This year Bard in the Park will be taking audiences to Verona to witness the ill-fated love of Romeo and Juliet. Our lovers find each other in the year 1919, in the aftermath of one of humanity’s greatest tragedies. The Great War took the lives of over one million Italians, wrought economic havoc, and left the people of Italy desperate for change, or desperate to win glory for their country, or, simply, desperate. How do you cope in the wake of such tragedy? How can we work together, and better love each other, when so much divides us? These questions echo throughout the play.

This event is part the Toronto Arts Foundation initiative Arts in the Parks, a non-profit program that’s bringing free art events and activities to parks across Toronto all summer long.