The 37th season of Vancouver’s Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival kicks off this week.

It all gets started on Tuesday night with The Merry Wives of Windsor, followed by Macbeth on Wednesday night.

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Artistic Director Christopher Gaze says that The Merry Wives of Windsor is back with a modern spin.

“It is all about soccer, because FIFA’s coming, the World Cup is going to be here, and I’m excited about that,” Gaze told 1130 NewsRadio.

“One of the leading young men, he is the captain of the boys’ soccer team; the leading young woman captains the women’s soccer team. And then naughty old Falstaff in the middle, who’s a roué who used to be good at soccer, but all those days have passed, and now he’s just a naughty man.”

Related: Bard on the Beach artistic director Christopher Gaze looks back in a new memoir

As for Macbeth, Gaze says “The Scottish Play” is always good fun.

“All those remarkable words and terrifying plot. And that is the idea. This year especially, Stephen Drover, the director of the production, he just wants to terrify people. And I think that’s fantastic. Like a horror film, and that’s really what the play is about.”

The festival started with a modest tent back in 1990 and has grown to two stages and a slate of year-round programming today.

Bard on the Beach runs from June 9 to September 19 at Vanier Park.