There’s only one more month for you to catch Much Ado About Nothing, which patrons are calling “vibrant, engaging, and full of heart”! 

Earlier this summer, we had the chance to sit down with Paige Fraser, who is joining us for her second Season at Bard after making her debut in Coriolanus in 2019. She took the time to chat with us about the Season and her roles as Verges in Much Ado about Nothing and Outlaw/Courtier in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Read on to learn more about how she fell in love with theatre, why this Season has felt like a full circle moment for her, and how her beloved wig in The Two Gentlemen of Verona ended up with the name Barb! 

Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you got into theatre?
I’m from a tiny town on Vancouver Island—Black Creek, Vancouver Island, represent. I was probably around 4 or 5, and I had a VHS of the musical Annie. I remember watching it and going, oh, I want to do that for the rest of my life. And that’s kind of been my journey. I fell in love with this thing and I’ve kind of never let go. It’s been a great ride so far. Every time I’m back here, I think about teen Paige who had cropped hair and was playing the Artful Dodger in Oliver! and who went into the gift shop to buy a Bard shirt to prove that she had been here. I owned it until it fell apart but I bought it to kind of say, I will be back here, and I will be working here, and I cannot wait. I think about that little girl whenever I get to walk under these tents and do these shows.

Do you remember what show you were seeing when you came here?
Yes! It was Twelfth Night, and it’s a bit of a full circle moment this year because Scott Bellis was Feste in that production and David Marr was Toby Belch. I remember being this young kid from the Island who just desperately wanted to do theatre and seeing this show and having this permanent grin on my face from laughing so hard. I also remember how hard the ending of that production hit. It was this Roaring Twenties vision, and at the very end of the show, there was an epilogue that jumped to the Depression and Malvolio got his revenge. It was one of those moments where you’re like, oh, you can really do anything you want. And now this year, I get to work so closely with Scott as the Verges to his Dogberry. I get to work with David Marr, who’s in such a different role as Leonato from the Toby Belch I saw years ago. And getting to watch Jen Lines, who’s such a craftsperson of the text—it’s just priceless. It’s like being a kid in a candy store. It’s being in the room where it happens. It’s really exciting. Much Ado About Nothing is one of my favourite shows, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona was one I didn’t know as well, but I’ve really fallen in love with it. It’s a gift. It’s just so joyful.

Speaking of your dynamic as Dogberry and Verges—that’s a character that you really made your own. What was it like to craft this version of Verges and to work with Scott to find that relationship between you two?
Pretty soon after I got the offer, I jumped on a Zoom call with Scott and our director, Johnna Wright, and immediately the thing on everyone’s mind was like, okay, so Verges is usually an old, old man. Did I want to do that or do something different? And it brought me back to the first time I came here and realized you could do whatever you wanted with these pieces as long as you had a reason for them. And so we threw around a couple different ideas. We eventually ended up settling on having Verges as an intern figure, this little apprentice who was super, super eager to please. When we got to the rehearsal hall, we both had ideas about what we wanted to do individually and then starting to build that bridge together has been really, really fun. Scott’s such a “yes and” guy. It felt like he had a new idea every day about something we could try or that we could throw into this mix, and there were moments in the show that we do every night that we didn’t find until our final rehearsal before Opening Night, which I think is so fun.

Agnes Tong as Seacole, Paige Fraser as Verges, Scott Bellis as Dogberry, and Steffanie Davis as Member of the Watch in Much Ado About Nothing (2025) | Directed by Johnna Wright | Costume Design by Mara Gottler | Set Design by Pam Johnson | Lighting Design by Sophie Tang | Photo by Tim Matheson

It feels like there was a similar collaborative approach for The Two Gentlemen of Verona (especially when it came to the ‘80s references). What was it like to be in that room?
Oh, super joyful. It’s my second time working with Dean as a director, and I love working with him because he brings so many ideas and has such a strong vision as a director combined with this real sense of play. If you have a strong idea and you want to pitch it to him, he’s really open to that. Like, there’s the ThighMaster joke. I think that happened one day in rehearsal—I’m not sure whose idea it was—and that’s kind of the fun. Not every reference can make it into the show, but Dean does a great job of figuring out what’s going to help us communicate the era and the story and the feeling and letting us play within that. Oh my God, and the wigs are just—

Okay, yes, tell us more about the wigs!
The costume design for both productions has just been incredible. Mara Gottler did the costume design for Much Ado About Nothing, and I’ve been a fan of her work for so long. She’s one of those designers that you just dream of being dressed by. I remember our very first costume fitting and just walking up to her and being like, whatever you have for me, I’m ready. We had a lot of fun playing with how we were going to make me look like a dirty 13-year-old boy. And then I’ve had a few chances to work with Carmen Alatorre, who’s the costume designer for The Two Gentlemen of Verona. I love working with her, and you just have such trust walking into a costume fitting for her. She had all these beautiful pieces pulled with colour and the shoulder pads and the prints, and it felt like having your own personal fashion show going through Malibu Barbie’s closet.

And then you get the wigs for The Two Gentlemen of Verona! You have Caitlin [Peake] and Carmen working together to create these pieces. I’ve never met a wig I didn’t love, and the wigs in this show are absolutely unreal. I wear two wigs in the show. One is my Boy George-inspired outlaw look, and the other wig I have is one of my most beloved wigs I’ve ever put on my head. She’s huge and she’s got these beautiful curls and when I put that wig on with my show makeup and my teal dress, there’s been at least four people in our cast who’ve looked at me said, “I went to high school with that girl.” I’ve called her Barb after one of the actors in the show was like, “I went to prom with a girl named Barb who had the same hair.” I love her. Like, I’m really playing with the idea of getting a perm because of this wig.

The Company of The Two Gentlemen of Verona (2025) | Directed by Dean Paul Gibson | Set Design by Pam Johnson | Costume Design by Carmen Alatorre | Lighting Design by Gerald King | Photo by Tim Matheson

This is your first summer on the BMO Mainstage after making your Bard debut in the Douglas Campbell Theatre with Coriolanus in 2019. What has that been like for you?
Oh, it’s been really interesting. I love both spaces for very different reasons. I love the Douglas Campbell Theatre because it’s intimate and when you’re on stage, you can see every face if you choose to, which is exciting and daunting, but also beautiful. On the BMO Mainstage, I can feel the breeze off the water, which you don’t really get in the Douglas Campbell Theatre. You can hear the Snowbirds overheard. You can hear a party boat. It reminds me that these shows are alive and these stories are alive. And getting to work with people who have been on the Mainstage for so long and know how to work that huge space as well as they do? It’s a great gift. You learn every day.

Do you have like a favourite memory from this Season?
This is going to be a pretty general answer, but it’s true. My favourite takeaway so far is the amount of care I have felt within this company. There are people who are here for their first Season, and there are people who have been here for 30+ years. But everyone cares about each other. Everyone cares about story. Everyone cares about the art. It’s been a really special group for that. There have been so many late-night card games. There have been celebrations. The other day, we had an understudy rehearsal during the day, and we had a bit of extra time, so someone was like, “do you want to go to an escape room?” And so five of us went. There have been so many moments of coming together and celebrating each other and holding each other up. That’s been really amazing and impactful. 

And finally, when you’re not performing in the tents, what do you like to do?
This is truly my favourite place to be, but when I’m not here, I like to be outside. I love hiking. I love reading. I’m desperately trying to get to my reading goal. It’s only 15, but I’ll speed ahead of it, and then I’ll absolutely fall behind. I love to spend time with my husband and my cat and my friends. I try to see other shows when I can. I have another job I sometimes do: I go up to Grouse Mountain and emcee the lumberjack show. And farmers’ markets. I love going to my local farmers’ market. 

Thanks so much for catching up with us, Paige! 

You still have time to see Paige and the rest of our Mainstage Company in Much Ado About Nothing, running until September 20 on the BMO Mainstage. Get your tickets now!