Why these are the 5 must-see plays in Vancouver in June

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June is a transitional month for theatre in Metro Vancouver.

The subscription companies have finished or are finishing their seasons. The summer shows are ramping up and preparing to open. And smaller companies, with not so much competition as in the height of the winter season, often save their best for June.

All those phenomena are at play this month, with the must-see shows led by two Bard on the Beach blockbusters.

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Twelfth Night

When: June 11-Sept. 21
Where: Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, , Vanier Park
Tickets & Info: From $30 at bardonthebeach.org

Bard on the Beach is going especially big on its mainstage this year with Shakespeare’s wittiest comedy and most acclaimed tragedy. Twelfth Night offers romance, gender confusion and plenty of bawdy humour, along with some of the bard’s finest dramatic poetry. Shaw Festival veteran Diana Donnelly directs. And what a treat this is: Local fave Veda Hille provides the music for what Bard promises will be a “circus carnival festival.”

Super Seniors

When: June 6-23
Where: PAL Studio Theatre, 581 Cardero St.
Tickets & Info: $30-$37 at westerngoldtheatre.org

Western Gold Theatre premieres Kathryn Shaw’s comedy about three women over 105 years old: Super seniors. After decades of directing and running the acclaimed Studio 58 theatre program at Langara College, Shaw has written this play based on the longevity of women in her own family. She acts in it, too, along with Patti Allan and Annabel Kershaw. Anita Rochon directs.

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Hamlet

When: June 13-Sept. 20
Where: Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, Vanier Park
Tickets & Info: From $30 at bardonthebeach.org

Dramaturge Stephen Drover directs his own adaptation of the greatest play of all time. Why does it need to be adapted? “To infuse it with contemporary relevance,” Drover says. Hmmm. Some would argue that it’s plenty relevant as is, but let’s keep an open mind. Any Hamlet is better than none. Fine local actor Nadeem Phillip Umar Khitab (formerly known as Nadeem Phillip) stars as the melancholy Dane.

Medicine

When: June 13-23
Where: The Cultch, 1895 Venables St.
Tickets & Info: $38 at thecultch.com

Pi Theatre presents the Canadian premiere of Irish playwright Enda Walsh’s dark, absurdist comic drama about mental illness, institutional indifference and drama therapy. What could go wrong when a couple of local actors are hired to cheer up an institutionalized mental patient? Calling it “flamboyant, funny and surreal,” The Guardian compares the play to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Pi’s Richard Wolfe directs.

Guys & Dolls

When: To June 30
Where: Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage, 2750 Granville St.
Tickets & Info: From $39 at artsclub.com

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This may seem like déja vu since Guys & Dolls was one of our must-sees for May. But now that the Arts Club production has opened, I can attest to how genuinely terrific it is. One of the all-time great Broadway musicals, it gets a fresh, brisk, delightful staging from Ashlee Corcoran with excellent character work from the large cast, exhilarating song and dance, Shelley Stewart Hunt’s exceptional choreography, and a crowning performance by Madeleine Suddaby as Adelaide, the doll who shows the guys what’s what.

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