Bard on the Beach, the long running Shakespeare festival held in tents near the ocean in Vanier Park, has long been a staple event of the Summer in Vancouver. In 1990, Christopher Gaze launched the festival, and since then it’s delighted patrons and locals, and employed homegrown talent. This book is the memoir of the man behind it all, from his start in the UK where he was born, trained via The Old Vic in the 70’s and landing on Canadian soil, and his 50 year career in the theatre. It’s also the story of Bard itself, it’s ups and downs and all the little stories that go into the history of those tents by the beach.

I love going to Bard every year. The day tickets are released, I make sure I have a pair of tickets to see something, usually a comedy. I love that the plays have fun playing around with themes and costuming. Sometimes they are traditional Shakespeare, but sometimes they’re set in the Wild West or a Dystopian Future, or a modern local Rec Centre. The festival uses a lot of volunteers to run itself, and they’re everywhere, ushering you to your seat or selling you a snack. A lot of them return every year to help out, many of them for decades. It’s a local institution at this point and going is incredibly wholesome as well as fun. It’s Summer when it’s held, and through the back of the main stage you can see the sun setting as you watch the play. It’s something really special.

And, of course, Christopher Gaze is the man who came up with the plan. The Founding Artistic Director.

As a trained actor, and one steeped in English theatre at that, he has a certain way of carrying himself and speaking, and the book captures that really well. I felt when I was reading it that we get the man we see at Bard On The Beach: a bit plummy, confident but humble, a kind, now older, gentleman who has many anecdotes and knows just how to make fun of himself before you can. His tone is very British, a little Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie, even though he’s been in Canada for longer than I’ve been on this planet. He’s from a kind, old fashioned Britain that we know from TV and movies but that is long gone now. In this book, he’s on a Boy’s Own adventure in life, he’s a good lad, who is off to see the world and eventually be nominated for a bunch of actually pretty impressive awards and honorary degrees. (Meritorious Service Medal, Order of BC, King Charles Coronation Medal, honorary degrees from SFU and UBC, and more).

I feel like that sounds pretty close to casting shade in his direction, and I don’t mean it that way. He’s a very likeable person and his business acumen and creativity are truly impressive. I liked the person I spent time with while reading his book. I also, felt, however, that it felt a bit polished and at one remove. Like a lot of British men, he’s a bit hard to get to know, he has this pleasant reserve that seems to be telling you a lot, but is not going to get truly raw and vulnerable. I feel after reading this that I know his story, but perhaps I don’t really know him.

The book’s, loosely, first half is all about his life and growing up. He was born in to a priveledged background in the UK, to loving parents, who sent him to a private school, and he was able to attend the Old Vic and had a few handy connections as well as family money which helped him with housing. Of course, he had to put in the work, or nothing would have come of any of this, but he did have a good start and good connections. And I think he’s pretty honest in acknowledging this. Actually, his parent’s seemed like they were absolutely lovely people. He’s led a fairly interesting life, not without it’s share of drama and tragedy, and it’s an interesting story of how one man made his life in the theatre.

Then the second half we get into how the festival all began and what goes into it each year, how it’s kept on going, and it’s history and things. This was interesting to me as someone who’s attended a play there several years in a row, it’s no mean feat to put on a play, let alone a whole festival, and so it’s probably very interesting to people who have gone for a long time and remember some of the seasons back in the early days and things. If you’re not in that category, this book will be a little dry for you at this point, I think. It’s really aiming at a target audience here.

On the whole, if you’re into either local history or theatre history, or have ever run a festival, this book is quite interesting. There are so many elements that go in to making a play happen, and it’s a bit of alchemy when it all comes together. When it comes together consistently for decades, that’s magical and quite remarkable, and that’s worth celebrating. If you’re a student of theatre or acting, this could be an interesting one to pick up and read.

As a memoir or biography, I think it’s quite a pleasant read, but has a more limited reach. There are some interesting and funny stories about some famous names and faces, including George Bush, Pete Postlethwaite and Katherine Hepburn, and a few other luminaries, but I think for readers who don’t know Gaze from Bard or his other work, it’s not dramatic enough, perhaps, to hook people in. His life is, happily, mostly a little too charmed for the drama a celebrity biography reader needs. I quite enjoyed it though.

Read It If: a charmed life, this one is for theatre officionados, Vancouver natives, and fans of the man and the festival.

This was a book I purchased myself at the book launch with the author, and not sent by the publisher.