SiR’s upcoming season a case of all’s fair in love and war

A month before Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of The Odyssey invades cinemas worldwide, Shakespeare in the Ruins’ 2026 season will feature a solo version of The Iliad, giving audiences a crash course in Homer’s epic prequel just in time for a blockbuster summer.

With global conflict and the threats of unmitigated re-armament on his — and everyone’s — mind, artistic director Rodrigo Beilfuss says it only made sense for the outdoor theatre company to return to the Trojan War as a window into the everlasting human cost of international conflict.

Beilfuss, who joined SiR as artistic director in 2019, made a concerted effort throughout the company’s return from pandemic-induced hiatus to program gentler fare. But with last year’s well-received production of Macbeth, the company indicated it was ready to return to tragic terrain.

During a season backdropped by wildfire, the artistic director was reminded of the potential for the classics to cut through the smoke and reveal eternal truths as the world burns.

After last performing at SiR in 2022 — in Ron Pederson’s meta-theatrical solo show The Player King — Beilfuss will return to the ruins alone for An Iliad (June 18-July 5), which tasks the actor with recounting the stories of Achilles, Priam and Helen.

Written by Obie-winning playwright Lisa Peterson and character actor/writer Denis O’Hare in the fog of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, An Iliad will be directed by Christopher Brauer with live instrumentation by Daniel Roy. Beilfuss — who appeared in Murder on the Orient Express and A Number for Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre this season — will also share production design duties with Brauer.

Continuing in a restructured format initiated in 2022 — when the company returned to the Trappist Monastery Provincial Heritage Park in St. Norbert after COVID restrictions eased — Shakespeare in the Ruins will mount a pair of productions concurrently.

To officially open the season, on June 4, the company will return to the Forest of Arden for its first production of the Bard’s As You Like It since 2004. Michelle Boulet, who co-founded the company in 1994, will direct, taking on the gig for the first time since helming 2018’s version of Timon of Athens.

With Daina Leitold as production designer, the cast for the pastoral comedy (June 4-July 5), which follows heroine Rosalind as she flees court persecution and finds love, will feature nine city actors: Mallory James, Liam Dutiaume, Kevin Klassen, Tom Keenan, Melanie Whyte, Honey Pham, Rayna Masterton, Justin Fry and Artie Lorraine.

Dutiaume and Keenan, meanwhile, will reprise their roles as Lucky and Pozzo, respectively, in RMTC’s 2027 remount of the 2025 SiR version of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.

Tickets for the season are available now at shakespeareintheruins.com or by calling the box office at 204-891-9160. Any tickets purchased before April 12 will be discounted by 15 per cent.

winnipegfreepress.com/benwaldman