We’re not sure why they all look so happy, but these are the smiling, happy folks who will be performing Shakespeare’s distinctly dark and violent tragedy Richard III in Odell Park as part of Bard in the Barracks’ special Canada 150 twin-bill this year. Performances of Richard III will run June 25-July 9, with full performance and ticket details to be announced soon!

Company members pictured (standing L-R): Alex McAllister, Elizabeth Goodyear, Kira Chisholm, John Ball, Sharisse LeBrun, Jean-Michel Cliche (fight director), Melissa McMichael, Alex Rioux, Alex Fullerton, Robbie Lynn, Alex Pannier, Jack Ball, Dani Brun, Miguel Roy, Lucas Gutierrez-Robert, Aaron Ellis, Tilly Jackson, Lucas Tapley; (kneeling L-R): Telina Debly, Kat Hall, Amelia Hay; (missing: Lee Thomas).

Richard III: Cast list

Richard, Duke of York                                     Miguel Roy

George, Duke of Clarence                            Alex McAllister

King Edward IV                                             Alex Rioux

The Queen                                                      Melissa McMichael

Lord Rivers                                                          Jack Ball

Marquis Dorset                                                   Lucas Tapley

Edward, Prince of Wales                               Telina Debly

Richard, the young Duke of York                      Lee Thomas

Lady Anne                                                           Kira Chisholm

Queen Margaret                                              Elizabeth Goodyear

William Lord Hastings                                     Aaron Ellis

The Duke of Buckingham                              Robbie Lynn

Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby                           John Ball

The Earl of Richmond                                     Alex Pannier

Catesby                                                              Sharisse LeBrun

Sir Richard Ratcliffe                                         Alex Rioux

Sir Robert Brackenbury                                 Alex Fullerton

Executioner One                                              Kat Hall

Executioner Two                                              Lucas Gutierrez-Robert

Citizens                                                     Tilly Jackson, Amelia Hay, Alex Pannier

The Lord Mayor of London                          Jack Ball

The Bishop of Ely                                              Alex Fullerton

A Page in Richard’s court                              Amelia Hay

Tyrell                                                                     Dani Brun

Sir Christopher                                                  Aaron Ellis

Blunt                                                                     Amelia Hay

Duke of Norfolk                                                 Alex McAllister

with many other roles played by members of the company

Meet the talented group of actors who will be bringing Shakespeare’s hilarious, multiple-identical-twin, mistaken-identity Comedy of Errors to Fredericton audiences this summer! Pictured above (standing, L-R): Scott Harris, John Ball, Elizabeth Goodyear, Amelia Hay, Aaron Ellis, Alex Pannier, Dillon Matchett, Alex Rioux, Tilly Jackson, Jack Ball, Telina Debly, Lee Thomas; (kneeling L-R): Kat Hall, Dani Brun, Lucas Gutierrez-Robert, Lucas Tapley.

The Comedy of Errors: Cast

Solinus, Duke of Ephesus                             Aaron Ellis

Egeon, a merchant of Syracuse                  John Ball

Antipholus of Ephesus                                   Dillon Matchett

Antipholus of Syracuse                                  Alex Pannier

Dromio of Ephesus                                          Lucas Gutierrez-Robert

Dromio of Syracuse                                         Dani Brun

Adriana, wife of Antipholus of Ephesus   Tilly Jackson

Luciana, her sister                                            Amelia Hay

First Merchant                                                  Scott Harris

Balthasar, a merchant                                    Kat Hall

Angelo, a goldsmith                                        Jack Ball

A Courtesan                                                       Kat Hall

Doctor Pinch, an exorcist                              Scott Harris

Second Merchant                                            Alex Rioux

Emilia, an Abbess at Ephesus                      Elizabeth Goodyear

Officers                                                               Lee Thomas, Telina Debly, Lucas Tapley

Open auditions will be held for the Bard in the Barracks productions of William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and Richard III on April 21st and 23rd at Memorial Hall on the UNB campus. The plays will be performed outdoors (in Barracks Square and Odell Park respectively) and will collectively run from June 22-July 9. (While exact performance dates for each play are still to be determined, The Comedy of Errors is likely to conclude by July 3.) The plays will be directed by Len Falkenstein, and will be rehearsed intensively (mainly evening hours) beginning the week of April 23.

Roles are available for actors of a variety of ages. Auditions will take place from 7:00-9:30 PM on Friday, April 21^st and from 1:30-4:00 PM on Sunday, April 23rd, with callbacks from 6:30-8:30 on Monday, April 24. Those auditioning are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the plays beforehand. Auditions will consist of readings from the plays. Prepared monologues may also be performed, but are not required.

To book an audition, please email lfalken@unb.ca, indicating your availability for the audition dates and any preference for date/time. Actors may be cast in one or both plays (if willing) at the discretion of the director, but may indicate a preference of play (if any) when booking their audition.

Anyone interested in auditioning who is unable to attend either of the audition dates, or anyone requesting further information, should contact the director at lfalken@unb.ca or 506 458-7406. Expressions of interest from persons who would like to assist with the productions in a musical or technical/crew capacity are also welcome.

Bard in the Barracks is going all out for Canada 150 this summer by mounting our most ambitious season ever! Twos (and threes) will be wild as we will be staging not one but TWO brand new productions of a pair of the Bard’s best-loved works. Together, the plays will span the days leading up to and following Canada Day, running from June 22^nd to July 9^th, in two different locations, and offering audiences a combination of two vastly different show experiences.

Fans of Shakespearean comedy will have their funny bones tickled by The Comedy of Errors, which will be performed in Barracks Square June 22-29. A high-spirited farce, the play depicts the chaos that results when two pairs of long-separated identical twins unknowingly find themselves in the same city, leading cases of mistaken identity to spiral out of control and threatening dangerous consequences.

Action will then shift to Odell Park for the dark historical tragedy of Richard III, set to run June 30-July 9. The story of the infamous monarch whose skill at treachery and murder propelled him briefly and uneasily to the English throne will be staged in our trademark promenade style, which sees the audience follow the action between different locations in the park. Dark dealings, murderous shrieks, and ghostly apparitions will fill the darkest corners of the forest as you witness the tale of a politician who uses brash charisma and underhanded tactics to overcome long odds and the handicaps of his personal repulsiveness to attain the highest office in the land. Not that anything like that has ever happened recently, right…?

It’s going to be an exciting summer! Stay tuned to our website and Facebook page for full details regarding the shows, performance schedules, and ticket sales.

Open auditions for the plays will take place April 21 and 23, with details to be posted here in the next 48 hours.

For more information, email lfalken@unb.ca or phone 506 458-7406.

If you’ve been wondering what Bard in the Barracks has planned for 2017, we’ve got some exciting news to share with you. Join us live on Twitter at noon on Thursday, April 13, where we’ll be announcing our season and offering some lucky audience members a chance to win some tickets! (You can watch our website and Facebook pages for the news as well.) Spread the word!

So says good King Simonides to the assembled knights after they tourney for the love of his daughter, Thaisa. And it is what we say as we bid adieu with a somewhat heavy heart to the wonderful experience that was Pericles. Over the last two weeks, Odell Park witnessed many wonders. Men, and skulls, fell from trees. Hot air balloons and airplanes came in for landings. A dead woman was brought back to life nightly. Three different ships set sail through the park. A full-fledged lumberjack contest ended in a raucous feast. We ran a working bar for audience members at a brothel (not working..) in the woods. The forest was filled with the sounds of Maritime jigs mingled with classical South Asian song, rousing sea shanties, and other strange sounds that must have made other park visitors and neighbors for blocks around equally puzzled and delighted.

Thanks to all who helped make the production possible, our sponsors Picaroons Traditional Ales, UNB, the City of Fredericton, Downtown Fredericton Inc., Valley Graphics, and the Daily Gleaner. Thanks also to the King Street Ale House and Tim Hortons.

Most of all, thanks to all of you in our audiences who were brave enough to go on this wild adventure with us, and take a chance on the hope that a Shakespeare play you’d never heard of could be just as good as all those famous ones. We hope you weren’t disappointed (and from what we heard and saw, you weren’t…). We thank you from the bottom of our muddy, DEET-infused hearts, and can’t wait to perform for you next year.

And now, for many of us, new adventures await in the form of this summer’s NotaBle Acts Theatre Festival. We hope to see you again in a few weeks’ time.

Pericles will thwart the wayward seas for the last time tonight, and then we’ll all be waving him goodbye. If you’ve been putting off coming to see the show, tonight’s your LAST CHANCE! Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime theatre experience, filled with adventure, drama, romance, heavenly music, and the sights, sounds, and smells of beautiful Odell Park! We’ve had nothing but rave reviews so far, so come to Odell Park by 7:30 to join the hundreds of others who have been swept away by our wild and thrilling adventure in the woods!