Chris Humphreys takes Shakespeare’s Rebel from page to stage

Because Chris Humphreys had already published nine novels when he entered the UBC creative writing MFA program, he “wasn’t there to learn how to write.” His 2013 novel, Shakespeare’s Rebel, was the topic of his MFA thesis.

Humphreys has adapted Shakespeare’s Rebel into a stage play for Bard on the Beach, which originally hosted the book’s launch party. According to Humphreys, the launch transported patrons to Elizabethan London — complete with sword fights, dramatic readings and men in tight pants. The night prompted Bard on the Beach’s artistic director, Christopher Gaze, to request a stage adaptation for the festival.

Humphreys proposed the project as his thesis to UBC theatre professor Martin Kinch.

“He came on board as my thesis advisor and helped me … [write] it,” he said. “When Christopher Gaze loved it and decided to put it on his season, Martin came aboard as the dramaturg at Bard on the Beach.”

In the end, Humphreys was proud of the play adaptation of Shakespeare’s Rebel, even though the play and novel’s plot structures deviated from one another.

“I’m really proud of the play and I’m really proud of the novel, but they’re different. You are seeking to elicit a different experience from the viewer or the reader.”

Humphreys will be stepping out of his role of author and into his role of actor this month at Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape at UBC’s Frederick Wood Theatre from September 26 to 29, 2018.