Shakespeare by the Sea, Halifax



Shakespeare by the Sea is a professional theatre company and registered society (Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stock Companies ID: 2365312) in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founded in 1994, it specialises in performing the works of William Shakespeare. Plays are performed outdoors in an amphitheatre formed by the ruins of the Cambridge Battery, an old military battery in Point Pleasant Park, and occasionally at other locations. The company is funded by the government grants and private enterprise. Their main source of revenue is from patrons' donations, which makes up about 70% of their revenues.

The company was formed by the late Patrick Christopher-Carter (1945-2005), his life-long partner Elizabeth Murphy, and Jean Morpurgo. It has played every year in the park, performing three to four productions every summer.

In 1999, a family show was added to the repertoire using a theme from a classical tale. The tale is edited and improvised by the director and the cast to include references to modern pop-culture and geography. The family show is known for its lack of props, with only Styrofoam pool noodles being used to create such objects as hungry lobsters and talking magic mirrors. In the summer of 2005, the company went away from the Pool Noodle concept and transformed the family show into a musical, directed by Jesse MacLean, with music written by actor Jeremy Hutton and lyrics by Hutton, MacLean, William Foley, Kevin MacPherson, and Kate Smith titled The Adventures of Robin Hood. The show has since received a workshop production at the Toronto Youth Theatre, directed by Hutton, with new music and lyrics by Hutton and Kieren MacMillan. The company is actively planning another staging of Robin Hood, due to success of its two initial runs.

In 2005, the Canada Day performance was The Midnight Twelfth Night, which began at midnight and concluded with the marriage of founders Patrick Christopher-Carter and Elizabeth Murphy. In 2006 Elizabeth Murphy and Jennie Raymond formed a co-artistic directorship to steer the company through a transitional year. In 2007, Elizabeth Murphy took over as Artistic Director.

In some years a one-off peripatetic performance is staged, using various local, historic sites and batteries as dramatic settings for the play. To date, the company has performed Hamlet at the Prince of Wales Martello Tower twice, Richard III at the Sir Sandford Fleming Tower and at the Halifax Citadel, Henry V at the Halifax Citadel, King Lear at the Halifax Citadel, Julius Caesar in the historic courthouse on Spring Garden Road and Measure for Measure at the Prince of Wales Martello Tower.

Productions
2010 - Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, and Treasure Island (in support the 100 year celebration of the Canadian Navy)

2009 - Love's Labour's Lost, Macbeth, and Jack and the Beanstalk-Market

2008 - A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, and Cinderelly

2007 - Taming of the Shrew, All's Well That Ends Well, and Pinicchio

2006 - Much Ado About Nothing, and The Wizard of "Uh" Oz

2005 - The Merchant of Venice, Pericles Prince of Tyre, Twelfth Night, and Robin Hood

2004 - Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Richard III and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

2003 - Coriolanus, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet, and Peter Pan in the HRM

2002 - A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, As You Like It, and Alice in the HRM

2001 - Twelfth Night

2000 - Romeo and Juliet (in the U.K), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Ceaser, Rosencrantz and Guildinstern, Fables- The Lost Forest, and Scotland Road

1999 - Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, Titus Andronicus, Waiting for Godot, and Jacob Two Two

1998 - The Little Prince, Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, and Henry V

1997 - Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, and The Martello Tower Macbeth

1996 - A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Comedy of Errors, and The Martello Tower Hamlet

1995 - A Midsummer Night's Dream

1994 - Twelfth Night