, “in life one must be hardy, but without ever losing tenderness”. Hope is, after all, an active and cultivated mind-set.

THE WHY & WHAT YOU CAN DO

SIR stands at a tipping point; poised for expansion. As a small and tenderly hardy company, we have remained nimble and ambitious through challenges; and with your brilliant support, we have aimed high and achieved impossible dreams (including showcasing a reading of our 2023 production of The Dark Lady in NEW YORK CITY this Fall!) We could not have achieved any of our recent successes without YOU, our dear friend and supporter.

Your gracious giving has made us dream.

But the challenges are ongoing, as funding remains scarce, and we continue to be forced to innovate endlessly to compete and create. We need community. We need your support. This is your Shakespearean company, after all.

Please DONATE today so that together we can experience that necessary magic that my son so openly felt when he was wowed by live storytelling.

We have an incredible 2025 season planned for you at the Ruins. A riveting playbill that will deliver action, thrills and unforgettable language with two massive plays: a classic, sexy Shakespearean tragedy , playing alongside a true 20th century masterpiece . Stay tuned for our season announcement early in the new year.

Please help us make this expansive and imaginative season a success. DONATE today, and join us for stunning nature, spectacular poetry, and a wonder-ful time.

Yours,

Rodrigo Beilfuss, Artistic Director

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SHAKESPEARE IN STONY MOUNTAIN

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 22:53:10 GMT

SHAKESPEARE IN STONY MOUNTAIN

There’s an image near the end of the last issue of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic book series that features Shakespeare, alone in his study in Stratford, toiling away with his quill as he struggles to write The Tempest. It’s a familiar image: the author-as-genius struggling in isolation to capture his elusive muse, allowing it to speak through him as he writes. In this vision of authorship, the work emerges fully formed from the authShakespeare in Stony Mountain brings the Bard into the classroom at Stony Mountain, the oldest federal prison in Canada. Participants explore the themes in Shakespeare’s most famous plays through discussion and performance. It is a powerful program aimed at helping participants to build self-confidence and the capacity for self-discovery through exposure to arts education. All who complete the course receive a Grade 10 drama credit towards their high school diploma.

After a short hiatus due to the pandemic, program facilitator Claire Therese returned, with 2024 being our ninth year running the program.

“I must confess, I was a little skeptical when I first started the program, but I quickly warmed up to it and started looking forward to coming to every session. This is my 3rd federal sentence, and I am currently serving an 8-year sentence, and this is the most positive productive thing I’ve been able to be a part of.” -Ian

“To the people that funded the ‘Shakespeare program’, thank you very much. I enjoyed it, I feel more confident in myself, and I learned some pretty cool stuff. I admire the dedication of the program facilitator, who was patient, understanding and informative. I practiced hard for my monologue that I presented for the guests that attended … And they applauded me once I was done. I didn’t feel judged or uncomfortable at all. Please continue to inspire and educate. Thanx again!!” – Jesse

“At first I wasn’t really interested in this program. But the more I started showing up the more I got into it. The reason why I like this was because I got to do a part in front of a crowd, which made me nervous, but pulled through. If there was another class like this I would participate again and recommend this Shakespeare class for others in the institution. I also would like to thank (facilitators) Claire and Arne for doing this. They’re the best.” -Mason

“I am writing you to let you know how the Shakespeare class has affected and helped me. This is the first time I have ever had a chance to do something like this in my life. I dropped out of school at a young age. When I got to the class I realized I was going to have to remember lines and act in front of people. I wasn’t too comfortable with this at first and wanted to drop out of the class. Some of my peers encouraged me to stay and complete the class, and I did. I had fun and it gave me the chance to learn something new and a chance to try something I may never had a chance to do in life again.” -Jimmy

Variety of Readers

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 22:56:35 GMT

Hello my dear friend,

The final Act of 2023 is upon us: the Holiday season. We hope you are surrounded by love and joy and delicious treats. We hope this time of the year gifts you the opportunity and space to reflect and to recharge, and to rekindle with passions and pleasures, big and small. We hope your 2023 was filled with discoveries and adventures, and good health!

SIR turned 30 this year, and – with your support and enthusiasm – we had a gloriously busy year for such a tiny outfit. Not many people know this, but we have only TWO full-time staff members at SIR (myself, your Artistic Director; and Sara Malabar, our dynamic General Manager). And between the two of us (with the help of freelancers and seasonal staff and the Board), we try and accomplish all of the things without losing our minds! We truly are fueled by passion.

As I sit here and take stock of this year, I find myself reliving the transformative experience I had when I took part in a lovely Shakespeare conference in Vancouver last month, sharing a panel with none other than Greg Doran , the Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK. I have been a huge admirer of Doran’s work since my college days, and in fact, I happened to be reading his most recent book ( My Shakespeare: a director’s journey through the Folio ) precisely when I received the call from UBC to represent SIR at this special conference in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio (the first publication of his Complete Works).

BUT, what was even more exciting than working alongside Greg Doran was the fact that I got to work WITH and FROM the First Folio itself: UBC now owns its own First Folio, one of only 250 surviving copies of the first edition of Bill’s Complete Works. It cost the university 7 million dollars to acquire. And it is beautiful.

As part of our research for the conference, SIR Board member and theatre director Dr Katrina Dunn and I spent almost two hours playing with the Folio at the UBC archives. And guess what: because archivists no longer require people to use gloves when touching artifacts (interestingly, gloves remove sensitivity and can end up causing damage to thin paper), we got to TOUCH the bloody thing and flip through it and read from it.

It was a deeply moving experience. It felt as though we were working with Shakespeare himself. However, what moved me the most was not reading Shakespeare’s own words on the page, but the introduction, written by his two actor friends who assembled the Folio: John Heminge and Henrie Condell, entitled “To the great Variety of Readers”.

That word caught my attention: “variety”.

We have been deeply engaged in conversations about ‘diversity’ and representation in the Classics for several years now (conversations that have been intensified since the Summer of 2020), and so the word struck me immediately. And upon reading the first sentences, while touching the very page, I was moved to tears by the sheer beauty of the invitation from those two brave friends: “From the most able, to him that can but spell. There you are numbered…it is now public…”

It confirmed to me what I’ve always believed to be the fundamental Truth about Shakespeare: he is for everyone. These plays are yours. They belong to all of humankind. To all cultures. They are made of what connects us to each other in ways that are elemental and granular and essential. They are elastic and paradoxical and wonderfully inexhaustible.

Shakespeare is for all.

To the great variety of us.

As a boy from South American who learned English aged 18, I never had any claim to the world of English Classical Theatre…and yet. Here I am. The Artistic Director of Shakespeare in the Ruins.

Bill pays my bills.

And that is what I am most thankful for as we enjoy the joys of the Holidays. I’m grateful for having opened my heart to Shakespeare. And I am grateful for the opportunity to help others open their hearts to Shakespeare too. It is a gift and a responsibility I do not take lightly. I relish the challenge. I love this stuff. I hope you do too!

I cannot wait to share with you what we have planned for 2024.

I cannot wait to see you there again, under the skies at the Ruins, opening your hearts up to the absolute beauty that is Shakespeare in live performance.

Happy Holidays! Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for your support.

Yours wholeheartedly,

Rodrigo (& Sara & everyone at SIR)

2023 Newsletter

Fri, 15 Dec 2023 21:09:13 GMT

2023 Newsletter

SIR’s 2023 season is about collaboration and celebration, with two distinct and delightful productions: Twelfth Night , arguably Shakespeare’s finest comedy, is filled with revelry and longing; while The Dark Lady , a world premiere of a new work by Jessica B. Hill is a dynamic duet that dismantles our conventional views on Shakespeare through the perspective of poetess Emilia Bassano – the possible ‘dark lady’ that appears in his sonnets.

This ‘digital newsletter’ is your invitation to become intimately acquainted with this season through audio interviews, web chats, playlists & more.

WELCOME TO OUR 30TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON!

SIR becomes a little older (a little wiser!) in 2023; and once the snow melts, we will again gather at the Ruins in the Spring for a double-bill presentation with two productions: TWELFTH NIGHT, by our good ole’ Will Shakespeare & THE DARK LADY, a new play by the brilliant Jessica B. Hill – who delighted Winnipeg audiences this Winter with her solo piece, PANDORA.

SIR continues to envision ways to challenge, celebrate, enshrine, and explode our perspectives on Shakespeare and what constitutes ‘the classical canon’ in the 21st century. As we enter this celebratory year, we remain in a delicate moment–culturally and historically–still inside uncertain times, but perpetually inspired to transform the theatre of the past into a dynamic experience of the Now, for you.

You deserve a big party too. Life has been a bit…much lately, no? There’s so much noise and distraction out there. Why not unplug this Spring, and join us outside, in nature, for that well-earned relief!

We can’t wait to see your smiles again under that gorgeous sky at the park. Let’s feel that joy, together.

Rodrigo Beilfuss , Artistic Director

The Dark Lady: Creation & Inspiration

Playwright and performer Jessica B. Hill and Dr. Katrina Dunn ( UofM Faculty of English, Theatre, Film & Media) take a deep dive into The Dark Lady’s creation process, and inspiration, poet and writer Emilia Bassano.

Twelfth Night: The Director’s Chat

Director Christopher Brauer and SIR’s own Rodrigo Beilfuss nerd out on Twelfth Night, Shakespeare and Promenade Theatre.

Twelfth Night: A Playlist

SIR General Manager, Sara Malabar, former Toronto DJ and music programmer curates a playlist inspired by the themes and characters of Twelfth Night.

Reflections: The Dark Lady

Playwright Jessica B. Hill and director Rodrigo Beilfuss discuss the creation of the play and provide insight into Emilia Bassano, the closest contender for “the Dark Lady of the Sonnets.”

Shakespeare: Collaborator & Influencer

By Brandon Christopher , Associate Professor & Chair of the Dept of English at U of W

Twelfth Night Synopsis

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 21:08:06 GMT

The Coast of Illyria

Saved from a shipwreck by a friendly sea captain, Viola arrives in Illyria, safe, but separated from her brother. She wonders about her brother’s fate as the sea captain tells her about Orsino and Olivia. Deciding that seeking work from Olivia would be pointless due to the lady’s self-imposed isolation to mourn her own brother’s death, Viola instead resolves to disguise herself as a man and seek work from Orsino. The captain agrees to help her disguise herself.

Orsino’s Estate

The nobleman Orsino listens to music, lamenting his unrequited love for Olivia, who has gone into seclusion to mourn her brother, spurning Orsino’s advances.

Olivia’s aunt, “Sir” Toby Belch is out looking for a party and wonders about Olivia taking her brother’s death so hard. Maria, one of Olivia’s servants and Sir Toby’s partner, warns Sir Toby not to continue adding to Olivia’s worries with her excessive drinking. Sir Toby’s friend and drinking buddy, “Sir” Andrew Aguecheek (who fancies herself a knight), arrives, and at Sir Toby’s encouragement, pursues Maria in hopes of getting closer to Olivia, who Andrew hopes to marry. Maria, however, rebuffs Sir Andrew. Discouraged, Sir Andrew says she will be leaving the next day. Sir Toby again encourages Sir Andrew in her pursuit of Olivia, and when Sir Andrew agrees to stay another month, the pair celebrate.

Viola, now disguised as a young man by the name of Cesario, has begun work in Orsino’s household, and has quickly won Orsino’s favour. Orsino decides to send Cesario to Olivia’s house to win Olivia over on his behalf, thinking that an endearing, youthful man like Cesario (really Viola) might have more luck.

Cesario, Thou know’st no less but all. I have unclasped
To thee the book even of my secret soul.
Therefore, good youth, address thy gait unto her.
Be not denied access. Stand at her doors
And tell them, there thy fixèd foot shall grow
Till thou have audience.

Orsino, ACT 1, Scene 4

Olivia’s Estate

Olivia decides to dismiss her jester, Feste, as she finds the jester unreliable, and no longer entertaining. Her mind is changed when Feste calls her a fool for mourning her brother so deeply when she claims to believe his soul is in heaven. Meanwhile, Viola/Cesario arrives at Olivia’s house, and is met by Sir Toby. Olivia sends Malvolio to speak with Viola/Cesario and says to turn the man away if he brings a message from Orsino. Annoyed with her aunt’s drunkenness, Olivia instructs Maria to watch over Sir Toby for now.

Malvolio reports that the visitor persists and insists on speaking to Olivia. After hearing Malvolio describe him, she reluctantly agrees to meet the young messenger, and demands he get to the point. Cesario delivers the message of Orsino’s love and tells Olivia about how badly Orsino is hurt by her continued rejections. Viola/Cesario is so convincing that Olivia, rather than accepting Orsino’s offer of love, falls for the young messenger.

When Viola/Cesario leaves, Olivia sends Malvolio out to find the young man and return a ring that she claims the young man left with her.

Make me a willow cabin at your gate
And call upon my soul within the house,
Write loyal cantons of contemnèd love
And sing them loud even in the dead of night,
Hallow your name to the reverberate hills
And make the babbling gossip of the air
Cry out “Olivia!” O, you should not rest
Between the elements of air and earth
But you should pity me.

Viola/Cesario ACT 1, Scene 5

Olivia’s Estate

Viola’s brother, Sebastian, arrives in Illyria with the help of Antonia. Sebastian and Antonia prepare to part ways, and Sebastian tries to make sense of his sister’s presumed death at sea. Sebastian announces his intention to go alone to Orsino’s court, where Antonia has enemies. Despite the danger posed to her, Antonia decides to follow Sebastian.

On the road between Olivia and Orsino’s estates

Meanwhile, Malvolio catches up to Viola/Cesario and attempts to return the ring. After Malvolio leaves, Viola expresses her confusion, as Orsino had never sent Olivia a ring. She draws the conclusion that Olivia must have feelings for her (as Cesario). Viola then laments the complicated situation created by this, as Viola herself has fallen for Orsino, who is hopelessly in love with Olivia, who it seems is now infatuated with Cesario.

The gentleness of all the gods go with thee!
I have many enemies in Orsino’s court,
Else would I very shortly see thee there.
But come what may, I do adore thee so
That danger shall seem sport, and I will go.

Antonia, ACT 2, Scene 1

Olivia’s Garden

After a long night of drinking, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew send for wine, and demand a song from Feste. Maria comes to hush the trio and warn them that they really don’t want to wake up Malvolio. Sir Toby is unphased by this news and continues singing even when Malvolio arrives to chew them out and ultimately to tell them Olivia will kick them out if they don’t straighten up. Annoyed by Malvolio’s puritanical ways, Maria, Sir Toby, and Sir Andrew conspire to humiliate Malvolio. Maria suggests forging love letters from Olivia for Malvolio to find.

Back at Orsino’s house, Orsino demands music. As they wait, Orsino asks Viola/Cesario if he has ever fallen in love with anyone. When Viola/Cesario responds by describing someone like Orsino, Orsino himself remains oblivious. Orsino sends them to Olivia, and claims that no woman can feel so intensely as he does. Cesario objects to this and prepares to go to Olivia’s house.

At Olivia’s house, the plan to humiliate Malvolio is put into action. Malvolio fantasizes about the prospect of being married to Olivia, and being elevated from his current position, much to the annoyance of a spectating Sir Toby. Malvolio finds the forged letter instructing him to behave in uncharacteristic ways in order to signal that he reciprocates the letter writer’s feelings.

Daylight and champian discovers not more! This is
open. I will be proud, I will read politic authors, I
will baffle Sir Toby, I will wash off gross acquaintance,
I will be point-devise the very man. I do not
now fool myself, to let imagination jade me; for
every reason excites to this, that my lady loves me.
She did commend my yellow stockings of late, she
did praise my leg being cross-gartered, and in this
she manifests herself to my love and, with a kind of
injunction, drives me to these habits of her liking. I
thank my stars, I am happy. I will be strange, stout,
in yellow stockings, and cross-gartered, even with
the swiftness of putting on. Jove and my stars be
praised!

Malvolio, ACT 2, Scene 5

Olivia’s Estate

Viola/Cesario shows up at Olivia’s house and is met by Feste. They have a brief conversation and Viola realizes that she had seen Feste performing at Orsino’s house earlier. Olivia enters and declares her love for Viola/Cesario. Viola/Cesario rejects her love and leaves Olivia to plan how to win the youth over.

Sir Andrew, after spying Olivia and Cesario together, grows jealous, and again announces her plans to leave. Fabian, one of Olivia’s servants, suggests Olivia was only using Viola/Cesario to make Sir Andrew jealous. Fabian and Sir Toby encourage Sir Andrew to challenge Viola/Cesario to a duel, claiming it would impress Olivia. Maria comes and informs them that Malvolio is making himself ridiculous, doing all the things the forged letter told him to do.

Sebastian arrives in Illyria and is met by Antonia who has followed him. Sebastian wants to explore the area, but Antonia is nervous about being found. Antonia explains that she is a wanted person in Illyria because she once attacked one of Orsino’s ships. She gives Sebastian some money and leaves to find them rooms and meals at an inn.

Olivia has sent for Malvolio, who Maria warns her is acting very strangely. When he appears, he is dressed in the way the forged letters described and behaving as the letter asked. Olivia becomes concerned and tells Maria to watch after Malvolio. Maria, Sir Toby, and Fabian proceed to torment Malvolio and act as though he has been possessed.

OLIVIA Smil’st thou? I sent for thee upon a sad
occasion.

MALVOLIO Sad, lady? I could be sad. This does make
some obstruction in the blood, this cross-gartering,
but what of that? If it please the eye of one, it is
with me as the very true sonnet is: “Please one, and
please all.”

OLIVIA Why, how dost thou, man? What is the matter
with thee?

MALVOLIO Not black in my mind, though yellow in my
legs. It did come to his hands, and commands shall
be executed. I think we do know the sweet Roman
hand.

ACT 3, Scene 4

The City Street

Sir Andrew has written a letter challenging Viola/Cesario to a duel. Sir Toby takes it but decides not to pass it along to Cesario, instead telling Cesario about Sir Andrew’s challenge herself. Afterwards, Fabian speaks to Viola, making the cowardly Sir Andrew out to be a skilled and fierce fighter. Sir Toby speaks with Sir Andrew, making Cesario out to be a prodigal swordswoman. Antonia interrupts the fight, believing Viola/Cesario to be Sebastian.

Law enforcement shows up and take Antonia away, but not before she asks a confused Viola for the money she had given to Sebastian. When Viola denies knowing her, she takes it as a betrayal. Viola, however, has renewed hope that her brother may have survived the shipwreck.

The City Street

Feste mistakes Sebastian for Cesario and attempts to bring him to Olivia’s house. Sebastian also encounters Sir Andrew and Sir Toby, though proves more able to defend himself than his sister. Feste returns to report this to Olivia, who goes out herself to break up the fight. Olivia brings Sebastian back to her home, believing him to be Cesario.

Olivia’s Cellar

Feste, Maria and Sir Toby torment Malvolio, this time with Feste disguised as a priest. Malvolio initially believes that the priest has come to help him out of the dark chamber he has been locked into. Sir Toby begins to think better of continuing to torment Malvolio, as she is already in trouble with her niece Olivia. Feste speaks with Malvolio again, this time as herself, and allows Malvolio to write Olivia a letter.

Olivia’s Garden

Sebastian has been unable to find his friend Antonia. Olivia proposes to him.

This is the air; that is the glorious sun.
This pearl she gave me, I do feel ’t and see ’t.
And though ’tis wonder that enwraps me thus,
Yet ’tis not madness. Where’s Antonio, then?
I could not find him at the Elephant.
Yet there he was; and there I found this credit,
That he did range the town to seek me out.
His counsel now might do me golden service.
For though my soul disputes well with my sense
That this may be some error, but no madness,
Yet doth this accident and flood of fortune
So far exceed all instance, all discourse,
That I am ready to distrust mine eyes
And wrangle with my reason that persuades me
To any other trust but that I am mad—
Or else the lady’s mad.

Sebastian, ACT 4, Scene 3

The City Street

Orsino finally goes to Olivia’s house, and encounters Antonia and the officer. Viola/Cesario tries to defend Antonia because she came to her defense against Sir Andrew. Olivia enters. After confronting Orsino, Olivia refers to Cesario as her husband. This angers Orsino. Sir Andrew and Sir Toby enter injured and accuse Viola/Cesario of hurting them, before exiting to seek medical treatment. But all becomes clear when Sebastian enters the scene apologizing for his fight with Sir Andrew and Sir Toby. The siblings reunite.

Do I stand there? I never had a brother,
Nor can there be that deity in my nature
Of here and everywhere. I had a sister
Whom the blind waves and surges have devoured.
Of charity, what kin are you to me?
What countryman? What name? What parentage?

Sebastian, ACT 5, Scene 1

Viola reveals herself to be a woman, and Olivia realizes she’s married the wrong person. Malvolio enters and demands Olivia explain why she’s had him tormented. She discovers that Maria and Toby forged the letter, and he leaves in a rage. Orsino realizes the person he really loves is Viola, Olivia accepts that being married to Sebastian is exciting and they end happy.

Shakespeare: Collaborator & Influencer

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 21:08:21 GMT

Shakespeare: Collaborator & Influencer

By Brandon Christopher

It’s a familiar image, for sure, but it’s also wrong. That’s not to say that Shakespeare didn’t sometimes sit alone at his writing-table, staring pensively into the distance – I mean, we all do that sometimes. But this version of Shakespeare-as-genius is, at best, only a partial account of how writing for the theatre got done in Renaissance London.

First, writing was fast. Over about 23 years, give or take, Shakespeare had a hand in the writing of between 37 and 42 plays (if not more). This means that the vast majority of Shakespeare’s plays (like those of everyone else writing at the time) borrow plots, characters, words, and more, from other plays, poems, histories, prose fictions, etc. Children in Shakespeare’s time learned to write by copying writers who had come before them, and Shakespeare held onto this habit throughout his career. Love Romeo and Juliet? Maybe you should check out Arthur Brooke’s Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet, from about three decades earlier (don’t – it’s pretty terrible). Don’t give Brooke too much credit, though; his poem is a translation of an earlier version of the story by Matteo Bandello (Shakespeare borrowed from Bandello on at least 3 other occasions – for Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, and Cymbeline).

Shakespeare also collaborated explicitly with his contemporaries. Two plays regularly included in his Collected Works – The Two Noble Kinsmen and Henry VIII – were cowritten with John Fletcher (who also wrote The Tamer Tamed, a critical response to The Taming of the Shrew). Another, Cardenio, seems to have been lost. And, using a variety of approaches, from gut instinct to computer analysis, scholars have identified more than one author’s hand in at least six other plays traditionally attributed to Shakespeare alone.

Not all of these collaborations were planned, though. Because writers in Shakespeare’s time didn’t own the plays they wrote (they belonged to the theatrical companies they wrote them for), the plays were often revised – by whoever was available – to suit current trends, available actors, or different performance venues. So it is that we find the same songs in both Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Thomas Middleton’s The Witch. Both playwrights were writing for same theatrical company, the King’s Men, so it would have been simple to slip part of one play into the other, if somebody felt like Macbeth needing some livening up in the middle (or maybe somebody noticed how short Macbeth is, and was struggling to get it to the expected 2 1/2 hour runtime).

And then there are all of the other people who had a hand in bringing the play to the public, either on stage, or in the bookseller’s shop. There seems to be little doubt that actors felt free to play around with the lines they were given (just take a look at Hamlet’s complaints about actors for some examples). But printers, too, felt free to take liberties with the text when it suited them. For centuries, the last lines of Titus Andronicus were:

See Justice done on Aaron, that damn’d Moore,

From whom, our heavy happes had their beginning:

Then afterwards, to Order well the State,

That like Events, may ne’re it Ruinate.

Then, in 1904, an edition of the play was discovered that ended before these lines, causing some confusion (and some relief for those readers who thought the final lines were kind of terrible). The current theory is that the compositor, who set the movable type in the printing house, had a copy of the play with a damaged last page that seemed too short. So, instead of just setting down what he was given, he took it upon himself to add the conclusion that he apparently thought the play lacked. And so, from 1600 to 1904, this unnamed employee of James Roberts’s printshop. Was, for all intents and purposes, Shakespeare. Let’s hope, before he set out those near-immortal lines, he paused, stared wistfully into the distance, and allowed the Muse to move him to this outburst of solitary poetic genius.

2022 Newsletter

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 16:26:23 GMT

2022 Newsletter

Welcome to our 2022 Season!

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 16:21:38 GMT

This year, to celebrate our return to the Ruins for live theatre after two seasons away, SIR will offer TWO productions playing in repertory – alternating on selected dates – between June 02 and July 02: Much Ado About Nothing, directed by SIR-founder Ann Hodges, and the solo play The Player King, a “hilarious new tragedy”, written and directed by national comedy star Ron Pederson, and starring Rodrigo Beilfuss.

Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s most delightful comedies, featuring two of his best quarreling lovers, Beatrice and Benedick – who passionately quibble their way into falling madly in love in a world of misinformation, fake news and dangerous lies.

In The Player King, a travelling Shakespearean actor finds himself facing an opening night audience without his company, setting off an existential crisis of tragic proportions. Can the show go on? Should it? Compelled by the power of storytelling, he attempts to deliver a solo version of Hamlet, but something is deeply amiss as fantasy and reality start to blend in this celebration of theatrical obsessions, and the quest for the performance of a lifetime…even to the edge of doom.

Our Artistic Director, Rodrigo Beilfuss, interviewed both directors ahead of rehearsals. Read on to get a glimpse of their process as they prepare to bring these two shows to life.

Finding the Funny: an interview with Ron Pederson

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 16:18:15 GMT

Q: Ron, you’re a celebrated comedy man, from sketches on TV to improv to musicals…you have comedy in your bones. Can a text like Shakespeare’s still be funny, really funny, 4 centuries later?

A: Shakespeare is funny in so many different ways; in a way, he was an improviser, using everything in his arsenal to keep those big plays full of variety and surprise. And there are things in it that are situational and hilarious, as in the Merry Wives of Windsor, where he sets up these situations that I think still resonate: a husband in hiding from his wife, mistaken identities; those things are still being used on television and Netflix. So ultimately yes, I think he is funny. But he’s also funny in a lot of linguistic ways, with his malapropisms and inventive words and expressions that can really date over time, which can be challenging. It’s cliché to say this, but there’s something for everybody in Shakespeare. The clowns in Shakespeare are really difficult and challenging because of those old jokes, and to lift them off the page now can sometimes feel like ‘oh God here comes that 400 year old joke, here we go’. I ran into that playing Launcelot Gobbo. And on top of that, some of those jokes are just plain racist. So, the long answer is: it all really depends on who’s directing the show, and who’s acting. I think Shakespeare is funny, but it takes dedicated artists to really figure things out. You really have to know why it was funny in the first place, and you need to know what a modern audience would be hearing now.

There’s a science to it.

Q: What’s harder to do, a Shakespearean tragedy or comedy? Why?

A: Comedies are harder – whether it’s by Shakespeare or not. Comedies in general are much harder. You have to know why something is funny beforehand; you have to have a specific relationship with the audience with a lot of these comedies, and that’s where those clowns can be made or broken. There’s a science involved in comedy–not just a heart and emotion. You actually have to really consider the music of the comedy, where punchline lands, where the audience should laugh; you must consider things much more carefully–as opposed to just surrendering to it and going with your feelings.

Q: What’s your biggest pet peeve with contemporary trends in staging Shakespeare, and in particular the comedies?

A: I find that every play by Shakespeare has comedy in them, even the tragedies, otherwise it would be unbearable. Even Romeo and Juliet has a lot of comedy in it – it’s all very playful. And you have to find the playfulness inside of it all. I think that if Romeo and Juliet don’t laugh together, or at least recognize that they’re playing and playing with words, they will never fall in love. You cannot fall in love without laughing. So having to recognize the comedy, the humour, is important. I think my pet peeve is “serious directors” deciding that they know these plays, and that these are ‘serious plays’ and they must ‘be serious’ throughout…that kills the variety and the surprises, which can often cleanse our palate in a tragedy, and make them even more resonant. So yes, the dismissal of the comedy, or just under-cutting the comedy is a pet peeve of mine.

Q: What’s your favourite bit or line or joke from a Shakespearean comedy? What’s the best of his comedies, and the worst one…and why?

A: What comes to mind immediately and always makes me laugh is the play within a play in Midsummer Night’s Dream. I think it’s so earned, and you get to know those clowns, you’re dear to those characters, and it’s just so brilliantly built in that play. It’s really my favourite comedy. I also love the Taming of the Shrew; I love Petruchio’s arc, the back and forth of the comedy between him and Kate, and the comedy bits between the suitors. I think if you get the Comedy of Errors right, it is one of the funniest things in all of Shakespeare. Those Dromios have given me some of the loudest laughs. The Merchant of Venice has to be the most challenging of the comedies, particularly today. Those clowns are so racist, and so cruel; it’s just really thorny, tricky stuff to finesse.

Q: The Player King is a new play that you wrote in just 9 months and are now directing for us…that’s an incredibly quick turnaround from first idea to staging for the public…what made you say Yes and what do you hope people take from the production?

A: Well, my background is in improv, and the golden rule there is to say YES, and to go with it. I also come from Edmonton, where I lived in the golden era of the Fringe Festival, where the spirit of the thing was ‘new-plays-thrown-up-let’s-see-how-this-works-go’. That’s in my DNA. And you, Rodrigo, your “GungHo-ness” and adventurous spirit, it’s all infectious, so let’s try it! I’m that kind of artist. And this idea of a lone actor in crisis, and how the story tumbled out of that and gained momentum…it was easy to say yes. Also, Shakespeare wrote very fast, he didn’t have time to wonder all that much, he was quick. Sometimes you just gotta get things done! This play has its own momentum, and an energy that I think will feed the piece; and I’d like the audience to walk away from it having been taken through a story supernaturally. I’m really looking forward to having an audience look at this thing, and to see you, Rodrigo, playing with them. I’m just excited to have a story in front of an audience again!

Honouring Jim Gibbs

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 16:15:37 GMT

It seems like only yesterday that Jim was teasing us about not having seen the movie “To Sir, with Love”. It was a “dad-joke” that he never tired of. How could we not know that movie? It also seems like only yesterday when all of us here at SIR were stunned by the news of the sudden passing of our dear friend and most staunch supporter Mr. Jim Gibbs. Jim was involved with our organization since year one, both as a volunteer and generous donor. He saw every show and attended every fundraiser.

Though it has been a few years since Jim passed, he was such a force that his presence is still with us today at SIR through our relationship with his family. Jim’s dedication to the arts, particularly theatre in Winnipeg, was so strong that his family took up some of the mantle to continue his generous philanthropy. We continue to have a close relationship with his two brothers – whom we call and write to and sometimes road trip to visit. Having them in our lives keeps Jim alive as much for us as it does for them, we think.

And while his loss is felt every single day, we know we are not alone in missing him.

You would be hard pressed to find a theatre company in Winnipeg that did not benefit from his passionate support. From the Fringe Festival and The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre to local indie company Theatre by the River, Jim’s support was instrumental to the thriving theatre culture here in our city. And his impact was not only felt in theatre companies, but also in the teaching institutions. The green room at the new Black Theatre at the U of M campus is named The Sharon Greening Green Room–after his late wife.

“It is hard to know what to say about Jim. He was such an important, welcome and near ubiquitous presence in Winnipeg Theatre. I always looked forward to seeing Jim at a play, knowing that I was going to have a long talk, but a good long talk with someone who really cared. Even though most would have known Jim by his presence at the theatre (as I did), I didn’t come to know until later, on boards, at the U of M, how important a presence Jim was behind the scenes. His support of theatre both with extremely generous gifts and insightful feedback was critical to many. He was a person who knew how to get things done and who walked the walk in order to get them done. I would love to have another good long talk with him.”

– Bill Kerr, Department Head, Black Hole Theatre

“Jim was our first major donor and he worked with us to put a campaign together to begin an endowment fund. Jim recognized the incredible financial challenges independent companies faced without access to operational funding, and did what he could to provide a stable form of income we could use each year as a foundation. Jim loved theatre and his passion for the art form was infectious. Everytime we were frustrated, he was there to remind us of the impact of our shows and to encourage us to keep moving forward. We miss you, Jim!”

– Mel Marginet, Artistic Director, Theatre by the River

In 2008, Jim was instrumental in establishing SIR’s Endowment Fund . Growing a fund to create sustainable income for a non-profit was an idea at the cornerstone of what Jim was all about.

To honour Jim, and his memory, SIR and the Gibb’s Family have created a sub fund called The Jim Gibb’s Endowment Fund for Shakespeare in The Ruins at The Winnipeg Foundation . If you would like to join us in remembering Jim and his love for SIR, please consider a donation into this fund. For more information about donating to this fund please call the office at 204.957.1753 or donate online now .

Ann Hodges, on Shakespeare, Returning to the Ruins and Much Ado About Nothing

Sat, 23 Apr 2022 16:10:01 GMT

Ann Hodges, on Shakespeare, Returning to the Ruins and Much Ado About Nothing

Q: We are back! YOU are back! As one of the founding members of SIR, how does it feel being back after…how many years?

A: What’s so frightening about that question is that I can’t believe how many years it’s been. It’s really neat being back, and it’s lovely. When I left SIR, I kind of thought “gee will I ever direct Shakespeare again”, and to actually have the opportunity to direct Shakespeare again is great; and I love the Ruins and the visual possibilities, the ambiance out there, so much; so it’s really exciting. I did the first four productions (1994-1997), so we started with Romeo and Juliet–which we literally thought was a one-off. We had one grant, and we thought that would be something fun to do that Summer, as everyone does when you get an independent production grant, but I distinctly remember the moment–I think it was a few performances in and we had crowds coming to see the show – the moment of looking at Laura Schroeder (the other co-founder), and going ‘oh this is something that could continue, it is really taking off!’ It was super exciting for us.

Q: What are the biggest challenges, in your view, of staging a show at the Ruins? And some of the biggest pleasures?

A: They’re kind of two sides of the same coin. The Ruins themselves are so stunning, and they provide so many options and visuals, so I think one of the challenges is creating focus, making sure that you place the scenes in a situation that makes sense within this imposing beautiful structure of the Ruins. So you’ve got the beauty of being outdoors, and the beauty of being within this gorgeous outdoor structure. And all that provides huge challenges, because you have the weather, the wind, you have the…I mean there wasn’t a golf course when I was at SIR (laughs), but now there is a golf course next door! So you have all of these outside influences that can distract us. I remember feeling a little bit like a farmer in the early days, because we began to get really good at reading weather reports and the clouds!

Q: Let’s turn our attention to the show you’re directing, Much Ado About Nothing…how do you think this delightful comedy will resonate with people at this tricky time of uncertainty and fear?

A: We like to think that the Arts have meaning, and impact, and given what’s been going on in the world in the last two years, you think ‘what on earth can we say or do that is going to provide any information or comfort or solace to our audiences’–and of course, doing a comedy is always delightful. But the more that I’ve been digging into this play, the more I feel this is the perfect comedy to be doing right now, because it’s all about misinformation and disinformation–misinformation is obviously incorrect; it’s like that game of telephone where I say this or that to someone, and then someone else makes a mistake along the way while passing the information on, and then someone else makes another mistake, and by the time it reaches the end of the line the information is completely warped and distorted. But disinformation is purposeful, deliberately twisted, with the intent to harm and to create chaos. We have examples of both in the play, which is all about gossip and the dangers of the manipulation of information. This is a great comedy that I hope will provide joy and entertainment, but it also carries this exploration of the dangers of purposefully spreading inaccurate information with the intent to cause harm to each other.

Q: How do you make sure that Shakespeare remains alive and vibrant in today’s scene?

A: Any great playwright is writing about the human condition, and I think that to keep Shakespeare alive we have to go deeper, and to remind ourselves about all of humanity – and unlike what happened in Shakespeare’s time, we must include humans who don’t look like William Shakespeare, and include women of course. And we have to be a little less precious about being completely rigid to ideas about “what Shakespeare wanted”–how the heck do we know what Shakespeare wanted? To me, what’s really important is to question every single choice that we’re making, and to explore how the stories shift over time and what they tell us about the complexity of the whole of the human condition. With SIR, that has been the case since the very beginning, when we wanted to produce a Romeo and Juliet that didn’t have any velvet in it! I hope to continue that with Much Ado–this isn’t going to be “Elizabethan gowns”; we want the freedom of really looking at this story and seeing what it has to say about our world now.

Q: And finally: give us a fond memory from the early days of SIR!

A: I have lots of fun memories, like throwing fire balls around the park while staging a big battle sequence in Macbeth so that it looked like there was a huge army running around. But I think the excitement of using the Ruins in different ways, and the fact that every individual member of the audience gets to choose how they’re going to watch the show–because it’s promenade and they move from location to location – is very special. The individual within the collective is actively watching the show from their unique perspective, and I think that is a really precious thing about SIR, really sacred.

Writing History: The Dark Lady

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 18:43:53 GMT

I was maybe six or seven when I fell in love with Shakespeare. Repercussion Theatre, our Montrealer’s version of SIR, would put on plays every summer in the park behind my house. I’d show up an hour early with my parents, equipped with a thick blanket and snacks, eager to secure my front row seat. I’d marvel at the preshow rituals, watching as actors and technicians set up. There was something so special about that liminal state of pre-show, intermission and post-show: the behind the scenes, the in betweens, where it seemed the magic seeped off the stage and poured into the real world. I was always so certain I’d encounter a fairy in the park on my walk home, or I’d feel every tree becoming Birnam wood and suddenly took off in a sprint to get home faster.

All that to say, yeah, I’ve been a Shakespeare nut since childhood.

I gave myself the challenge of reading all his Sonnets last winter in preparation for rehearsal for a play at the Stratford Festival. When I arrived at the Dark Lady sonnets, I suddenly realized how one-sided his portrayal of this woman truly was. How blinded by jealousy he was. How violent some of those poems actually are. It was a whole other side of Shakespeare we never really talk about. How strange and petty it is to write such brilliantly rhyming hate poetry. Who hurt you Bill? What was the relationship like before all the pain? What’s HER side of the story? You went on to become The Bard but no one knows who she is!

I went on an exoneration quest. I did some research on Emilia Bassano, she’s said to be the closest contender for the “Dark Lady.”She came from a family of talented musicians. She was Italian, Jewish, possibly of North African descent… It was all fascinating. But it wasn’t until I read her poetry (because yes, she wrote too) that the floor caved out from under me.

She was the first Englishwoman to publish her work as a professional poet. Her book of poems is filled with letters of appeal to powerful women. She wanted to create a community of women patrons, supporters and readers, at a time when such a concept didn’t even exist.

I’ve spent the pandemic falling in love with Bassano and what she was desperately trying to do. And my curiosity about her has been a catalyst towards wanting to unearth all women who’ve been lost to the dark. Strong, opinionated, pioneering women have been silenced and hidden throughout history. We now have a brilliant opportunity to pull them out of the dark and give them the acknowledgement and place the’ve always deserved. I’m hoping both The Dark Lady and this series of webinars can help do just that.

by Jessica B. Hill, Playwright

SIR plans to produce The Dark Lady as part of our 2022 season. Please visit our website and check out the webinar series ‘Expanding the Canon,’ also created by Jessica.

Next Question with SIR’s Volunteers: The Page Family

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 18:48:44 GMT

Q: WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT VOLUNTEERING FOR SIR?

Rory: getting to see the ruins, and helping set up the chairs.

Kiara: seeing the actors after the show and being able to talk to them!

Luca: helping others get to see the show.

Don: seeing a different take on favourites like Hamlet.

Nicole: love seeing how the play is adapted to work within the ruins setting, as well as some modern twists (like the chess game instead of the full fight scene!)

Q: WHAT KEEPS YOU COMING BACK?

Rory: to be in the ruins!

Kiara: to see the next show! It’s fun!

Luca: to help more, and see what the next show is like!

Nicole: every play is so different, I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

Don: see the next spin on other classics.

Q: TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE VOLUNTEERING AS A FAMILY.

Luca: getting to experience the art of Shakespeare with your family.

Don: sharing your favorite plays with your children.

Nicole: Hamlet has always been one of my favourite plays, and (while I meant to wait until they were older for that one), it was really awesome getting to see their first watch of the play, and fall in love with it too!

Q: AS A PARENT, WHY IS VOLUNTEERING AT SIR A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE FOR YOUR KIDS?

Don: inspiring kids in the theatre and dramatic arts! Exposing them to the passion and excitement of Shakespeare.

Nicole: volunteering is such an amazing experience for anyone, especially kids. It really teaches helping others and being kind. The fact that volunteering here also exposes them to the beauty of Shakespeare’s plays in such an amazing setting is such an awesome bonus!

Expanding the Canon

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 18:47:21 GMT

The first TWO episodes of our new webinar series are out!

In these two sets of conversations (and there are more episodes coming!), Stratford actor-playwright Jessica B. Hill and our Artistic Director, Rodrigo Beilfuss, discuss the urgent theatrical need to expand our sense of what constitutes the ‘Classical Canon’ in the 21st century.

In the first episode, Jessica introduces us to the world of her new play, ‘ The Dark Lady ’, which explores the relationship between poetess Emilia Bassano and William Shakespeare.

‘The Dark Lady’ is currently being developed by SIR with support from Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, the Manitoba Association of Playwrights and the Stratford Festival.

In the second episode, Jessica and Rodrigo are joined by Guatemalan-Canadian actor Alexandra Lainfiesta, in a delightful exploration of the adventurous times and profound works of Ana Caro and Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz , in the context of the fascinating theatrical period known as the Spanish Golden Age .

You can watch the first episode for FREE here: YouTube

You can watch the second episode for FREE here: YouTube

Consider a donation in support of this great series !

Thank you, and enjoy!

Q & A With the Macbeths!

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 17:28:36 GMT

Meet the starts of our upcoming film: Ray Strachan and Julie Lumsden.

Q: Let’s start with the biggie: in your view, are the Macbeths a happily married couple? Why or why not?!

A-Ray: Yes, I think before their downfall they are very much in love. It’s not until their plan goes awry, where their love is strained and starts to fall apart.

A-Julie: I think our beloved Mrs and Mr Mackers are perfectly suited for each other. Does that mean that they are happily married? Maybe not. But they are two halves of the same ambitious pie.

Q: Often, it’s been said that Lady M “pushes” Macbeth into action…but let’s be honest, he is not without agency or self-control. Who really is to blame for Duncan’s murder, and what unfolds thereafter?

A-Ray: Both. I think both are obsessed with power and glory.

A-Julie: Hmmm. I think like a good divorce, the blame for Duncan’s murder is split 50/50 between these lovers. Lady M is acting in Macbeth’s best interest, knowing all they can gain if they get rid of this obstacle. Who knows if she would have done the deed had he not had the courage? It wouldn’t have happened without her, that I know for sure.

Q: Do you think the Macbeths had children? The text seems to allude that Lady M has cared for a baby…

A-Ray: I think they did have a child that didn’t survive. It’s something that’s still a sore spot for the two, and somewhat of an embarrassment.

A-Julie: This is highly contested, argued and played out in different ways in performance. For me, our Lady M has experienced a lot of loss in her life. She knows the deep well of pain that is possible in a human lifetime. Has she lost a baby? Was she a wet nurse? Was she married before and lost her husband? Is she infertile? The answer to that may need to be my little secret. But I do know that she has experienced deep grief, making the decision to act upon her ambition even more vital.

Q: Let’s say the witches never show up, and no prophesy about Macbeth becoming the King is ever revealed, what do you think happens to the couple?

A-Ray: I still think they find themselves in trouble. I think them not having a child leaves them empty, and unaccomplished, leaving them hungry to fill that void. I don’t know if their goals would be as lofty without the prophecy, but there’s a deep seeded unhappiness that the Macbeths need to address.

A-Julie: Oooh! If I could write this script, it would include Mackers and Lady M becoming very wealthy, possibly becoming the first ever millionaires of a multi-level marketing scheme? Something sinfully successful that preys on the easily manipulated. With Lady M in glorious gowns with lots of ladies in waiting. Something like that.

Q: Funnily enough, while we were filming our own black-and-white cinematic version of Macbeth, one of the Coen brothers announced they too were wrapping production on their own black-and-white screen adaptation, starring Denzel Washington in the title role. What are your thoughts on the importance of IBPOC artists tackling and reinterpreting the big classics, and what are your dreams and hopes for Shakespeare in performance in the 21st century?

A-Ray: I hope that more Shakespearean works are filtered through the lens of diverse experiences and perspectives. Not only will that help keep The Bard relevant, but it will make his works more accessible for many more people.

A-Julie: What is so exciting about our production of Macbeth, I think, is that we can stand fully in our humanity in these roles. From day one that was encouraged by the whole team. These roles have been interpreted every way from Sunday, and to be able to take these words from these characters, means something different in our bodies. What does it mean when these words are said by a Metis woman? How does that affect the way we interpret those words? It adds a new dimension to these classics when we can meet them with our full selves, when we are not just playing the “classic” Lady M.

My dream for Shakespeare in performance from this point on, is that no one ever thinks “I can’t play that role” or “I’m too….. for Juliet”, or “Helena wouldn’t be….”. Shakespeare’s plays have stood the test of time because these stories are HUMAN. These stories do themselves a disservice when they are not portrayed with plurality, on every level. On stage, back stage and in the audience.

One Year Later…

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 17:27:15 GMT

SHAKESPEARE IN STONY MOUNTAIN brings the Bard into the classroom at Stony Mountain Institution, the oldest federal prison in Canada, where participants explore the themes in Shakespeare’s most famous plays through discussion and performance. It is a powerful program aimed at helping participants to build self-confidence and the capacity for self-discovery through exposure to arts education. All who complete the course receive a Grade 10 drama credit towards their high school diploma.

In January of 2021, the Institution was hit by the largest COVID-19 outbreak in a federal prison in Canada. 2020 was our sixth year running the Shakespeare program at Stony. Sadly, our time there was cut short by the pandemic. Here’s an update from Claire Thérèse Friesen, our Shakespeare in Stony program director:

“A wretched soul, bruised with adversity, We bid be quiet when we hear it cry; But were we burdened with like weight of pain, As much or more we should ourselves complain.” The Comedy of Errors –William Shakespeare

March 17, 2020: We finish reading the last scenes of Macbeth, as the sun goes down over Stony Mountain Institution. One week later we go into lockdown across the world.

One year later we are still unable to gather. One year later there are still no visitations for those incarcerated; not even from their mothers and lovers and babies and friends. No phone calls. No ability to see those faces, even virtually. Those who were isolated go deeper into isolation. Those walls built to keep in grow higher to keep out.

One year later, I stare at a blank page unable to think about before; unable to imagine what comes next. A year of innovation and adapting, yet those walls are still concrete.

I often wonder “how does this program affect one’s health?” Over the years I have observed the connection between the Shakespeare program and literacy outcomes; observing participants as they build critical thinking skills; as they approach the text with confidence; as they analyse the script using resources and problem-solving.

We are able to understand ourselves in relation to characters that are 450 years old – which is quite magical. We are able to see ourselves as creative beings instead of the labels that have been prescribed to us by society.

That group dynamic, and that support and belonging that we provide for one another– the community that we build over the course of a number of weeks–that, for me, is an indicator of health.

This program means a great deal to me, and to Shakespeare in the Ruins. The success rate and the intrinsic value of this initiative are beyond measurable.

by Claire Thérèse Friesen

The Winter’s Tale: Lifting the Anchor!

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 17:25:42 GMT

As I set my mind back two decades, I’m on a sailboat off the coast of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef about to drop over the side and scuba dive.

There were about 30 divers on the boat from all over the world. For four days we bob up and down in the endless ocean with no land in sight. Our days were spent 30 metres below the surface of the sea. In the evening, we socialize.

What does this have to do with a bilingual production of The Winter’s Tale? Well it is simple.

I had been drawn into many conversations on the boat, but eventually you will always find your people and my goto person to hang with was Max. Max was from Germany. He was an actor, mostly television. But one day, I asked if he ever did any theatre? He told me he was a Shakespearean actor on the side.

“On the side.” I loved that.

Max mentioned that on returning to Germany he would be starting rehearsal on Macbeth and that the production was heading to a Shakespeare festival in Japan. The Scottish play in German, playing to a Japanese audience. It’s a big world out there!

I remember thinking, here is something I would love to tackle one day. At that time, I hadn’t directed anything yet. I knew it would have to wait til I had honed my story-telling chops. And this brings me to this point.

With every artistic project there are risks and certainly I am very aware that a bilingual Winter’s Tale is going to take me outside of my comfort zone. But one should do something you fear every day…so let’s pull up the anchor and set sail!

2021 Newsletter

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 18:50:52 GMT

2021 Newsletter

2019 Newsletter

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 19:10:03 GMT

2019 Newsletter

Next Question with Keith Cadieux

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 19:08:13 GMT

Artistic Director Michelle sits down with newest staff member

Q: What is your background?
A: I have a masters in Creative Writing from the University of Manitoba.

Q: Have you ever been published?
A: Yes, I have a novella titled Gaze which has been published and I also edited a horror anthology called The Shadow over Portage & Main.

Q: What compelled you to apply for the Assistant GM job?
A: I had one part time job in another arts organization and need a second one. I wanted to stay in the arts sector and the job at SIR seemed like it would be interesting. As I already knew all the office stuff it was a good fit.

Q: Have you ever tread the boards?
A: (laughs) Does that mean to perform? Well no. But I was in a couple of bands; Blown Up Friend and Face Your Destroyer so I think that counts.
I would describe them as alternative prog- metal*. (Michelle has no clue what this is….she first wrote it down as Prague-metal)

Q: What is your favourite Shakespeare play?
A: I love Merchant of Venice because it is grim and has one of the best speeches in “hath not a Jew hands”

Q: Describe Artistic Director Michelle Boulet in one sentence.
A: She always enters and leaves the room in a flurry but she totally gets things done.

Q: Describe General Manager Lisa.
A: She is the organizer of all the flurry.

Q: You have now been here just over a year. What have you learned?
A: I have learned what ‘tread the boards’ mean….also just how much effort it takes to put on an SIR show.

Q: What is your favourite thing about SIR?
A: The people! (Michelle gives an aww shucks)

* a fusion genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock that combines the loud “aggression” and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral or “pseudo-classical” compositions of the latter.

Keith’s position made possible through funding from The Winnipeg Foundation

Bard on the Beach Raffle

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 19:06:36 GMT

Following the success of our Stratford raffle last year, we decided that we would send two lucky SIR supporters to Vancouver this summer to take in Bard on the Beach. Thank you so much for everyone who purchased a ticket and we hope you do so again. Proceeds go towards our outreach programming. Help us share our passion for Shakespeare widely.

Prize: Trip for two to Bard on the Beach in Vancouver, British Columbia!

Prize includes:

Round trip airfare for two
Three nights accommodation
Three pairs of tickets to 2019 Bard on the Beach productions
$500 spending money
four day car rental
The draw will take place on Saturday, June 22nd, 2019 during the intermission of Hamlet at the Trappist Monastery Provincial Heritage park. Winner does not have to be present at the draw to win. Trip must be booked before September 1st, 2019.

Raffle tickets $25

contact admin@sirmb.ca or

call 204.957.1753 for tickets.

A Big SIR Welcome to Our Newest Sponsor

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 19:05:50 GMT

“Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?”–Sir Toby Belch. Twelfth Night

We’d like to give a big SIR welcome to our newest sponsor Little Brown Jug! We’re thrilled to have them on board as our Official 2019 Beer Sponsor.

What you may not know is that SIR, LBJ and Shakespeare have a connection going back over 20 years. SIR General Manager Lisa Nelson-Fries and LBJ owner and founder Kevin Selch were friends in high school. They played Viola and Orsino in Westwood Collegiate’s 1997 production of Twelfth Night. Included is a photo of them from that production.

Since opening in 2016 Little Brown Jug has been a faithful ally of the arts in Winnipeg supporting a wide variety of events and organizations both large and small. SIR is proud to be part of that list.

Shakespeare at the Mountain

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 19:04:10 GMT

Some sessions are easier than others. Sometimes everything runs smoothly. We come, we laugh, we play, we explore. And sometimes it feels hard. Class after class cancelled due to lockdowns. Having to advocate for the smallest things, like a pot of coffee for break time. Sometimes I am so aware that I get older, and they stay the same age. Young men – most of whom have already spent the majority of their lives on the inside, locked up, away from their mothers and sisters and children and partners. There are days I want to cradle their bruised faces in my hands and ask “Who did this to you?”

But we go forth. We come together in spite of the obstacles. We build new relationships within a static and cold structure. We find a way to identify ourselves differently – as artists, as creative beings, as peers, part of a team.

This year we focused on Julius Caesar – a request from a previous participant who has since been released after serving a life sentence. Seven guys completed the program. One was thrown in the hole the morning of the performance. The other six presented a monologue in front of ensemble members and staff from SIR, their teachers, parole officers, and the warden and assistant warden. Two of the participants will be released within the week.

And in the spring we will begin again – renewed by the possibility of laughter, and play, and exploration, and connection – forever grateful for the opportunity to expand these prison walls.

Macbeth Muet!!!

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 19:03:15 GMT

Why we donate…

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 19:02:16 GMT

Why we donate…Maggie Nagle’s show-stealing nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Derek Aasland’s Puck dropping out of a tree before our eyes, Megan McArton’s Prospero conjuring up the Great Globe by glimmering firelight, Graham Ashmore’s world-weary Jacques (all the better for the tights), Stephen McIntyre’s cowboy Petruchio, Cory Wojick’s Bottom and his endless death scene, Sarah Constable’s raging Timon: we’ll stop here, but, like Bottom’s Dream, our list of the unforgettable performances we have witnessed at Shakespeare in the Ruins “hath no bottom.” We are eternally grateful to have been granted the opportunity to share in these moments. We also know that artists – those who perform and those who work behind the scenes – are the real patrons of the arts. The donations we have made over the years to SIR amount to a small payment to a debt that can never be fully redeemed.

Doug Smith and Sandra Hardy

SIR is looking for volunteers

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 19:01:18 GMT

SIR is looking for volunteers to join us out at the Ruins to help make sure that all of this year’s performances run smoothly. We need volunteers for all preview and full performances from May 21 to the June 22, 2019.

There is a volunteer job for every taste! We need ushers (and remember, we do have the new chair cart and a second one will be joining our brigade soon), merchandise sales people, box office helpers, bar assistants, and especially parking lot attendants (a great way to catch up on some summer reading or just enjoy an afternoon or evening outside).

With weekend matinees, evening shows, and school previews we have possibilities for every schedule! Bring a friend, a family member, a fellow theatre lover, or even a date! Get fresh air, exercise, and help us create a unique and positive outdoor theatre experience for our audiences. And of course, volunteers get to see the show for free.

To sign up and get first dibs on the dates and times of your choice
Email: sir.housemanager@gmail.com, admin@sirmb.ca, or call 204.957.1753.

Thank you Michelle!

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 19:00:24 GMT

by Debbie Patterson

While we are so thrilled to welcome Rodrigo Beilfuss as our new Artistic Director, it means saying farewell to Michelle Boulet. Michelle has helmed the company for 12 years through thick and thin, outlasting two co-artistic directors (Kevin Klassen and Andrew Cecon) and three general managers (Laura Neufeld, Russell Martin and Matt Moreau). Her tenure in the office has been marked most significantly by our return home to the ruins, where we are so happy to be.

The growth in the company over this time has been outstripped by her own personal growth as an artist. Her time as an assistant director at Bard on the Beach in Vancouver in 2014 as well as her time in the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction at the Stratford Festival have expanded her vision as an artist and her capacity as a director. We are so grateful for all you’ve done for Shakespeare in the Ruins and we wish you all the best in all your future endeavours.

David Latham Workshop

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 18:59:21 GMT

Winnipeg actors with Stratford coach and director David Latham, who was in town last September to conduct a workshop presented by SIR, zone41 and the Keep Theatre. Latham is a legendary theatre master with over 30 years of experience in the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. A truly remarkable professional development experience for the Winnipeg theatre community.

Shakespeare in the Ruins’ New Artistic Director

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 18:58:05 GMT

by Christopher Brauer

Following a nation-wide search, SIR is thrilled to welcome veteran SIR performer Rodrigo Beilfuss to take the helm as Artistic Director of Shakespeare in the Ruins!

Rodrigo trained as an actor at the University of Winnipeg and then did a Masters in Classical acting at LAMDA in the UK. He established himself as a skilled and adventurous performer and director here in Winnipeg, and then left our icy fields to first train and then perform for several seasons at the Stratford Festival in Ontario.

With a background in the local community and with connections that reach across Canada, to the UK and to Brazil — where he was born — Rodrigo is the perfect person to lead SIR into the future as we continue to bring Shakespeare’s incredible plays to an increasingly multicultural and metropolitan city.

And we shouldn’t just mention Rodrigo – he’s bringing with him his wife, Interior Designer Liz Holl and his beautiful three year old Zeke!

Rodrigo’s energy, his vision for SIR’s future, his skills as a director, actor, and educator, and his passion for Shakespeare’s work guarantee that he will be a truly exciting new leader for our intrepid band of warriors for art. So, “beat loud the tambourines, let the trumpets blow, that this great soldier may his welcome know!”

The Play is the Thing

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 18:55:57 GMT

by Rodrigo Beilfuss

When I first read Hamlet in high-school, it quite fundamentally changed my life.

The story of a brooding, brilliant punster of a young man who couldn’t think his way out of the pain of existence intoxicated me – and it continues to intoxicate me well into adulthood.

Living is essentially a constant exercise in running away from pain, and no other play encapsulates that struggle more deeply than Hamlet.

This chance to discover it afresh with SIR this Spring is tremendously exciting. On a personal note, I am looking forward to returning to the ruins, where I last played Angelo in the 2014 production of The Comedy of Errors. The ruins are a magical place, and SIR is the magical company responsible for kick-starting my career: they took a leap of faith and hired me straight out of university to play Bassanio in the 2007 production of The Merchant of Venice. If Hamlet changed my life by igniting my dream of becoming an actor, it was SIR who were responsible for making that dream come true.

Additionally, I am looking forward to tackling the play as a director, having played Hamlet in 2015 in an independent production – my last Shakespeare show in Winnipeg before relocating to Ontario to join the Stratford Festival, where I have been for four seasons. That Hamlet was directed by SIR’s Sarah Constible, and the cast featured two other SIR luminaries: Michelle Boulet and Andrew Cecon.

As you can tell, we are putting the band back together. As Hamlet would say, “there is a divinity that shapes our ends…”

For theatre makers, beginning work on the play can often feel like entering that gigantic warehouse at the end of Indiana Jones & the Raiders of the Lost Ark: there are shelves and shelves of old, famous productions, but eventually you get to the very back of the building, and what you find is a dusty script all by itself – “Hamlet” – and you go “ok how about we start with THIS”.

For SIR’s Hamlet, I’d like to strip away from the play its weighty literary inheritance, and aim to return it to being sheet music for actors to act. Moreover, we will have a woman play the title role. It is my firm belief that a classical company that isn’t alive to the present has no business in making the past live.

And the present says that the future is female.

2018 Newsletter

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:30:59 GMT

2018 Newsletter

If Loving The Bard is Wrong, I Don’t Wanna be Right…

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:28:08 GMT

by Pamela Lockman

I was around nine or ten years old when I first met The Bard. It was on a class trip from my small-town school on Long Island in New York. We went to nearby Hofstra University for their annual Shakespeare Festival. We went every year from about grade six through junior high, and even some years during high school. I had never read Shakespeare before my first theatre experience, and in some of those early years, we never read the play in class. But we went anyway.

What I remember well is, first, absolutely loving the whole theatre experience. It was, as they say, “magical.” And I remember that experience of hearing the words, but not totally understanding what was being said. That never actually bothered me, because I still knew what was going on. Maybe not all the nuances, but the big ideas and feelings. Especially the feelings. Mistaken identities, a man turning into an ass, and a great variety of physical pranks were always funny. Raging storms with flashing lights and metal sheet thunder were always frightening. Family and friends backstabbing each other by consorting with the enemy or by cheating with another’s lover were always hurtful. The weddings of well matched couples were always joyous. The deaths of star-crossed lovers were always tragic. And the class discussions afterward were always terrific.

I was so well primed because of my early Shakespearean theatre experiences that I loved him before I read a word!

We are so lucky in Winnipeg to have Shakespeare In The Ruins, our own local Shakespeare company. And although they have a fantastic education component that allows students in Winnipeg and around Manitoba to have these amazing theatrical experiences every year, not all classes attend. This year’s spring production is Timon of Athens, a play that I have only just recently read for the first time. I have no doubt that audiences will find much to relate to and discuss, even if they do not read the play first. Who has never experienced at least some level of disappointment at being let down by a trusted friend or family member? Or, although we hate to admit it, who has never talked behind someone’s back and, perhaps, chuckled at their expense? There is, of course, more to it, and I have no doubt that audience members, including young people, will find the play quite compelling and have lots to say about it afterwards.

My first experiences with Shakespeare were, well, let’s just say a few decades ago, but they are what I still remember most about those early school years. I am grateful to all of my teachers who loved The Bard back then, and to my parents who supported them. Share him with your children, students, and friends this spring, and they will thank you!

COMP Tickets!

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:26:58 GMT

Cast your mind back…all the way back to year one. It was 1994 and the show was Romeo & Juliet. It was our first time presenting what is now our signature promenade-style theatre. Looking at the photo we realize we owe you all an apology for making you stand. Hopefully you gave us a second chance to put your comfort and safety first and that first SIR show was not your last SIR show. But we are going to seize the opportunity to make it up to you. Anyone out there who can identify themselves in this photo need only contact the office (204.957.1753), provide photo ID and we shall offer you two complimentary tickets to our 25th anniversary production of Timon of Athens.

These memories were sent in by our stalwart volunteers

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:25:26 GMT

Richard III, 1999. The final battle scene raging on the slope down to the La Salle River. In the background, dark clouds, lightning, and the sound of thunder.

–Patrick Wright

My first SIR show was The Tempest, and the weather was beyond chilly… but Michelle made her entrance swimming up the river (maybe there was another ship-wrecked sailor with her?). My first exposure to SIR told me much about dedication to the craft.

–Barb James

Jim Gibbs: Our Champion 1946 – 2017

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:23:41 GMT

Jim Gibbs was one of the Winnipeg theatre scenes’ unsung heroes. Whether I knew it or not, my entire theatre career has been touched by Jim and his generosity. His support and donations to every professional theatre company in Winnipeg has helped keep them afloat; making it possible for people like me to have an incredible career and make a living wage in this city. It wasn’t until I became the General Manager for SIR that I had the great privilege of meeting Jim. He quickly became a mentor and a trusted ally as I got to know him personally over the last three years. Jim and I attended almost every RMTC opening together, went on coffee “dates” often and talked on the phone every week. He cared deeply about artists and did whatever he could to contribute to our success – whether through donations or brainstorming ideas for the future.

My heart aches as I write this. I could have never imagined that Jim would have touched my life as profoundly as he did in such a short time. He has touched so many lives in this city – lives of people, who like me in my earlier years may never know his name. Jim’s generosity, involvement, care and steadfast dedication to the Winnipeg theatre community will be greatly missed.

Lisa Nelson-Fries

SIR Endowment

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:22:30 GMT

We chose to give to the Shakespeare in the Ruins (SIR) endowment fund for several reasons. The foremost is that we met and enjoyed the original complement of SIR theatre neophytes. They were mostly young, just out of university, friends and acquaintances. A mix of characters, if you will, who blended well together to become a cast and crew. We loved them and still do.

Individually, and as a group, they have progressed so very far from this mix, that we’d hope to see future groups of fits and misfits advance careers along the same path – even as they have – to actors, producers, comedians, writers, and directors. We like to compare them to the “Kids From Flushing” becoming the New York Mets.

Having slept through most of Shakespeare in high school because of utter boredom, SIR has been able to make us appreciate, love and most of all UNDERSTAND the Bard. I gave to the endowment fund to pay forward my experience to future generations.

Bob & Pat Migliore

Shakespeare at the Mountain

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:21:11 GMT

Claire Friesen/Shakespeare in Stony Mountain/Program Director

This week we wrapped up our fourth Shakespeare in Stony Mountain program. Our tradition on the last class is to pick a movie, order food from the prison kitchen, and just be together in a room celebrating the hard work of the participants. I am always struck by how different the group interacts in this last session, compared to where we started months prior. There is a relaxed energy, a familiarity between us, small acts of kindness and generosity, and laughter. Lots of laughter.

Many of the staff at Stony have commented on the uniqueness of this program – for reasons such as laughter. I have a lot of autonomy within the prison walls because I act as an outside facilitator, not hired by the institution itself. This allows us to talk, explore, play, and debate about a wide variety of things. We get to use Shakespeare’s text as a spring board to discuss broader social issues and personal lived experience. We get to create an environment where we define ourselves as creative beings.

This year we performed monologues from Othello to a small, but wonderfully supportive audience made up of members of SIR and the board, parole officers, and teachers. My favourite part of the afternoon was sitting in a circle introducing ourselves to one another. Shawn, a student who started working on his grade 10 drama credits with me, and has just completed his grade 12, started off the introduction with an eloquent and concise description of his love for Shakespeare. He described seeing himself in the characters – the choices they make, the hurts they feel, the fact that “someone else is always out to get your spot” – and that relatability has helped him explore what really drives human behaviour.

In his evaluation of the program, Shawn wrote, “Had I learned Shakespeare earlier on in my life, my life would be a lot different.” He is up for parole this summer, and is determined to teach Shakespeare to his son.

SIR MERCH

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:19:35 GMT

For Sale at Timon of Athens in June

Peggers at Stratford

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:17:28 GMT

Left to right: Krista Jackson, Joseph Abetria, SIR Artistic Director Michelle Boulet, Omar Alex Khan, Sharon Bajer, Rodrigo Beilfuss, and Rylan Wilkie

The photograph above is from the opening night of the 2017 flagship Stratford Festival production of Twelfth Night and how amazing was it to have so many Winnipeggers in attendance. Joseph, Rod, Rylan, Omar, and Michelle were all there as part of the 2017 season while Krista and Sharon are alumni of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction. We would be remiss if we didn’t send out a big shout-out to the Stratford Festival; our benevolent older cousin for coming on board to help SIR celebrate its 25th Anniversary. By donating to the “win a trip to Stratford’ raffle they have helped us provide an opportunity for one lucky pair to find out what everyone in this photo already knows…Stratford is an amazing theatre town and if you have not been you should definitely make the trip!

2017 Newsletter

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 19:46:49 GMT

2017 Newsletter

SIR Endowment

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 19:44:11 GMT

This past season to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare we ran a Endowment campaign with the goal of raising $4,000.

We are thrilled to report that we exceeded our goal by $200!

And even more exciting is that this amount was matched by a private donor which in turn was also partly matched by the Winnipeg Foundation. In turn, that amount was submitted as part of a Canadian Heritage Grant matching endowment program and could potentially (we will learn in March) be matched dollar for dollar. What does all this mean?

Well our campaign to raise $4000 could turn into $19,000!

The interest from this fund goes toward our operating budget and allows us to do what we do. So for everyone who gave please know that you have made a huge impact: from all the inner city students you help us reach, to the inmates at Stony Mountain, to the loyal and hardy promenaders at our spring productions, and finally the tens upon tens of thousands of high school students who have been fortunate to experience live Shakespearean theatre either through our MainStage school matinees or our provincial fall tour…it would not be possible without you.

Our heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you who gave the gift that will keep on giving. Your passionate support ensures that we will continue to celebrate the Bard’s work for the next four centuries.

Donate now.

MY TIME AS SIR INTERN

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 19:42:38 GMT

Left: Nick in Stripped-Down Romeo & Juliet.

By Nick Petuhoff

During the summer of 2015, I received a call asking me if I was interested in interning with SIR as part of ACI Manitoba’s Youth Internship Program. I was ecstatic at having this opportunity to work with Andrew, Michelle, and Lisa, quickly accepting the proposal before I completely understood what I was getting myself into.

I was interested in learning about Theatre Administration during my internship with SIR. I reasoned that I knew nothing about the subject and I wanted to understand how the daily business of running a theatre company was conducted. Starting in late August, I was usually coming in twice a week, sometimes more, to help out Lisa at the office as she exposed me to the incredibly demanding workload expected of a General Manager. Andrew and Michelle taught me about their equally important duties as Artistic Directors.

In October, I had the opportunity to be mentored by Andrew and Michelle when I was acting in SIR’s Stripped-Down Romeo & Juliet. The two of them taught me much about acting, touring, and the “dessert first” tradition, which I still implement whenever I am touring. Following the tour, I was the main organizer for SIR’s highly successful “Bard on the Beats”, which was an event that showcased the musical talents of Winnipeg artists and the timelessness of Shakespeare’s work.

When the internship came to an end last April, I continued working with the SIR team on Richard III as the Volunteer Coordinator and House Manager at the Ruins.

All of these experiences culminated into an amazing journey which has expedited my theatre career beyond my wildest dreams. When I was in university, I was preparing myself to spend at least a year trying to make my break into the Winnipeg theatre scene, but with this internship, I found myself working in professional theatre while I was still finishing my degree. The Youth Mentorship Program has given me much, but the most valuable gift it has given me was the gift of family by becoming a part of SIR. I was able to meet the Board, the Ensemble, several of our Volunteers, and the three very hard-working individuals in the office. Whenever I came into work, I was always greeted with a smile from Andrew, Lisa, and Michelle. There was always time in the workday to chat, discuss personal interests outside of the workplace, and get to know each other in a meaningful and deeply familial level. To this day, Lisa is still my sister, Andrew my brother, and Michelle my “Mama Bear”. I love them all for all their guidance and everlasting friendship.

Seatless in St. Norbert!

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 19:41:26 GMT

SIR General Manager, Lisa Nelson-Fries, test-drives the Larry

Introducing the Larry Chair

As I write to you today the snow is knee-deep in ‘The Ruins’, but the promise of the coming spring means that before long, our thoughts will turn to love. I know you share our excitement in that the 2017 Shakespeare in the Ruins’ production is Romeo & Juliet, perhaps the greatest love story ever told.

As always, our promise to you is to present the unique ‘Ruins’ experience that is the hallmark of our annual celebration of the Bard’s work since our first production in 1996. Unfortunately, unlike the immortal words of Shakespeare not all things may persist. And so it is with our complimentary seating.

We have had our current chairs since we did the “rooftop” Romeo & Juliet in 2002 and we have used them every year since. They travelled with us the next season to Gaboury-Lagdimodiere Park in St. Boniface, then onward to the Assiniboine Park for seven years before finally returning triumphantly with us to the Ruins in 2012. For fifteen years they have served us well but since your comfort and safety mean everything to us they must go.

Since is it through the generosity of our amazing donors that we were in a position to purchase chairs the first time around, we ask that you make a donation to help us purchase our new chairs. Our old chairs are literally coming apart at the seams and new ones are needed by June 1st (opening night). We are committed to not repeat history by returning to watching “old school”. For those of you who don’t know what that is, well, back in the day instead of handing out chairs we handed out carpet bits; discarded sample squares you get at carpet retailers. Not exactly the promenade experience we want for you…our loyal audience.

So for the sake your comfort, and for the sake of the show; a shared exchange between audience and actors unlike any other theatre experience in Manitoba, I am asking that you make a donation. The tear-away donation slip in this newsletter has all the details. In recognition of your contribution you will be acknowledged in the 2018 newsletter and production program.

The proceeds will be put toward the amazing Larry Chair which is pictured below. With all you lovely people in mind, we test drove many models and this is far and away the most comfy one to sit in; and may they keep you safe and comfy for the next fifteen years.

Yours,
Michelle Boulet, Artistic Director

Thoughts on a Rainy Day

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 19:39:25 GMT

Photo: Michelle Boulet

As both a theatre artist and patron, I often ask myself why I am drawn to theatre as an art form. For me, the answer lies in engagement and connection. Theatre is able to completely engage me body, mind and soul. I am able to find my life and experience reflected on the stage in a way that is more immediate and compelling than what I get from movies and television. The connection that occurs between actors and audience is almost spiritual in nature. It reminds me that I’m not alone on my journey through life. I share the same joys, hopes, fears and struggles that people have experienced throughout time.

I believe that Shakespeare in the Ruins provides engagement and connection in a way that is both unique and more powerful than that found in most conventional theatres. Audience and actors engage whole heartedly with each other, the story and elements with every promenade we make through Trappist Monastery Provincial Heritage Park. Shakespeare’s writing is both elevated and historic and asks for increased commitment from all participants. The ever changing natural world unifies us all in the experience we have together, whether joyful or tragic, painful or profound. Our direct address performance style connects audience and performers intimately; as does the journey we share through the narrative of the story and the natural world.

Thank you to everyone who has shared this experience with us.

Andrew Cecon, Artistic Director

The First Time

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 19:38:16 GMT

by Heidi Malazdrewich

I can’t remember the first time I heard the story of Romeo and Juliet. It seems to have always been a part of my narrative landscape. As a teenager it coloured my angst ridden experience. Baz Luhrmann’s film version emerged into popular culture, and suddenly the soundtrack played in every car and at every sweaty high school dance. Needless to say the story had become hopelessly entangled with memories of love unrequited and pubescent giddiness— a sort of emotional touchstone to a riper more edgy time of my existence. It was filed away and kept for safe keeping.

When Andrew and Michelle approached me to direct Romeo and Juliet for Shakespeare in the Ruins I jumped at the chance to tell the story. Reading the play as an adult I was struck by the pace through which all of the action takes place. It is summer, it is very, very hot and there is pressure on everyone to maintain family, profit, peace, and status. The young are fighting and lusting to alleviate the pressure, but also to give their lives meaning. There is a juxtaposition of hate and love at the core of this play. The pendulum of needs and emotion are swinging in great swoops and so quickly that calmer heads do not prevail. All are in a state of re-action.

The play begins with a prologue that outlines the plot including the ultimate demise of the titled characters. In the first few minutes the audience learns how and why events will play out. So why bother with the remainder of the exercise? Why spend the next two hours or so re-enacting the events just stated so clearly (and in rhyming verse no less)? I believe it is to exercise our ability to empathize, and through that journey, recognize our own actions and impulses in the rushed and ill-advised behaviour of our proxies on stage. Ideally, when the last words are uttered and we pile into our cars to start the journey home we not only can tell the story of R & J (as I am sure we could have done at the beginning of the night) but we also have a new more visceral knowledge of how poorly laid plans went astray.

So how does this relate to me now? No longer swaying in high school gymnasiums motivated by teenage angst and lust? My instinct says that the story is rooted in the every day struggle for steadiness in a time of impulsivity. The experience of the play also serves as a reminder of the privilege some of us have to step outside of a heated conflict (whether it be a mundane social media battle or something much more pressing in our communities) and think about how we may be of aid in preventing tragedies. The play allows us to simultaneously empathize with the characters while maintaining a safe distance. Hopefully this will provides us with the needed insight to chart a better course.

Dear Billy

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 19:36:53 GMT

Dear Billy

My school is about to vote for class president. Anyway, this one guy who’s running, he’s kind of a douche, but he’s kind of funny, and he seems to know a lot of cheerleaders. He has said some stuff that’s a bit not great, but doesn’t everyone? He is a bit of a bully, but that makes sense because he has money. There’s also a rumour he got some kids expelled, but rumours, right? Here’s my question. My sister thinks he’s the devil. She says if I vote for him, she’ll never speak to me again (she threatens me with this a lot). I think she’s over-reacting, and I think it would be funny. Can you please tell my sister that she’s over-reacting?

Signed,
#OneMoreYearTilTheRealWorld!

Dear OMYTTRW:

If you crown him, let me prophesy:
The blood of English shall manure the ground,
And future ages groan for this foul act;
Disorder, horror, fear and mutiny
Shall here inhabit, and this land be call’d
The field of Golgotha and dead men’s skulls.
It will the woefullest division prove
That ever fell upon this cursed earth.
Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so,
Lest child, child’s children, cry against you woe!

Dear Billy

Regarding last week’s column about the protesters: I’m a woman, and I am perfectly happy with the state of the world. Sure, not everything’s perfect, but what is the point of such demonstrations? If I’m unhappy about something, I just speak in a clipped and occasionally faraway tone, and pour my coffee a little more aggressively. People get the drift. This kind of obscene pageantry–your words, not mine!–just makes women look greedy. And you actually support them?
I thought you were a smart man. Now
I see a man who’s drunk the koolaid.

Disappointed In Kent

Dear DIK:
I see a woman may be made a fool
If she had not a spirit to resist.

Dear Billy

Long time reader. It might just be me, but it feels like your advice column has become somewhat angry in the past few months. Are you okay?

Concerned Fan

Dear CF
Hell is empty and all the devils are here.

Best Volunteers Ever!

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 19:35:13 GMT

Pat & Bob Migliore with Mayor Bowman

Not that any of us here at SIR needed any more proof that our amazing volunteers are just that…amazing. We cannot do what we do without them. Our hardy and loyal volunteers constantly go over and above the call of duty by hauling chairs and helping to move the audience around the Ruins through the wind, rain, blazing sun and let us not forget the mosquitoes… all with a smile on their faces.

So imagine our delight, when, for the second year in a row, an SIR nominee was awarded the ML&L Volunteer Impact Award at the annual Mayor’s Luncheon for the Arts hosted annually in June by The Winnipeg Arts Council.

First, in 2015 Sylvia Flam was the recipient of this prestigious award. She was nominated jointly by Shakespeare in the Ruins and Prairie Theatre Exchange. Sylvia puts in an astonishing number of volunteer hours for numerous organizations and SIR and PTE are ever grateful to be among them.

This was followed by 2016 when Shakespeare in the Ruins nominated long-time volunteers Pat & Bob Migliore who were again the successful nominee. Pat and Bob have been volunteering with SIR since year one and were instrumental in defining just what being an SIR volunteer means.

Congrats to all three! And thanks to The Winnipeg Arts Council. We know the award really made their day which in turn made ours.

And finally a big shout out to the Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries who sponsor our fabulous volunteers!

R+J Trivia

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 19:33:38 GMT

This isn’t our first ‘Romeo’. Artistic Director Andrew Cecon debuts and stars as Romeo in SIR’s infamous downtown rooftop production of Romeo and Juliet in 2003 (pictured above left). Former GM Matthew Moreau stars as Romeo in SIR’s inagural production of Romeo and Juliet in 1994 (pictured above right).

In Elizabethan England, the legal age for marriage (with parental permission) was twelve-years-old for girls and fourteen-years-old for boys. Romeo and Juliet was originally played by an all-male cast. Female roles were most often played by pre-pubescent boys with high-pitched, “feminine” voices. Juliet would have been played by a boy until the late 1600s, when it first became acceptable for women to appear on the English stage.

Author Stephenie Meyer says that, in New Moon, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is “really the theme of the novel.” The whole “missed connection” aspect to the plot doesn’t really hold up in an era when all Edward would have had to do is make one quick phone call (or text message!) to see if Bella is still alive.

Source: www.shmoop.com/romeo-and-juliet/trivia.html

Our Household

Sat, 30 Apr 2016 15:48:10 GMT

By Arne MacPherson

IR’s current SITC program works with youth from Winnipeg’s inner-city. The program is directed by Claire Friesen, and offers them free drama workshops that culminate in the production of a shortened version of one of Shakespeare’s plays. As well as instruction, food, bus tickets (or rides) to participants, and complimentary tickets to SIR productions are provided.

This program helps marginalized youth find their voice. It inspires them to dream, and to develop tools to express who they are as individuals. It is a powerful program that fosters empathy and expands horizons (as well as touching on many of the learning outcomes defined by the Winnipeg School Division’s English and Literacy curricula).

The value of studying Shakespeare lies in his masterful portrayal of the enormous paradox of the human condition. He shows people dogged by fate, destined for hardship, while offering up no easy answer. Despite hitting a very personal chord, participants bravely tackle these prickly themes. 2015 saw this culminate in a moving production of Romeo & Juliet.

This past year SIR AD Andrew Cecon and myself approached MTS Stories From Home about making a documentary on our youth and community Shakespeare in the City (SITC) program, and their quest to put on a production of Romeo & Juliet. As luck would have it, SIR Board Member Marilyn Firth was also directing R & J with her troupe the SuchStuff Players, a successful Winnipeg theatre company run by a community of home-schooling families.

Our documentary, entitled Both Alike in Dignity, chronicles the parallel productions of Romeo and Juliet by two Winnipeg youth theatre companies, SITC and Such Stuff Players.

Both Alike in Dignity will air on MTS Stories from Home this coming year. We are proud of the documentary, and proud of all the students involved. Hopefully you’ll be able to watch the documentary and learn more about our Youth, Community and Education programming. Your support helps programs like this positively impact the lives of unlikely people, and for that we are eternally grateful.

2016 Newsletter

Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:55:50 GMT

2016 Newsletter

Will can make the difference

Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:53:29 GMT

Audience enjoying SIR’s Comedy of Errors at the Ruins

How is it that a small theatre company with a limited budget and small staff continuously delivers a quality Shakespearian experience AND an extension program that rivals any other arts programming currently offered in Manitoba? Like most people I came to know Shakespeare in The Ruins by attending shows at the St. Norbert monastery. The plays are engaging, the setting unique, and of course, the post show reflections with my wife made the price of admission well worth it. I’m willing to pay the price of admission for my own entertainment, but am I willing to support the company to expand on my experience and share Shakespeare through the outreach programming? In fact I am.

I ask you to consider the following statement: ‘can SIR maintain the quality of it’s programming without our help’. Join me by making a donation that will ensure Shakespeare’s great themes touch (and change) the lives of all Manitobans.

Francis Maitland

Your support WILL make a difference – Donate now !

Another Successful Stripped-Down School Tour

Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:52:29 GMT

By Pamela Lockman – St. John’s Ravenscourt

My love affair with Shakespeare In The Ruins has been going on for almost 20 years now. Since arriving in Winnipeg in 1997, I have seen every one of their spring productions and “stripped down” fall school shows.

What SIR offers our community in terms of providing great theatre for public audiences is only one of the terrific things they do. Even greater than that, however, is what they offer to hundreds of students every year through their fall school tours.

SIR performs a veritable repertoire of “Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits for Schools.” In the recent past, these have been Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Scottish play, and this year’s, Romeo and Juliet. The school shows are “stripped down” versions of the plays; that is, they are only about one-hour long, and all the parts are played by four actors.

The students don’t all read the play first, but the performances are so entertaining that almost all of the students “get it”. This year we warned our students that Stripped-Down Romeo & Juliet would be played by an all-male cast. “What about the kissing?” asked one student. “Will they kiss?”

“Well, Romeo and Juliet do kiss,” I responded. And then I got to give a little lesson on how in Shakespeare’s time women were not even allowed to act on stage and so it was all male actors all the time.

The students love that SIR takes risks in their productions. Some of the comments afterward commended SIR for entertaining us so well and for making the story easy to understand. They are always thrilled when one of the actors talks directly to the audience, or, better yet, when they pull a student or a teacher from the audience to dance or to sit at a table with other actors. There is no doubt, SIR knows how to please their young audiences as well as their teachers!

The Tragedy of Othello

Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:51:16 GMT

Moor of Stony Mountain

By Claire Friesen – SITC Program Director

In August 2015, three years after starting our initial inquiries, SIR gained institutional access and clearance for a new Stony Mountain outreach program to begin. In August 2015 we moved into the penitentiary school, and offered a grade 10 drama credit to any inmate who completed the program. We ended up with 11 participants ranging in age from early 20s to mid-50s.

We spent most of our time in a unique exploration of Othello. We shortened the play to thirty pages and set it in Stony Mountain penitentiary. Amelia became Emilio, and Desdemona became Desmond, one of Othello’s best bros. The participants were expected to complete homework each week to make up hours towards their drama credit. The assignments asked students to connect their personal experiences with the themes from Othello. For example, here is an excerpt from an assignment on reputation:

“I guess I would have to say if I lost my reputation I wouldn’t be the man I am now. I wouldn’t have acquired the things I have in the last 35 years. In a way though, I really have lost some of my reputation since I’m currently sitting in prison for doing something very stupid. I know I have lost the trust of certain people which because of my crime I’ll never be able to get back. That has caused me a great deal of unhappiness. But I think I’ll be able to regain (reputation) as time goes on. At least I have to believe so.”
– inmate participant

Somehow Shakespeare’s words allow us to voice our own deeply personal life experiences whether we are teens, parents, facilitators or inmates. His language has gives us the freedom to put into words the harshest of sentiments. It is simultaneously beautiful, profound, and cathartic. Through the use of Shakespeare, the reflections from the group became increasingly thoughtful and intimate.

All of our inmate participants showed an increase in literacy and received a grade 10 drama credit to put toward their high school diplomas. More than that, they all showed an increase in self-confidence and self-awareness, both personal and in relation to a group. The necessity of imagination and play in theatre helped participants let go of their “front” in the class, and begin reframing their identities beyond that of inmate. Through the recognition of 450 years of common humanity, participants built trust, empathy, and had fun.

“From the first class I attended to the last class I have seen our group grow a great deal, we grew as a team. I think from all the laughs we got from the warm-ups we became more fearless and less worried about being judged or laughed at. I never thought that this is something that I could do, nor did I think this is something I would like. Myself and the guys were always listening and showed Arne and Claire all the respect they showed us.”
– SITC participant

Although it is still in its fledgling state, our contact at Stony Mountain has already asked us to run the program twice in 2016. This is a one of a kind program here in Canada and we hope to keep it running through the years to come.

Next Question – Nick Petuhoff

Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:50:16 GMT

Thanks to a mentorship grant through ACI Manitoba Shakespeare in the Ruins has been able to offer an intern position to Black Hole student Nickolas Petuhoff. Artistic Director Michelle Boulet sits down with Nick to find out what’s his story.

Michelle: Where did you study?

Nick: I am currently enrolled at the University of Manitoba in the Theatre Department; prior to that I attended Maples Collegiate.

Michelle: What was your very first theatre production?

Nick: In grade nine I was in a production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and I played Mike Teavee.

Michelle: How did you land at SIR as its Admin Assistant?

Nick: I met the two Artistic Directors of SIR (Andrew Cecon & Michelle Boulet) while we were all working on Hamlet last March. Then I met General Manager Lisa Nelson on opening night. Andrew heard about a mentorship program being offered through ACI and thought I would be a good fit and could learn a lot from spending some time at the company’s office. They applied to the program and the rest they say is history. I have been here since September.

Michelle: What have you learned during your time?

Nick: I have been involved in both the production side in addition to gaining experience on stage. I spent October/November on the road with the provincial fall tour Stripped-Down Romeo & Juliet playing Romeo. With Artistic Director Andrew Cecon also on the tour it was a great opportunity to learn the ins and outs of touring.

Here in the office I have been fortunate to be learning a bit of everything with the added bonus of applying it in the real world…something which does not happen while you are still in university.

Michelle: What is your favourite Bard play?

Nick: Titus Andronicus because I was in it…(laughs).

Michelle: I understand you are in the military. Are there any similarities between working there and at SIR?

Nick: Surprisingly yes. Theatre takes a great deal of discipline and organization. Similar to the military there is a lot of general camaraderie and familial bonds which happens when people band together and work toward a unifying goal. Oh, and Lisa a driving force…like a Sargent…(laughs)…but don’t tell her.

Michelle: Have your co-workers given you a nickname yet?

Nick: As a matter of fact yes. I am known most commonly around the office as Baby Bear. That’s right. That’s me.

Michelle: How has your mentorship with SIR affected your career in theatre?

Nick: The mentorship has accelerated the launching of my theatre career beyond my wildest dreams, providing me with the skills, networking, and professionalism that is expected of a young professional. Perhaps the most important contribution the company and ensemble has given to my career was a sense of community and belonging, which is so strong in fact, that I feel like I am part of a family.

Not Just A Walk In The Park

Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:46:10 GMT

Hello to all you fine Shakespeare in the Ruins supporters. And by supporters we mean all you theatrically savvy, stalwart people who, like us, equate spring with heading out to the Ruins and braving the elements in the pursuit of theatre of the adventurous.

As we write this, we are still in the throws March`s swirling snowy landscape but it will not be long before we feel the sun on our face, the wind in our hair, and hear the words of William Shakespeare ringing out through the bucolic St. Norbert Ruins.

We cannot wait to share what is sure to be one of the most unique and inspiring productions we have ever mounted. You need only read Debbie Patterson`s article in this newsletter to feel the palpable and deeply personal journey that she, and in fact all of us here at SIR, stand poised to undertake.

If you have never been to an SIR show what can you expect you ask? Well we are glad you asked. Our unique promenade-style theatre means each show is one of a kind because as we know neither the weather nor the wildlife can follow a script. (who can forget that adorable gaggle of geese who upstaged Antony’s canoe entrance last summer!!)

And each patron is supplied with a complimentary chair! As you and your free chair move from location to location it is a perfect time to get to know your fellow audience members, they may lend you some bug spray, or you lend them sunblock. There is a definite “we are all in this together” atmosphere.

So book your tickets for Richard III June 1-25.

Our box office opens officially on April 23rd which coincides with the Bard’s Birthday. And to help in wishing him a happy birthday we are offering 20% off tickets for shows June 1-12 for anyone who purchases before May 27th.

So come join us as we proudly present Richard III . Come on down, rain or shine. Enjoy a pre-show sip and come enjoy theatre that will move you…literally.

See you in the Ruins!
Michelle Boulet & Andrew Cecon
Artistic Directors

The Real Richard III

Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:44:02 GMT

Portrait of King Richard III, The National Portrait Gallery / Benedict Cumberbatch photo: UKderivative work: Photo: RanZag (talk). commons.wikimedia.org

At the age of 7, Richard was a prisoner of war under the Lancasters, along with his mother, and siblings George and Margaret.
Richard III was the last King of England to die in battle. He died August 22, 1485, at the age of 32, during the Battle of Bosworth Field, only two years into his reign.
September 2012: a team of archeologists uncovered the remains of Richard III in a modern day parking lot, once the Grey Friars Church. Positively identified by DNA testing, research on his skeleton indicated that he suffered from stress-related bruxism or teeth grinding.
There has been much talk about Actor Benedict Cumberbatch being related to Richard III . Genealogist Kevin Schürer said they are second cousins, 16 times removed. It has been estimated up to 17 million UKers are related in some way to Richard, although not as closely as Cumberbatch.

Richard III History in the Making

Wed, 20 Apr 2016 15:41:58 GMT

Debbie Patterson as Richard III at Ruins. Photo: Sarah Constible

By Debbie Patterson

Shakespeare in the Ruins’ upcoming production (June 1-25) of Richard III will be the first spring show I’ve performed in since Merchant of Venice in 2007. Some of you may know that my absence has been a result of my impaired mobility due to multiple sclerosis. Actors with disabilities are rarely seen on professional stages or in movies. Indeed, “cripping up” is often regarded as a good strategy for able-bodied actors seeking accolades. (Dustin Hoffman in Rainman, Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot, Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything: all Oscar winners.)

The beliefs and attitudes that keep disabled people out of professional theatre are slowly but surely changing. The Canada Council has just announced that diversity will be second only to artistic excellence in its new funding priorities. The National Arts Centre is about to launch a two-year Study/Summit cycle exploring theatre created by people with disabilities. Headlines like “Cripping up Is the New Blackface” are appearing in major publications questioning the wisdom of excluding people with disabilities from interpreting characters with disabilities.

And of course, Shakespeare in the Ruins is on the cutting edge of the zeitgeist. According to our research, ours will be the first professional Canadian production of Richard III featuring an actor with disabilities in the title role. This is huge!

Imagine being the first actor of colour to play Othello. Or, for that matter, the first woman to play Juliet. The pressure is on!

I’m not worried. I’ve been preparing for this role for months already, carrying a tiny ancient version of the text around with me everywhere, reading it every chance I get. The team we’ve assembled to work on the show is top-notch; director Christopher Brauer and ensemble actors Andrew Cecon, Toby Hughes, Arne MacPherson and Sarah Constible as well as a mix of new and familiar faces to fill out the cast. I’m also fortunate to be married to the last person to play Richard III for SIR in 1999, Arne MacPherson, who is a great resource.

Come to think of it, I wonder how many other actor couples have both played this role? This may be another first!

I hope you’ll make a point of coming out to see our show this spring. Richard III is not just one of Shakespeare’s most famous histories, this production may well be history in the making.

SIR

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Q: What are the biggest challenges, in your view, of staging a show at the Ruins? And some of the biggest pleasures?

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