The Bard on the Beach Festival takes place under two tents in Vanier Park by the lovely English Bay with views over the North Shore mountains.
This company performs four Shakespearean plays each summer, normally two comedies and two histories or tragedies.
This year the company has introduced allocated seats bookable in advance. In previous years when IÂ booked a ticket, IÂ had to queue to get in and the seats were taken on a first come first served basis.
The tents are very airy and keep out the rain, but inevitably the sound of ship's horns or float planes can intrude on Henry V's speech before the battle of Agincourt for example.
The tickets usually sell out well in advance and are reasonably priced at $40. There are normally 18 performances per week with matinees on Saturdays and some Sundays.
The actors are normally excellent. Outside the tents there is a central area containing toilets, a shop, and beverage kiosks where visitors can buy drinks at the interval. These are staggered so that the audiences from both tents don't all converge into this area at the same time.
Julian has written articles on Middle Eastern and European architecture for the US magazine Skipping Stones. He has written travel articles that were published in The Toronto Globe and Mail, Fate Magazine, National Catholic Register, and Northwest Travel. Julian has also written articles for the In The Know Traveler, Go Nomad, InTravelmag, and Go World Travel websites. He has also taken many photographs that have appeared in travel guides by National Geographic, Thomas Cook and The Rough Guides. Examples of his work can be found at http://www.photographersdirect.com/sellers/details.asp?portfolio=13734
