Mission Statement:
A "Bash" is a crushing blow.
It can be powerful and done with passion.
It can be about making an attempt, going at it all on your own.
It can also be a wild night.
Shakespeare BASH'd is an artist-driven initiative that seeks to make classical theatre welcoming, inviting, and social.
Shakespeare BASH'd seeks to synthesize the classical with the modern, to look at the plays from a place of curiosity, joy, investigation, truth, and love.
It can be powerful and done with passion.
It can be about making an attempt, going at it all on your own.
It can also be a wild night.
Shakespeare BASH'd is an artist-driven initiative that seeks to make classical theatre welcoming, inviting, and social.
Shakespeare BASH'd seeks to synthesize the classical with the modern, to look at the plays from a place of curiosity, joy, investigation, truth, and love.
Core Artistic Team:
James Wallis - Co-Founder & Co-Artistic Director
James has been a Shakespeare fan all his life, having performed with Resurgence Theatre Company as a teenager and again as a professional later in his career.
In 2010, James co-founded Shakespeare BASH’d with his wife, Julia. For the company, James has directed staged readings of Romeo and Juliet (2010), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2011), and Edward II (2015), as well as the full productions of Romeo & Juliet, Love's Labour's Lost, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Twelfth Night. He played Petruchio in the company's Best of Fringe winning production of The Taming of the Shrew in 2012 and the remount in 2015, and played Benedick in their sold-out production of Much Ado About Nothing in the 2013 Toronto Fringe.
In addition, here are some of James’ selected theatre credits: A Midsummer Nights’ Dream, Shakespeare’s Magic and The Taming of the Shrew (Theatre by the Bay), Danny, King of the Basement (Roseneath Theatre, US Tour), Sleeping Beauty (Sudbury Theatre Centre), Paradise by the River (Shadowpath Theatre).
James participated in the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directing at the Stratford Festival, assistant directing Macbeth, Bunny, and Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar. He returned in 2021 as Co-Director and Co-Curator of Play On! A Shakespeare-Inspired Mix-Tape. He is also the Co-Artistic Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival in Prescott, ON.
In 2010, James co-founded Shakespeare BASH’d with his wife, Julia. For the company, James has directed staged readings of Romeo and Juliet (2010), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2011), and Edward II (2015), as well as the full productions of Romeo & Juliet, Love's Labour's Lost, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Twelfth Night. He played Petruchio in the company's Best of Fringe winning production of The Taming of the Shrew in 2012 and the remount in 2015, and played Benedick in their sold-out production of Much Ado About Nothing in the 2013 Toronto Fringe.
In addition, here are some of James’ selected theatre credits: A Midsummer Nights’ Dream, Shakespeare’s Magic and The Taming of the Shrew (Theatre by the Bay), Danny, King of the Basement (Roseneath Theatre, US Tour), Sleeping Beauty (Sudbury Theatre Centre), Paradise by the River (Shadowpath Theatre).
James participated in the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directing at the Stratford Festival, assistant directing Macbeth, Bunny, and Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar. He returned in 2021 as Co-Director and Co-Curator of Play On! A Shakespeare-Inspired Mix-Tape. He is also the Co-Artistic Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival in Prescott, ON.
Julia Nish-Lapidus - Co-Founder & Co-Artistic Director
Julia Nish-Lapidus is a director, actor, and producer, as well as a Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Toronto’s Shakespeare BASH'd (Best Site Specific Theatre Company, NOW Magazine Readers’ Choice 2018, 2019). She has worked as the Managing Director of Common Boots Theatre and as part of the team at The Theatre Centre. She is also the Co-Artistic Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival in Prescott, ON.
She was a member of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directing in, acting as the Assistant Director on Private Lives and Associate Director on All's Well That Ends Well, and as co-facilitator of the WordPlay series in the Forum. In the Festival's 2021 season she was Co-Director and Co-Curator of Play On! A Shakespeare-Inspired Mix-Tape.
For Shakespeare BASH'd, Julia has directed Cymbeline, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, and the staged reading of The Duchess of Malfi. She has also performed in many BASH'd productions, including A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and Volpone (staged reading).
Selected Additional Credits: Romeo and Juliet (George Brown); She Stoops to Conquer, Play On! (St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival); Romeo and Juliet (YES/STC); The Duchess of Malfi, The Revenger’s Tragedy (Co-Director, Toronto Metropolitan University); The Tom & Gertie Letters Project (Co-Director, SpringWorks), Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen, This Property is Condemned (Director, The Playwright Project), Modern Love (Co-Creator, Next Stage), As You Like It (Text Coach, Theatre By the Bay), Titus Andronicus (Text Coach, Hart House), and as an actor OVER, See Bob Run (Theatre Caravel), reasons to the pretty (The Labute Cycle), The Forest (Red One Theatre Collective), Dublin Carol (Fly on the Wall).
Julia is a graduate of the joint acting program at UofT and Sheridan College.
She was a member of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directing in, acting as the Assistant Director on Private Lives and Associate Director on All's Well That Ends Well, and as co-facilitator of the WordPlay series in the Forum. In the Festival's 2021 season she was Co-Director and Co-Curator of Play On! A Shakespeare-Inspired Mix-Tape.
For Shakespeare BASH'd, Julia has directed Cymbeline, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, and the staged reading of The Duchess of Malfi. She has also performed in many BASH'd productions, including A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and Volpone (staged reading).
Selected Additional Credits: Romeo and Juliet (George Brown); She Stoops to Conquer, Play On! (St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival); Romeo and Juliet (YES/STC); The Duchess of Malfi, The Revenger’s Tragedy (Co-Director, Toronto Metropolitan University); The Tom & Gertie Letters Project (Co-Director, SpringWorks), Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen, This Property is Condemned (Director, The Playwright Project), Modern Love (Co-Creator, Next Stage), As You Like It (Text Coach, Theatre By the Bay), Titus Andronicus (Text Coach, Hart House), and as an actor OVER, See Bob Run (Theatre Caravel), reasons to the pretty (The Labute Cycle), The Forest (Red One Theatre Collective), Dublin Carol (Fly on the Wall).
Julia is a graduate of the joint acting program at UofT and Sheridan College.
Daniel Briere - Associate Artistic Director
Daniel is an actor, director, writer and performer with a thorough knowledge of classical text. For Shakespeare BASH’d, he has directed a staged reading of Gorboduc (the first true elizabethan verse tragedy), and performed such roles as Iachimo in Cymbeline, Duke Ferdinand/Senior in As You Like It, Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, and Polonius in Hamlet.
Daniel spent three seasons at the Stratford Festival, where he played in two of Tim Carroll’s original practises productions, as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, and as Robert Faulkonbridge in King John. He has most recently played Claudius in Hamlet at Shakespeare By The Sea, directed by BASH’d alumni Drew Douris-O’Hara.
Daniel spent three seasons at the Stratford Festival, where he played in two of Tim Carroll’s original practises productions, as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, and as Robert Faulkonbridge in King John. He has most recently played Claudius in Hamlet at Shakespeare By The Sea, directed by BASH’d alumni Drew Douris-O’Hara.