Galt Gardens will lend the scene to two outdoor plays this summer, as both the Lethbridge Shakespeare Performance Society and the University of Lethbridge drama department take their talents downtown.
“I had worked on an outdoor family show in Calgary for many years and when we moved here I thought; ‘Oh I wonder if there are anything like that here,'” Nicola Elson, co-creator and director of Hootenanny said. “I couldn’t find anything so I thought ‘Let’s see if we can create something.'”
Hootenanny is the first outdoor family performance Galt Gardens will see this year. It was created by staff and students at the University of Letbhbridge drama department in hopes of bringing a new element to the downtown area that has been absent for a while.
“We wanted to do it in the Galt Gardens to help revitalize that area,” Elson said.
Get breaking National news
“We knew that we wanted our story to be about inclusivity, diversity and community, which is why we wanted to make it a free play that all could feel welcome to attend, so that became the theme of our story.”
Hootenanny follows a theme of three main characters who are afraid of change, but soon come to realize it’s an important part of life. Eventually they learn to embrace each others’ differences.
The play is scheduled to run twice daily every Wednesday through Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. from Jul, 3, until the end of the month.
WATCH BELOW: (Jun, 2019) Frewill Shakespeare Festival begins in Hawrelak Park
However, that isn’t the only theatre taking place at Galt Gardens this month. In fact, Elson said she was inspired by another group to bring her outdoors.
“We were inspired by Shakespeare in the Park happening here in the evenings,” Elson said. “We thought it would be great to create a family show as well.”
The Lethbridge Shakespeare Performance Society will be returning for their eighth season this July, performing their own rendition of the classic tale Macbeth. While it may be fan favourite for Shakespeare lovers across the city, director Monique Danielle said this version will be slightly different than expected.
“When I first was looking back at Macbeth, I was struck by the amount of times Macbeth and Lady Macbeth discuss his masculinity, and she’s testing his masculinity and calling him a coward,” Danielle continued. “So I was really looking at the role of these people stuck in these traditional gender roles and how it’s caused problems for them.”
Macbeth is scheduled to run alongside Hootenanny in Galt Gardens at 7:30 p.m. every Thursday and Friday until Aug, 9, 2019.
Comments