Stratford Festival of Canada
Encyclopedia
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival (formerly known as the Stratford Festival of Canada) is an internationally recognized annual celebration of theatre
running from April to November in the Canadian
city of Stratford
, Ontario
. Theatre-goers, actor
s, and playwright
s flock to Stratford to take part — many of the greatest Canadian, British, and American
actors play roles at the Stratford festival. It was one of the first and is still one of the most prominent arts festivals
in Canada and is recognized worldwide for its productions of Shakespearean plays.
The Festival's primary mandate is to present productions of William Shakespeare
's plays, but it also produces a wide variety of theatre from Greek tragedy to contemporary works. Shakepeare's work typically represents about a third of the Festival's offerings.
The success of the festival dramatically changed the image of Stratford into one of a city where the arts
and tourism
play important roles in its economy. The festival attracts many tourists from outside Canada, mainly those British and American, and is seen as a very important part of Stratford's tourism sector.
who wanted to revitalize his town's economy by creating a theatre festival dedicated to the works of William Shakespeare
, as the town shares the name of Shakespeare's birthplace. Stratford was a railway junction and major locomotive shop, and was facing a disastrous loss of employment with the imminent elimination of steam power. Patterson achieved his goal, and the Stratford Shakespearean Festival became a legal entity on October 31, 1952. British
actor and director Tyrone Guthrie
agreed to become the festival's first Artistic Director. On July 13, 1953, actor Alec Guinness
spoke the first lines of the first play produced by the festival: "Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this son of York."
This first performance took place in a giant canvas tent on the banks of the River Avon. The season lasted six weeks and comprised just two plays: Richard III
and All's Well That Ends Well
. In the second year the playbill expanded, and included the first non-Shakespeare play, Oedipus Rex
. The Festival Theatre was opened in 1957, and was deliberately designed to resemble a tent, in memory of those first performances. The Festival Theatre's thrust stage was designed by British designer Tanya Moiseiwitsch
to resemble both a classic Greek amphitheatre and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
, and has become a model for other stages in North America and Great Britain.
The Festival Fringe runs during the season, and features music concerts, readings from major authors, lectures, and discussions with actors or management.
Long-serving Artistic Director Richard Monette
retired in 2007 after holding the position for fourteen seasons. He was replaced with an artistic team consisting of General Director Antoni Cimolino
and Artistic Directors Marti Maraden
, Des McAnuff
, and Don Shipley
. On March 12, 2008 it was announced that Shipley and Maraden would be stepping down, leaving Des McAnuff as sole Artistic Director.
The 2011 season features 12 productions four plays by Shakespeare, two musicals (one at the Festival, one at the Avon), and six other plays.
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is listed as a Major Festival in the book Shakespeare Festivals Around the World by Marcus D. Gregio (Editor
), 2004.
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
running from April to November in the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
city of Stratford
Stratford, Ontario
Stratford is a city on the Avon River in Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada with a population of 32,000.When the area was first settled by Europeans in 1832, the townsite and the river were named after Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It is the seat of Perth County. Stratford was...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. Theatre-goers, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s, and playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
s flock to Stratford to take part — many of the greatest Canadian, British, and American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actors play roles at the Stratford festival. It was one of the first and is still one of the most prominent arts festivals
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
in Canada and is recognized worldwide for its productions of Shakespearean plays.
The Festival's primary mandate is to present productions of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's plays, but it also produces a wide variety of theatre from Greek tragedy to contemporary works. Shakepeare's work typically represents about a third of the Festival's offerings.
The success of the festival dramatically changed the image of Stratford into one of a city where the arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
and tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
play important roles in its economy. The festival attracts many tourists from outside Canada, mainly those British and American, and is seen as a very important part of Stratford's tourism sector.
History
The Festival was founded as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada, due mainly to Tom Patterson, a Stratford-native journalistJournalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
who wanted to revitalize his town's economy by creating a theatre festival dedicated to the works of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, as the town shares the name of Shakespeare's birthplace. Stratford was a railway junction and major locomotive shop, and was facing a disastrous loss of employment with the imminent elimination of steam power. Patterson achieved his goal, and the Stratford Shakespearean Festival became a legal entity on October 31, 1952. British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
actor and director Tyrone Guthrie
Tyrone Guthrie
Sir William Tyrone Guthrie was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, at his family's home, Annaghmakerrig, in County Monaghan, Ireland.-Life and career:Guthrie...
agreed to become the festival's first Artistic Director. On July 13, 1953, actor Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
spoke the first lines of the first play produced by the festival: "Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this son of York."
This first performance took place in a giant canvas tent on the banks of the River Avon. The season lasted six weeks and comprised just two plays: Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
and All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1604 and 1605, and was originally published in the First Folio in 1623....
. In the second year the playbill expanded, and included the first non-Shakespeare play, Oedipus Rex
Oedipus the King
Oedipus the King , also known by the Latin title Oedipus Rex, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed c. 429 BCE. It was the second of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology, followed by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone...
. The Festival Theatre was opened in 1957, and was deliberately designed to resemble a tent, in memory of those first performances. The Festival Theatre's thrust stage was designed by British designer Tanya Moiseiwitsch
Tanya Moiseiwitsch
Tanya Moiseiwitsch, OC was an English theatre designer.Born in London, the daughter of Daisy Kennedy, an Australian concert violinist and Benno Moiseiwitsch, a famous Ukrainian classical pianist, she attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts...
to resemble both a classic Greek amphitheatre and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613...
, and has become a model for other stages in North America and Great Britain.
Today
The Festival runs from April to November, and has four permanent venues: the Festival Theatre, the Avon Theatre, the Tom Patterson Theatre, and the Studio Theatre. Although the Festival's primary mandate is to produce the works of Shakespeare, its season playbills usually include a variety of classical and contemporary works and at least one musical.The Festival Fringe runs during the season, and features music concerts, readings from major authors, lectures, and discussions with actors or management.
Long-serving Artistic Director Richard Monette
Richard Monette
Richard Jean Monette OC, DHum, LLD was a Canadian actor and director, best-known for his 14-season tenure as artistic director of the Stratford Festival of Canada from 1994 to 2007.-Early life:...
retired in 2007 after holding the position for fourteen seasons. He was replaced with an artistic team consisting of General Director Antoni Cimolino
Antoni Cimolino
Antoni Cimolino is a Canadian actor and director. He is currently the General Director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario....
and Artistic Directors Marti Maraden
Marti Maraden
Marti Maraden is a Canadian actor and director.She emigrated to Canada in 1968, and became a leading actor at the Stratford Festival in the 1970s....
, Des McAnuff
Des McAnuff
Desmond McAnuff is the Canadian-American artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and director of musical theatre of such Broadway productions as Big River, The Who's Tommy and Jersey Boys.-Biography:...
, and Don Shipley
Don Shipley
Don Shipley is a prominent Canadian stage director. He has led many theatre companies in Canada and Europe since the mid-1970s.Positions Shipley has held include:* Artistic Director at Victoria's Belfry Theatre from 1976 to 1979...
. On March 12, 2008 it was announced that Shipley and Maraden would be stepping down, leaving Des McAnuff as sole Artistic Director.
The 2011 season features 12 productions four plays by Shakespeare, two musicals (one at the Festival, one at the Avon), and six other plays.
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is listed as a Major Festival in the book Shakespeare Festivals Around the World by Marcus D. Gregio (Editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
), 2004.
Artistic Directors
- Tyrone GuthrieTyrone GuthrieSir William Tyrone Guthrie was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, at his family's home, Annaghmakerrig, in County Monaghan, Ireland.-Life and career:Guthrie...
(1953–1955) - Michael LanghamMichael LanghamMichael Langham was an English actor and director, who spent much of his career living and working in Canada and the United States....
(1956–1967) - Jean GasconJean GasconJean Gascon, was a Canadian opera director, actor, and administrator.From 1968 to 1974, he was the artistic director of the Stratford Festival of Canada.-Honours:...
(1968–1974) - Robin PhillipsRobin PhillipsRobin Phillips is an English actor and director.Phillips was born in Haslemere, Surrey, the son of EllenAnne and James William Phillips. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic and worked as an actor and director for many years in the United Kingdom, finishing as Artistic Director at the Greenwich...
(1975–1980) - John HirschJohn HirschJohn Stephen Hirsch, OC was an Hungarian-Canadian theater director. He was born in Siófok, Hungary, and escaped Hungary during World War Two as a refugee orphan...
(1981–1985) - John Neville (1985–1989)
- David WilliamDavid WilliamDavid William was a British/Canadian actor and director.He was born Bryan David Williams in London, the only child of Eric Williams and Olwen Roose, his wife. His family were London-based wine merchants. He was educated at Bryanston School and University College, Oxford...
(1990–1993) - Richard MonetteRichard MonetteRichard Jean Monette OC, DHum, LLD was a Canadian actor and director, best-known for his 14-season tenure as artistic director of the Stratford Festival of Canada from 1994 to 2007.-Early life:...
(1994–2007) - Marti MaradenMarti MaradenMarti Maraden is a Canadian actor and director.She emigrated to Canada in 1968, and became a leading actor at the Stratford Festival in the 1970s....
, Des McAnuffDes McAnuffDesmond McAnuff is the Canadian-American artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and director of musical theatre of such Broadway productions as Big River, The Who's Tommy and Jersey Boys.-Biography:...
, Don ShipleyDon ShipleyDon Shipley is a prominent Canadian stage director. He has led many theatre companies in Canada and Europe since the mid-1970s.Positions Shipley has held include:* Artistic Director at Victoria's Belfry Theatre from 1976 to 1979...
(2007–2008) - Des McAnuffDes McAnuffDesmond McAnuff is the Canadian-American artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and director of musical theatre of such Broadway productions as Big River, The Who's Tommy and Jersey Boys.-Biography:...
(2008-2013)
2011 season
- Twelfth Night – by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
- The Merry Wives of WindsorThe Merry Wives of WindsorThe Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
– by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"... - Titus AndronicusTitus AndronicusTitus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and possibly George Peele, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were...
– by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"... - Richard IIIRichard III (play)Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
– by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"... - CamelotCamelot (musical)Camelot is a musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe . It is based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from the T. H. White tetralogy novel The Once and Future King....
– by Alan Jay LernerAlan Jay LernerAlan Jay Lerner was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre for both the stage and on film...
and Frederick Loewe - Jesus Christ SuperstarJesus Christ SuperstarJesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
– by Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
and Tim RiceTim RiceSir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus... - The Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962....
– by John SteinbeckJohn SteinbeckJohn Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men... - The HomecomingThe HomecomingThe Homecoming is a two-act play written in 1964 by Nobel laureate Harold Pinter and first published in 1965. The original Broadway production won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Play and its 40th-anniversary Broadway production at the Cort Theatre was nominated for a 2008 Tony Award for "Best Revival...
– by Harold PinterHarold PinterHarold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to... - The MisanthropeThe MisanthropeThe Misanthrope is the first EP from metal band Darkest Hour. It was released in 1996 on the defunct label Death Truck Records. It is much more hardcore orientated metalcore unlike their later releases.- Track listing :# "Vise" - 5:30...
– by MolièreMolièreJean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature... - HosannaHosannaHosanna is a liturgical word in Judaism and Christianity. In Judaism, it is always used in its original Hebrew form, Hoshana.- Etymology :The word hosanna is etymologically derived from the Hebrew , ...
– by Michel TremblayMichel TremblayMichel Tremblay, CQ is a Canadian novelist and playwright.Tremblay grew up in the Plateau Mont-Royal, a French-speaking neighbourhood of Montreal, at the time of his birth a neighbourhood with a working-class character and joual dialect, something that would heavily influence his work... - The Little Years – by John MightonJohn MightonJohn Mighton, OC is a Canadian author and mathematician. He is the founder of JUMP , a charitable organization that works to educate students in mathematics. He is the author of The Myth of Ability and The End of Ignorance...
- Shakespeare's Will – by Vern Thiessen
2012 season (announced)
- Much Ado About NothingMuch Ado About NothingMuch Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
– by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"... - 42nd Street42nd Street (musical)42nd Street is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, lyrics by Al Dubin, and music by Harry Warren. The 1980 Broadway production, directed by an ailing Gower Champion and orchestrated by Philip J. Lang, won the Tony Award for Best Musical and became a long-running hit...
– book by Michael StewartMichael Stewart (playwright)Michael Stewart was an American playwright and librettist.Born Michael Stuart Rubin in Manhattan, Stewart attended Queens College, and is a graduate of Yale School of Drama with a Master of Fine Arts from 1953. Michael Stewart (August 1, 1924 – September 20, 1987) was an American playwright...
and Mark BrambleMark BrambleMark Bramble is a theatre director, author and producer. He has been nominated for the Tony Award three times, for the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Barnum and 42nd Street and Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical, 42nd Street .-Biography:Mark Bramble has been involved in the...
, lyrics by Al DubinAl DubinAlexander "Al" Dubin was an American lyricist. He became known through his collaborations with the composer Harry Warren.-Life and works:...
, music by Harry WarrenHarry WarrenHarry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison,... - Henry VHenry V (play)Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
– by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"... - The MatchmakerThe MatchmakerThe Matchmaker is a play by Thornton Wilder.The play has a long and colorful history. John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce A Day Well Spent had been extended into a full-length play entitled Einen Jux will er sich machen by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy in 1842...
– by Thornton WilderThornton WilderThornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,... - A Word or Two – by Christopher PlummerChristopher PlummerArthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
- The Pirates of PenzanceThe Pirates of PenzanceThe Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
– music by Arthur SullivanArthur SullivanSir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
, libretto by W. S. GilbertW. S. GilbertSir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S... - You're a Good Man, Charlie BrownYou're a Good Man, Charlie BrownYou're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a 1967 musical comedy with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner, based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in his comic strip Peanuts...
– music and lyrics by Clark GesnerClark GesnerClark Gesner was an American composer, songwriter, author, and actor. He is probably best known for composing You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, a musical adaptation of the Charles M...
, based on characters created by Charles M. SchulzCharles M. SchulzCharles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.-Early life and education:Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schulz grew up in Saint Paul... - CymbelineCymbelineCymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...
– by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"... - ElektraElectra (Sophocles)Electra or Elektra is a Greek tragedy by Sophocles. Its date is not known, but various stylistic similarities with the Philoctetes and the Oedipus at Colonus lead scholars to suppose that it was written towards the end of Sophocles' career.Set in the city of Argos a few years after the Trojan...
– by SophoclesSophoclesSophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides... - Wonderlust – by Morris PanychMorris PanychStephen Morris Panych is a Canadian playwright, director and actor.Morris Panych was born in Calgary and grew up in Edmonton. He studied at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, and the University of British Columbia...
, music by Marek Norman - The Hirsch Project – by Alon Nashman and Paul Thompson
- The Best Brothers – by Daniel MacIvorDaniel MacIvorDaniel MacIvor is a Canadian actor, playwright, theatre director and film director. He was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia and educated at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and then at George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario....
- MacHomerMacHomerMacHomer is a one-person play by Rick Miller which blends William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth with the animated television series The Simpsons. Miller first conceived of the idea in 1994, when he was performing in a production of Macbeth. The first performance of MacHomer was at the Montreal...
– by Rick MillerRick Miller (comedian)Rick Miller is a Canadian actor, comedian and playwright, currently living in Toronto. Miller is most well known for hosting the television series Just For Laughs and for performing a version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" during which he impersonates "twenty five of the most annoying voices in the music...
Theatres
See also
- Theatre in CanadaTheatre in CanadaThe contemporary theatre scene in Canada revolves around companies and summer festivals based at facilities in Canadian cities.-British Columbia:* Northwest of Armstrong is the Caravan Farm Theatre, a professional outdoor theatre company....
- The Stratford AdventureThe Stratford AdventureThe Stratford Adventure is a 1954 documentary film about the founding of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, directed by Morten Parker. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.-Cast:* Michael Bates - Himself...
, a 1954 NFB documentary on the founding of the festival, with Tyrone Guthrie and Alec Guinness. - Slings and ArrowsSlings and ArrowsSlings and Arrows is a Canadian TV series set at the fictional New Burbage Festival, a Shakespearean festival similar to the real-world Stratford Festival...
, a 2003–2006 Canadian television comedy set in a fictional Shakespearean company comparable to Stratford.
External links
- The Stratford Festival official website
- The City of Stratford official website
- An independent site featuring links to online reviews
- CBC Digital Archives - The Stratford Festival: The First Fifty Years
- House programme from inaugural 1953 season
- Press release announcing full 2010 season
- Press release announcing full 2009 season
- Stratford Adventure, an NFB documentary on the founding of the festival
- Offstage, Onstage: Inside the Stratford Festival, an NFB documentary on the festival's 50th anniversary
- History of the Stratford Shakespeare Theatre
- An article on Canada’s Stratford Shakespeare Festival from The Canadian Encyclopedia