Bard on the Beach Plays in 2025 | Vancouver's Best Places

Bard Village at Bard on the Beach

Bard on the Beach puts on great Shakespearean theatre. Plays in Vancouver in 2025 include Much Ado About Nothing and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

This year, Bard on the Beach is presenting two other shows: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] [Again] and The Dark Lady. 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 2025 productions.

This article includes information about the following Bard on the Beach shows:

Much Ado About Nothing | The Two Gentlemen of Verona | The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] [Again] | The Dark Lady

Much Ado About Nothing at Bard on the Beach in 2025

Much Ado About Nothing is the headline show for the 2025 Bard on the Beach Shakespearean Festival. It’s also the first play to take the stage this season. The show is definitely a fun one! Most people consider the play one of Shakespeare’s best comedies. It’s particularly praised for its witty wordplay.

Much Ado About Nothing begins on June 10th and runs until September 20th. 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 setting of the stage is very traditional. It’s not explicitly stated in what year the show is taking place but one could imagine it’s happening during Shakespeare’s day. While the script is relatively untouched there are a few occasions where a new line is added (to great comedic effect).

There’s a good amount of physical comedy in the show, particularly from the leads Benedick and Beatrice. They’re given free rein to throw themselves around the stage and even break the fourth wall a couple times to interact with members of the audience sitting close to the stage.

Don John is another highlight as the main villain of the piece. He got some of the biggest laughs of anyone on the night we went. There’s some dancing, singing and guitar playing throughout the night as the cast gets to show some of their range.

Overall, it’s a very fun show that does justice to one of Shakespeare’s more celebrated works.

Visit bardonthebeach.org for tickets and the theatre company’s official website.

Much Ado About Nothing Plot Summary

Below is a short plot summary of Much Ado About Nothing. Further below that there are details about the other three Bard on the Beach shows for the 2025 season.

This play begins in the city of Messina, with the arrival of nobleman Don Pedro and his companions Claudio and Benedick. Claudio quickly falls in love with Hero, the daughter of the governor that they’re staying with. Benedick scoffs at the idea of love, but Don Pedro agrees to help Claudio win Hero’s heart. Benedick, meanwhile, falls back into familiar banter with the quick-witted Beatrice, Hero’s cousin.

After Don Pedro pretends to be Claudio at a masquerade ball and successfully woos Hero on his friend’s behalf, he decides to also try and bring Benedick and Beatrice together by starting rumours that each of them is secretly in love with the other. Both are happy to learn that the other is allegedly obsessed with them, and they start imagining what a relationship together would be like.

Meanwhile, the evil Don John (brother of Don Pedro) overhears that Claudio and Hero are to marry. He wants to ruin the wedding by making Claudio believe that Hero won’t be faithful to him.

Don John’s plot works and on the wedding day Claudio insults Hero publicly and storms off. A whole bunch of hijinks follow, including the faking of Hero’s death to make Claudio feel remorseful for his actions.

Eventually, the others uncover Don John’s plot, Claudio and Hero reunite, and Benedick and Beatrice publicly declare their love for each other.

Much Ado About Nothing

(The above photo and image designed by Emily Cooper is of Jennifer Lines as Beatrice and Sheldon Elter as Benedick.)

The Two Gentlemen of Verona at Bard on the Beach in 2025

The Two Gentlemen of Verona is one of Shakespeare’s early plays. In fact some believe it might be his very first. It’s the second BMO Mainstage production in 2025. The show opens on June 13th and runs until September 19th.

The directors set this production of the play in the 1980s and feature nostalgic music from that decade. Expect a boombox and some dance hits!

The Two Gentlemen of Verona Plot Summary

Below is a plot summary for The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

The play begins with the young gentleman Valentine leaving Verona to go to Milan. After he departs, the parents of his friend Proteus decide that it would be best for Proteus to also go to Milan and further his learning by serving in the Duke of Milan’s court.

While in Milan, Valentine falls in love with Silvia, the Duke’s daughter. She also is smitten with Valentine. Once Proteus arrives in Milan, Valentine tells him that he and Silvia plan to run away with each other. The issue is that Proteus also immediately falls in love with Silvia (despite having a girlfriend back home).

Proteus betrays his friend by telling the Duke about Valentine’s plan to run away with Silvia, and Valentine is thus banished from the city. Proteus takes the chance to try and woo Silvia for himself, but his actions are spotted by his girlfriend Julia, who has disguised herself as a man in order to go to Milan herself and see him.

From there, Julia becomes Proteus’ page boy, Silvia scorns Proteus and flees into the forest where she’s taken prisoner by bandits. Proteus rescues Silvia, but is then interrupted by Valentine, the leader of the bandits. Julia reveals herself, Proteus apologizes and professes his love and loyalty to her, and the two couples get married with Valentine welcome back in Milan.

Visit the official Bard on the Beach website to book tickets to the shows.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

(The above photo and image designed by Emily Cooper is of Jacob Leonard as Proteus and Matthew Ip Shaw as Valentine.)

Other 2025 Bard on the Beach Plays

There are two other shows taking place at Bard on the Beach in 2025, on the secondary stage. Both plays draw inspiration from Shakespeare’s works, even though they are contemporary.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] [Again] at Bard on the Beach in 2025

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] [Again] is a Shakespeare show unlike any other. It does its best to cover every single Shakespeare play in a single evening, sprinting through them with incredibly shortened and irreverent versions.

The actors in the show (of which there are only three) constantly break the fourth wall, run around the theatre and invite the audience to participate in different sections. Some parts of the show are often improvised. It ends with a very short version of Hamlet, which is then repeated several times including both sped up and backwards.

The show runs from July 1st to September 20th.

The Dark Lady at Bard on the Beach in 2025

The Dark Lady is a Canadian production written by Jessica B. Hill. It’s a historical fiction show about Emilia Bassano, the first well-known female poet in England. She’s also speculated by some Shakespeare historians to be the muse for the “Dark Lady” characters described in some of his sonnets.

The show tells the story of Bassano and how she might have met Shakespeare when he was early in his career. It makes its Bard debut on July 3rd and runs until September 19th.