With summer fast approaching Bard in the Botanics is set to return for its 18th season at Glasgow's Botanic Gardens.
Marking the 455th anniversary of the Bard’s birth, Scotland’s only annual outdoor Shakespeare festival unveiled details of this year’s Muse of Fire programme.
The festival will showcase four of Shakespeare’s most iconic characters: Hamlet, Henry V, Richard III and Rosalind.
The season opens on June 28 with outdoor performances of As You Like It, directed by Gordon Barr, and a six-hander version of Henry V, directed by Jennifer Dick, in the Kibble Palace.
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Stephanie McGregor, whose previous roles with Bard in the Botanics have included Feste (Twelfth Night) and Mephistopheles (Dr Faustus) in 2016, and Kate (Taming of the Shrew) and Regan (Queen Lear) in 2017, returns as Rosalind in As you Like It, and Adam Donaldson takes on the lead role in Henry V.
In the second half of the season Barr will direct an outdoor production of Hamlet with award-winning actress, Nicole Cooper, in the title role.
Meanwhile, in the Kibble Palace Jennifer Dick will direct a 4-hander version of Richard III with Robert Elkin returning to the Bard in Botanics company in the title role.
Introducing the “Muse of Fire” season Bard in the Botanics Artistic Director, Gordon Barr, said: “Hamlet, Henry V, Richard III and Rosalind are not only some of the most exciting and richest characters that Shakespeare wrote but their legacy stretches well beyond the plays in which they appear - they are legendary and their stories continues to fascinate and thrill audiences more than 400 years after they were originally written.
"These are classic stories that look at fundamental questions - what does it mean to be in love? What does it mean to lead? What does it mean to be a human being?”
In recent years Bard in the Botanics has gained a reputation for blurring genders and the 2019 season will continue this approach. The opening production – As You Like It – will feature a host of romantic couples with genders swapped across the characters to present a range of romances - straight, gay and a little bit of everything in between.
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When does the festival take place?
Festival runs from June 26 to 3 August 2019 with performances out of doors in Glasgow Botanic Gardens and in the Kibble Palace.
What's on when?
28 June – 13 July at 7.45pm
Main Stage, Botanic Gardens
As You Like it
Tickets priced £10 - £21
28 June – 13 July at 8pm
Kibble Palace, Botanic Gardens
Henry V
Tickets priced £12 - £23
20 July - 3 August at 7.45pm
Main Stage, Botanic Gardens
Hamlet
Tickets priced £10 - £21
19 July - 3 August at 8pm
Kibble Palace, Botanic Gardens
Richard III
Tickets priced £12 - £23
How do I buy tickets?
All tickets for any of the performances can be purchased from the Citizens Theatre box office by phone on 0141 429 0022 and online via www.bardinthebotanics.co.uk.
