Last month, we announced that Rebecca Northan, Stephen Drover, and Ming Hudson would be returning to Bard on the Beach to helm our 2026 Season productions.
On the BMO Mainstage, Rebecca will direct a musical spin on The Merry Wives of Windsor full of mischief and merriment, while Stephen takes on one of the Bard’s darkest plays with a harsh, dystopian Macbeth. Meanwhile, when the Goblins aren’t stirring up trouble, our Douglas Campbell Theatre will be home to a bold new adaptation of Sophocles’ classic tale of authority, resistance, and familial loyalty, Antigone, reimagined by Kate Besworth and directed by Ming.
In today’s Bard Blog feature, learn more about Rebecca, Stephen, and Ming—and discover what they’re most excited about in our upcoming Season!
MEET THE DIRECTORS
Rebecca Northan
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Rebecca is a “Jill-of-all-trades”: actor, director, playwright, producer, improvisor, and corporate coach. Previously for Bard, she directed The Comedy of Errors in 2024. Most recently, Rebecca co-wrote and directed Murder-on-the-Lake at the Shaw Festival—a partially improvised murder mystery that invites one audience member up on stage to star as Detective, each night. Rebecca is perhaps best known for her smash-hit show, Blind Date, which has toured across Canada, the US, and in London’s West End. Blind Date also played the Arts Club in Vancouver (including a Lower Mainland tour), and to date, has had over 1700 performances. Rebecca is a Canadian Comedy Award winner and makes a point of playing with the fine improvisors at Tightrope Theatre whenever she is in Vancouver.
“I am so excited to return to Bard on the Beach to direct The Merry Wives of Windsor—particularly because it is a play that focuses on everyday people getting caught up in hilarity, hijinks, and revenge. It is also Shakespeare’s only play that is 90% NOT in iambic pentameter! The Merry Wives of Windsor is highly accessible in this sense, moreso because we plan to set the action of this production in 2026, in and around the community athletic centre of a (fictional) Vancouver suburb, where friends and neighbours happen to be seriously obsessed with all things soccer. Watch out—Bard’s got balls!”
Stephen Drover
Macbeth
Stephen is a dramaturg and director originally from Newfoundland and presently based on the lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (Vancouver). He holds an MFA in Directing from the University of British Columbia and an MA in Theatre Theory and Dramaturgy from the University of Ottawa and presently works at the Arts Club where he develops new plays. He is a four-time recipient of a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for directing, has worked as a director or dramaturg on over 60 professional theatre productions across Canada, and has published research on Shakespeare adaptation process analysis in Shakespeare Bulletin. Stephen has taught and directed at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Douglas College, Neptune Theatre School, and the University of British Columbia.
“The chance to explore Shakespeare’s dark and remarkable masterpiece Macbeth was an opportunity I could not pass up. Working with Bard gives me the space and time to wrestle with big questions in this challenging script and I look forward to returning to the tents in 2026.”
Ming Hudson
Antigone
Ming is a Vancouver-based artist who pays rent on the lands stolen from the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. For over 20 years, she has worked as a freelance performer, devised theatre creator, collaborative director, independent producer, and teaching artist locally, across Canada, and abroad. Her specializations are in physical theatre and the creation of new work as a collective ensemble. A graduate of the Advanced Devising Practice program at LISPA (now arthaus.berlin), she also holds a MA in Ensemble Theatre (Rose Bruford) and a BFA in Acting (UVic). Select directing credits include Studio 58, UBC, Two Planks and a Passion, Chemainus Theatre, and Green Thumb Theatre. Upcoming, she will be working as a director for 25th Street Theatre, Zee Zee Theatre, and Bard on the Beach. minghudson.com
“Bard on the Beach has been supporting this new adaptation of Antigone since Kate Besworth and I first began developing the project in 2019. We created this piece with the Douglas Campbell Theatre in mind, with Vancouver artists as our collaborators, with the Bard patrons as our audience. After having the opportunity to direct Antigone professionally on the East Coast at Two Planks and a Passion in 2023, it is incredibly special for me to bring the show home to where it all began and for us to be able to present it as we had always envisioned.”
We’re so excited to have Rebecca, Stephen, and Ming back at Bard to bring our 2026 Season to life! We also gratefully acknowledge our returning Mainstage Sponsor, BMO, and our Production Sponsors Lawson Lundell LLP, Odlum Brown, and Polygon Homes, whose continuing support and investment in the arts makes our work possible year after year.
Can’t wait for our 2026 Season? Season and Flex Packs are available now at our Early Bird rate until the new year! To buy your Pack, visit our website or call our Box Office at 604-739-0559 (open Monday to Friday, 12pm–4pm).