Tag Archives: Hawrelak Park

Once more unto the park in 2026? Freewill Shakespeare Festival launches a ‘save the fest’ campaign

Posted on May 12, 2025 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca For 35 summers the Freewill Shakespeare Festival has been banishing the winters of our discontent (not to mention, bringing on joy and mirth, and generally inspiring a holiday humour). Summer Shakespeare à la Freewill is a … Continue reading →

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Sex in the city, hypocrite puritans, corrupt politicians … who’s ever heard of that? Measure For Measure in the park

Posted on June 16, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The opening image of Nancy McAlear’s production of Measure For Measure, the Freewill Shakespeare Festival’s companion piece to A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Hawrelak Park this summer, is a male pole dancer in a cage. It’s … Continue reading →

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More about folly than love: A Midsummer Night’s Dream brings Freewill Shakespeare back to the park. A review

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “Blow blow thou winter wind…”  oops, wrong play.  After two years of wandering the town in small-cast entertainments, the Freewill Shakespeare Festival is back on the big stage in Hawrelak Park. And on Tuesday’s blustery, unremittingly … Continue reading →

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Under the big top: after two years Freewill Shakespeare Festival is back in the park

Posted on June 10, 2022 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca The geese are milling around backstage in the greenest of green rooms. A crew is planting marigolds on the route between the gate and the stage. The mosquitos are working out their ensemble numbers. Sound cues … Continue reading →

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Happy 4-5-7 Will! With news from the Freewill Shakespeare Festival

Posted on April 23, 2021 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca But soft! We bring you birthday news. The playwright-in-residence at the Freewill Shakespeare Festival celebrates his big 4-5-7 today with with alternate plans for a second pandemic summer. Where there’s a Will there’s a way. “So, … Continue reading →

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Just in time for Will’s birthday, the Freewill Shakespeare Festival has a new artistic director: Dave Horak

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Many happy returns, Will. True, the 32nd edition of E-town’s outdoor festival in his honour has, alas, been cancelled this summer, postponed till 2021, and for entirely good reasons. But there’s welcome news to be had … Continue reading →

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Freewill Shakespeare Festival reschedules for 2021

Posted on April 7, 2020 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca Alas, one woe doth tread upon another’s heel.… The COVID crisis has claimed another arts victim. Not unexpectedly, the 2020 edition of the Freewill Shakespeare Festival, the Bard’s annual summer foray into Hawrelak Park, has been … Continue reading →

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Camping out with Shakespeare in the park: Freewill Shakespeare Festival returns with an intriguing pair of plays

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “If this be magic, let it be an Art as lawful as eating.” — The Winter’s Tale The actors pull up at rehearsals in shorts on their bikes, dodging geese (mosquitoes, squirrels  and the odd coyote), … Continue reading →

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An exciting new Hamlet for the park: a review

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca “Is not this something more than fantasy?” The guards on duty in Elsinore are talking about a dead king who’s been appearing nightly from behind his official royal portrait. They’re right on another count, too.  Something … Continue reading →

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The world’s a zany, baffling place: The Comedy of Errors in the park

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Liz Nicholls

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca At a crucial mistaken-identity moment in The Comedy of Errors — a transaction-gone-askew involving a goldsmith, a chain, and a wayward husband arranging delivery on pricey bling for someone not his wife — a magpie perched … Continue reading →

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