Shakespeare performed in a pandemic, so The Lethbridge Shakespeare Performance Society plans to  perform  during the Covid 19 crisis— one way or the other.
 As Covid safety protocols have been lessened, The 12 actors had their first read through on Thursday of John Poulsen’s reader’s theatre version of the farce the Merry Wives of Windsor, for an online presentation of the production on July 3 at 7 p.m., to be filmed at the Gate.

“Thursday was an unmitigated disaster, wasn’t it,” asked Poulsen asking for confirmation from a few of the actors trickling into the Gate for rehearsal.
“But Friday was a lot better. So it was a mitigated disaster because we learned a lot. Though everyone left feeling kind of bummed. All 12 actors stayed. They were willing to experiment,” he continued.

The first read through was also a test of whether they would be able to use Zoom to broadcast, but ran into a few technical issues, so they tried an alternate approach during Friday’s rehearsal and moved to a two camera strategy for Saturday’s rehearsal.

 The end result is there will be broadcasts on Youtube as well as the Lethbridge Shakespeare Performance Society Facebook page on July 3, 11 and 17 most likely from the Gate Church with a limited audience of 50. There may be future broadcasts added this summer including possibly at Galt Gardens.

 They also have a couple of performances scheduled for the Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens, though the official date is to be announced.

“Shakespeare performed during a pandemic (the bubonic plague in 1603-1613, during which London playhouses were shut down 60 per cent of the time) and he went on the road with his troupe and wrote plays. I think he rewrote Romeo and Juliet during it,” Poulsen said.

“This could change the way we do things in the future,” Poulsen said.

Poulsen has written several reader’s theatre adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays including Merry Wives of Windsor.

“Part of my job at the university is research and I found 50 per cent of kids really hate Shakespeare and the other 50 per cent love Shakespeare. So I wrote a 25 minute reader’s theatre designed to fit in a high school class and a 45 minute version.

Covid 19 got the creative juices flowing during quarantine. In addition to about a dozen local musicians releasing CDs in the past few months, local visual artists have been hard at work.

 The 68 artists’ recent works culminates in The Summer Salon, the new exhibit at Casa, which officially opened on Monday, July 6.

“We have everyone from emerging and self taught artists all the way up to academic and professional artists,” said Casa curator Darcy Logan.
 The Exhibit, on all floors of Casa, runs until Aug. 21.

 “So it runs all summer,” Logan continued, adding he was impressed with the quality of the art submitted.

“We weren’t even sure if we  were going to be able to open casa,” he continued, adding organizing the exhibit came together quickly.

Things are slowly starting to reopen. Last week the Slice had  a successful show featuring seven bands. This week is the Sound Garden Over 21 Club’s chance to shine. They reopen on Friday, July 17 at 7 p.m. with local favourites long standing classic rockers the Chevelles.

 Proper social distancing measures will be in place. There is a five dollar cover.
The Owl Acoustic Lounge is testing the waters for open mics on their expanded patio beginning tonight at 7:30 p.m. Solo performers  are only allowed, and if you have your own microphone, bring it, though sanitized mics will be  on handed to swap out between performers.

 It is a good week for drama. The Lethbridge Shakespeare Perfomance Society’s first open air live performance of Merry Wives of Windsor  at the Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens is sold out.