Stephen Drover is Directing the Macbeth He's Been Thinking About for Twenty Years

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About this episode:

Stephen Drover has directed Macbeth before; twenty years ago, the day after it closed, he wanted to do it again. Now, as both adapter and director for Bard on the Beach in Vancouver, he's finally getting that chance. In this rich conversation, Stephen talks about approaching Shakespeare not as a sacred text to be served but as a living collaboration, asking not what the words inherently mean but what meaning is being created in this specific theatre, for this specific audience, right now.

The conversation covers the challenge of stripping away cultural baggage around the witches, to building a post-environmental dystopia as the world of the play, to why Stephen leans into the brutal, blood-soaked reality of the play rather than sanitizing it for comfortable consumption. He also reflects on how becoming a parent has changed the way he receives Macbeth's deeply embedded anxieties about children and grief.

This episode explores:

• Approaching Shakespeare as a collaborator rather than a proprietor — and what that means in practice for this production
• The concentric rings of Stephen's career: actor to director to artistic director to dramaturg
• How a late diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and ADHD illuminates why theatre suits his brain so well
• New play development at the Arts Club and the 'one size fits one' philosophy
• And much more!

Guest: 🎭 Stephen Drover

Stephen is a dramaturg and director originally from Newfoundland and presently based on the lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (Vancouver, British Columbia). He holds a BFA in Theatre from Memorial University of Newfoundland, an MFA in Directing from the University of British Columbia, and an MA in Theatre Theory and Dramaturgy from the University of Ottawa.

Since 2018, he has served as Head of New Works and Professional Engagement at Arts Club Theatre Company, where he leads the commissioning and development of new plays. His dramaturgical work there includes projects such as Forgiveness (Hiro Kanagawa), Redbone Coonhound (Amy Lee Lavoie & Omari Newton), and The Cull (Michele Riml & Michael St. John Smith).

For Bard on the Beach, he has worked as a production dramaturg for Harlem Duet, he adapted the script for their celebrated production of Julius Caesar, and he directed Hamlet in 2024.

He is a four-time recipient of a Jessie Richardson 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. He sits on the board of LMDA Canada.

🪶 Check out MacBeth at Bard on the Beach: https://bardonthebeach.org/whats-on/macbeth/

📸 Bard on the Beach on Instagram: @bardonthebeach

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