As Prospero is putting down his magical books, Meg Roe is picking hers up.

At 29, standing near the beginning of her career, Roe is about to make her directorial debut helming The Tempest, a play that is often interpreted as a metaphor about an artist at the end of his life. Most scholars believe that The Tempest is the last work written solely by William Shakespeare. In the script, a sorcerer named Prospero abjures his magic spells and steps toward death. The Tempest will weave its magic in the Douglas Campbell Studio Tent at Bard on the Beach from Wednesday (July 2) to September 20.

Interviewed in one of the offices tucked into the collection of Bard tents, which sit in Vanier Park, Roe acknowledges that, as a director, she’s jumping in at the deep end. “The hardest part of this so far has been getting ready to do it,” she begins. “The fear of starting was huge. Huge. Totally huge. But once we started work… I mean, this job is different, but I’m working the same way I work as an actor. It’s the same way I work as a designer. I’m just trying to be brave and curious.”

Roe made her local acting debut in the Vancouver Playhouse’s 2003 production of Romeo and Juliet. She played Juliet and, in real life, she fell in love with her Romeo, Alessandro Juliani. Roe and Juliani have gone on to create many sound designs together, including a number for Bard on the Beach. Christopher Gaze, Bard’s artistic director, noticed her dedication to the overall process of making theatre and asked her to direct.

As she tries on this new role, Roe seems to be pacing herself. “Because it’s my first job, I’m not trying to buy the supermarket on five bucks,” she says. Then she explains, “I mean, I’m not interested in producing the definitive production of The Tempest and putting my stamp on Prospero for all time.” Rather than going for a concept-heavy interpretation, she wants to tell the story in a clear and readily accessible manner. This desire informed her choice to set the play in the Jacobean period, which is when it was written.

And, as a sound designer, she appreciates how much music can help with focus. Juliani is creating an original score that will be played by an on-stage string trio. “From baroque to pop, it travels beautifully,” Roe says.

Asked what she thinks The Tempest is about, she offers: “I think it’s about what happens when you find yourself stripped of how you would normally be. I think it’s about being alone on a desert island. Who are you? What parts of yourself do you actually need and what parts are you putting on that are no longer useful?”

It’s about Prospero sloughing off an old skin. And Roe trying on a new one.