Freewill Shakespeare Festival

Coordinates: 53°31′41″N 113°32′51″W / 53.52806°N 113.54750°W / 53.52806; -113.54750 The Freewill Shakespeare Festival (known as the River City Shakespeare Festival from 1998–2009) is a Shakespeare festival in Edmonton, Alberta, produced by the Edmonton-based Free Will Players every summer from late-June to mid-July. Its performances take place in the 1,000-seat Heritage Amphitheater in Hawrelak Park.

The Festival includes full-scale professional productions of two plays by William Shakespeare; as well as Camp Shakespeare, a summer drama camp for youth ages 8–16. Founded in 1989, the festival festival was renamed the Freewill Shakespeare Festival in 2008.^[1]

Due to significant damage to Freewill's traditional venue at the Heritage Amphitheatre, the festival's 2014 season took place inside the Myer Horowitz Theatre in the University of Alberta's Students' Union Building (8900 114 Street).

Recent productions[]

Year	Tragedy	Comedy	Season
2019	The Winter's Tale	The Two Gentlemen of Verona	June 18 – July 14^[2]
2018	Hamlet	The Comedy of Errors	June 19 – July 15^[3]
2017	Merchant of Venice	The Merry Wives of Windsor	June 20 – July 16^[4]
2016	Romeo and Juliet	Love's Labour's Lost	June 21 – July 17^[5]
2015	Coriolanus	As You Like It	June 23 – July 19
2014	cancelled	The Taming of the Shrew
2013	King Lear	A Midsummer Night's Dream
2012	Julius Caesar	The Tempest
2011	Othello	Twelfth Night
2010	Macbeth	Much Ado About Nothing
2009	Titus Andronicus	The Comedy of Errors
2008	Richard III	As You Like It
2007	Two Gentlemen of Verona (musical)	The Winter's Tale
2006	Hamlet	The Taming of the Shrew
2005	Romeo and Juliet	Love's Labour's Lost
2004	The Merchant of Venice	Twelfth Night
2003	Henry V	A Midsummer Night's Dream
2002	The Tempest	The Merry Wives of Windsor
2001	Richard III	As You Like It
2000	King Lear	Much Ado About Nothing
1999	Macbeth	The Two Gentlemen of Verona
1998	Julius Caesar	The Comedy of Errors