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<\/a>Munsil did indeed play around with Twelfth Night<\/i> when she worked on it: all the roles in the play were gender-swapped. Munsil says that this time around the same thing will be happening, but on a much smaller scale.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are four male roles in the play that are being played by women,\u201d she says, \u201cand although it\u2019s not as explicit as how it was in Twelfth Night<\/i>, where we just swapped everyone, my idea is that these roles are kind of women who are disguised as men to find themselves a place out in the world working in royal households.\u201d<\/p>\n
Macbeth<\/i> is being taken outside of the festival for the first time and will be shown a few times in Esquimalt in an attempt to extend the fest\u2019s reach. And while things are smooth sailing so far for the festival in terms of getting everything set up, Munsil does admit to being a bit worried about the weather.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere isn\u2019t really a rain plan,\u201d she admits. \u201cLast year the rain held off all night right until the last 30 seconds of the play. Kind of funny, but also concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Macbeth<\/i> director and producing artistic director Karen Lee Pickett says that the initiative to take Macbeth<\/i> into Esquimalt\u2014what they\u2019re calling \u201cBard across the bridge\u201d\u2014is progressing smoothly, and has been in the works for a few years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will be our first time doing something outside of our regular venue,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019ve been at Camosun for 12 years now; it\u2019s just something we\u2019ve been talking about for years, and it\u2019s happening. We\u2019re super excited to be bringing it to Esquimalt. I\u2019d love to eventually see it expanded further into a year-round thing or something like that, but we have to take it slow and just make baby steps, because the funding is the main thing. We\u2019re a pretty small organization but we need to move slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shakespearean plays have been around for hundreds of years; they are some of the most performed plays of all time. Pickett feels that Shakespeare tapped into what connected with audiences and that although times have changed, the human race has not, and so the plays endure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do we keep doing these 400-year-old plays? Why is there an industry built around these plays? I think it\u2019s a couple of things,\u201d says Pickett. \u201cShakespeare was able to create drama that really resonated and showed something about ourselves. He understood human nature really well, and it hasn\u2019t changed much in 400 years. We still get jealous, love, laugh, and cry. Our context has changed but we as people haven\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n