Bard on the Beach puts on great Shakespearean theatre. Plays in Vancouver in 2026 include The Merry Wives of Windsor, Macbeth, and other shows.
This year, Bard on the Beach is presenting two other shows: Goblin:Oedipus and Antigone. The season runs from mid-June until late September.
Visit bardonthebeach.org for tickets and the theatre company’s official website. Continue reading to learn about the 2026 productions.
This article includes information about the following Bard on the Beach shows:
The Merry Wives of Windsor | Macbeth | Goblin:Oedipus | Antigone
The Merry Wives of Windsor at Bard on the Beach in 2026
The Merry Wives of Windsor is one of the two headline shows for the 2026 Bard on the Beach Shakespearean Festival. It’s also the first play to take the stage this season. While the show might not be as well-known as some of Shakespeare’s other comedies, it’s a fun one and features plenty of hijinks.
The Merry Wives of Windsor began on June 9th and runs until September 19th. It plays on the BMO Mainstage Theatre.
We went to Much Ado About Nothing, and we really enjoyed it! The production does a good job leaning into the comedic elements of the play and the actors put on big and energetic performances.
The play is set in the present day, with the action taking place in and around a fictional East Vancouver community centre. The script has a number of slight additions or changes to the dialogue, really emphasizing its modern setting with characters talking about social media and using cellphones, amongst other tweaks.
There are also multiple musical numbers in the show, with current pop hits and slightly older classics woven into the play. While the core of the show remains the same as Shakespeare wrote it, this production really puts a unique spin on the story!
Overall, it’s a fun show that got plenty of laughs from the audience throughout.
Visit bardonthebeach.org for tickets and the theatre company’s official website.
The Merry Wives of Windsor Plot Summary
Below is a short plot summary of The Merry Wives of Windsor. Further below that there are details about the other three Bard on the Beach shows for the 2026 season.
Wanting to gain some riches, Sir John Falstaff decides to try and woo two different married women at the same time – Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page. He sends each of them an identical letter, which they realize and then conspire together to embarrass Falstaff for their own amusement. Their husbands Mr. Ford and Mr. Page also are told by someone else about the letters, and Mr. Ford becomes paranoid that his wife won’t remain faithful to him.
The women tell Falstaff that they’re interested in him, which helps lead to multiple occasions where Falstaff tries to meet up with Mrs. Ford but is tricked into some sort of embarrassing action in order to hide from being detected by Mr. Ford and others.
Eventually, the wives let their husbands know exactly what they’ve been up to this whole time, and they agree to do one big, final prank on Falstaff in front of the entire community.
While all of that is going on, there’s also a side plot featuring Mrs. Page’s daughter Anne, who is pursued by three different men. Anne’s mother wants her to marry the French physician Doctor Caius, her father wants her to marry the well-off Master Slender, but Anne herself is in love with Fenton, a man neither of her parents approve of.
In the end, Anne and Fenton are able to sneak away during the commotion of the story’s climax, and are married. The Pages eventually welcome Fenton into their family, and even Falstaff is able to laugh off everything that’s happened.
(The above photo and image designed by Emily Cooper is of Jennifer Lines as Mrs. Page and Melissa Oei as Mrs. Ford.)
Macbeth at Bard on the Beach in 2026
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, and also one of the bloodiest. It’s the second BMO Mainstage production in 2026. The show opened on June 11th and runs until September 18th.
We also had the chance to see this production, and really enjoyed it! It’s more faithful to the original text compared to The Merry Wives of Windsor, and is set more in Elizabethan times. Outside of a couple small technological quirks (like Macbeth having an intercom system in his castle) you could imagine that the show is happening back in Shakespeare’s day.
Macbeth himself delivers an intense, dramatic performance in the lead role, and has some great stage presence. The show as a whole has an ominous atmosphere (as you would expect from such a famous tragedy) with an emphasis on how bloody the play is.
The show gets better and better as it goes along, with a final climactic battle that includes some well-choreographed stage fighting between Macbeth and the rebel army.
Macbeth Plot Summary
Below is a plot summary for Macbeth.
The play begins with Scottish lords Macbeth and Banquo being visited by three prophetic witches, who tell Macbeth that he will become Lord of Cawdor and later King of Scotland, while also telling Banquo that he will be the father of future kings. Shortly after they leave, Macbeth is informed that he is now Lord of Cawdor after the previous title-holder was executed for treason.
Macbeth immediately becomes obsessed with the idea that he will become king, egged on by his wife Lady Macbeth who convinces him that they should kill King Duncan when he spends the night at their castle. In order to do so, she drugs Duncan’s two guards so that they fall asleep, with Macbeth stabbing the king to death in the middle of the night.
When others in the castle wake up and realize Duncan is dead, Macbeth kills the two sleeping guards so they can’t say anything about what happened. Duncan’s two sons flee, worried about what might happen to them, and Macbeth blames them for the murder and is crowned king. He becomes increasingly paranoid, and arranges for Banquo and his son to be killed as well, although the son escapes.
As Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both become mad and cause further damage, Lord Macduff meets with Prince Malcolm (Duncan’s eldest son) in England, in order to raise an army to defeat Macbeth. In the meantime, Macbeth orders the storming of Macduff’s castle and the murder of his entire family. Fueled by rage and grief, Macduff leads an army to Macbeth’s castle and defeats him in battle, with Malcolm crowned the new king.
Visit the official Bard on the Beach website to book tickets to the shows.
(The above photo and image designed by Emily Cooper is of Munish Sharma as Macbeth.)
Other 2026 Bard on the Beach Plays
There are two other shows taking place at Bard on the Beach in 2026, on the secondary stage. Both plays are adaptations of works written by Ancient Greek playwright Sophocles.
Goblin:Oedipus at Bard on the Beach in 2026
Goblin:Oedipus marks the return to Bard on the Beach for Wug, Kragva and Moog, a trio of theatre-enjoying goblins. The three characters take on the play Oedipus Rex, delivering the story in a highly irreverent and comedic way.
The goblins in the show are very chaotic, break the fourth wall in order to interact with the audience, and don’t bother with keeping themselves family-friendly (the show is recommended for those ages 18 and up). In the middle of it all, they share the story of Oedipus, the King of Thebes who uncovers some shocking truths when he tries to solve the murder of the previous king, in order to end a plague that’s running rampant in his city.
The show runs from July 5th to September 19th.
(The above photo is by Terry Manzo.)
Antigone at Bard on the Beach in 2026
Antigone is also written by Sophocles, and is a sequel of sorts to Oedipus Rex in that it is also set in Thebes, following a civil war that came after Oedipus’ self-exile.
The show tells the story of Antigone, a sister of Eteocles and Polynices, two princes who both died in battle during the civil war. After the new King Creon decrees that Polynices’ body will be left to rot on the battlefield unburied, Antigone wants to properly bury and honour her brother. Her actions lead to direct confrontation with Creon, with dramatic consequences.
The show runs from June 30th to September 18th.
(The above photo and image designed by Emily Cooper is of Yoshie Bancroft as Antigone.)
Other Information
Check out our Bard on the Beach article or visit the Bard on the Beach website for more information about this year’s Shakespearean season.
Other articles that might be of interest include the following:
- Vancouver Festivals and Events
- Entertainment in Metro Vancouver
- Vancouver Theatre Companies and Venues
- Theatre Under the Stars
Another website you might also like is VancouverTheatres.ca.
