Montreal Shakespeare company ready to hit a park near you

Shakespeare in the park returning to Montreal Repercussion Theatre is ready to launch a series of Shakespeare in the park performances for the summer.

Repercussion Theatre's travelling Shakespeare in the park is ready for another big production in the Montreal area.

"It's a big undertaking to go to each park and set everything up. It takes about four and a half hours or so," said artistic and executive director Amanda Kellock.

Performer Elly Pond added that the travelling production brings joy to members of this theatre company.

"It's fun," she said. "We are making this huge show and then packing it away into two small trucks and going different places."

Just like Shakespeare's travelling theatre companies of years past, Repercussion Theatre's "Infinite Variety" will be coming to a local park throughout the summer.

Pond said it's exciting to introduce Shakespeare to audiences.

"To work on a show where it's so many people's first time seeing Shakespeare feels really special," she said.

The challenge for all Shakespeare lovers is to keep theatre relevant at a time when technology has taken over.

Kellock said it's no easy feat to pry young eyes off their phones and onto the stage, though they manage to make new fans with every performance.

"It doesn't matter that we live in a world full of technology that everybody loves their Tik Tok and Netflix," she said. "There's something about theatre or live theatre in person that just does not get old."

The shows are free, but donations are encouraged, especially as many in the arts industry continue to recover after the pandemic.

"A big theme for this show is the fact that it's hard right now to be an arts organization, to be a theater company," said Kellock. "We're really struggling."

Using the works of Shakespeare as a springboard, this year's show also incorporates major themes of the current age, like climate change and the takeover of technology.

Company member Jake Cohen said theatre is "the one thing that cannot be replaced by technology because it's so intrinsically human."

Pond agrees.

"I'm 100 per cent sure that this show could not have been created by AI," she said. "I don't think AI has the wacky algorithm within it yet."

"Even when you think, okay, I think it might be done, I think we might need to put theater aside," said Kellock. "It's like, no, it actually shows itself even more relevant than ever as a way of bringing people together."