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Stratford Festival - Wikipedia
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Stratford Festival

The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada.[1] Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, the Shakespeare Festival and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. The festival was one of the first arts festivals in Canada and continues to be one of its most prominent. It is recognized worldwide for its productions of Shakespearean plays.

Stratford Festival
The Festival Theatre
GenreRepertory Theatre Festival
DatesApril to October
Location(s)55 Queen St, Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Years active1953–present
Founded1953
Websitestratfordfestival.ca

The festival's primary focus is to present productions of William Shakespeare's plays, but it has a range of theatre productions from Greek tragedy to Broadway musicals and contemporary works. In the early years of the festival, Shakespeare's works typically represented approximately one third of the offerings in the largest venue, the Festival Theatre. More recently, however, the festival's focus has shifted to encompass works by a more diverse range of playwrights.

The success of the festival changed Stratford into a city where arts and tourism play important roles in the economy. The festival attracts many tourists from outside Canada, most notably British and American visitors.

History

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A view of the Festival Theatre as seen from the Avon River.

The Festival was founded as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada, by Tom Patterson, a Stratford-native journalist 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-upon-Avon, England. Stratford was a railway junction and major locomotive shop, and was facing a disastrous loss of employment with the imminent elimination of steam power.[2] Patterson achieved his goal after gaining encouragement from Mayor David Simpson and the local council,[2][3] and the Stratford Shakespearean Festival became a legal entity on October 31, 1952.

Already established in Canadian theatre, Dora Mavor Moore helped put Patterson in touch with British actor and director Tyrone Guthrie, first with a transatlantic telephone call.[4] On July 13, 1953, actor Alec Guinness spoke the first lines of the first play produced by the festival, a production of Richard III: "Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this son of York."[5][6] Guinness and Irene Worth were among the cast of Stratford's inaugural performance of Richard III, working for expenses only.[2][7]

This first performances (like the entire first four seasons) took place in a concrete amphitheatre covered by giant canvas tent on the banks of the River Avon. The first of many years of Stratford Shakespeare Festival production history started with a six-week season opening on 13 July 1953 with Richard III and then All's Well That Ends Well, both starring Alec Guinness. The 1954 season ran for nine weeks and included Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and two Shakespeare plays, Measure for Measure and The Taming of the Shrew. Young actors during the first four seasons included several who went on to great success in subsequent years, Douglas Campbell, Timothy Findley, Don Harron, William Hutt and Douglas Rain.[8]

Fundraising to build a permanent theatre was slow but was helped significantly by donations from Governor General Vincent Massey and the Perth Mutual Insurance Company. The new Festival Theatre was dedicated on 30 June 1957, with seating for over 1,800 people; no seats are more than 65 feet from the stage. The design was deliberately intended to resemble a huge tent.[8] That season's productions included Hamlet, Twelfth Night, the satirical My Fur Lady, The Turn of the Screw and Ibsen's Peer Gynt.

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. It has since become a model for other stages in North America and Great Britain.[9][10]

Tony Award-nominee Scott Wentworth has performed in the festival's stage productions on numerous occasions since 1985, beginning with The Glass Menagerie;[11] the festival has helped Sara Topham launch her career in acting, performing from 2000 to 2011;[12] and a young, unknown Christopher Walken appeared in Stratford's 1968 stage productions of Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream, portraying Romeo and Lysander respectively.[13]

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.[14] In 2013, Des McAnuff was replaced by Antoni Cimolino as Artistic Director.[15]

In 2012, the Festival had a deficit of $3.4 million, but by 2015 had a surplus of $3.1 million under the control of Cimolino and executive director Anita Gaffney. The target of a half million ticket sales for the season (a previous record) had not yet been reached, but had achieved a significant increase in the number of new patrons to the theatres.[16]

On 17 February 2015, AP News reported that the Stratford Shakespeare Festival plans to film all of Shakespeare's plays.[17]

Actors who have participated in the festival include Alan Bates, Brian Bedford, Domini Blythe, Barbara Bryne, Martha Burns, Jackie Burroughs, Zoe Caldwell, Douglas Campbell, Len Cariou, Brent Carver, Patricia Conolly, Susan Coyne, Jack Creley, Jonathan Crombie, Hume Cronyn, Henry Czerny, Cynthia Dale, Brian Dennehy, Colm Feore, Megan Follows, Maureen Forrester, Lorne Greene, Dawn Greenhalgh, Paul Gross, Alec Guinness, Amelia Hall, Uta Hagen, Julie Harris, Don Harron, Martha Henry, William Hutt, Frances Hyland, Charmion King, Andrea Martin, Barbara March, James Mason, Roberta Maxwell, Eric McCormack, Seana McKenna, Loreena McKennitt, Richard Monette, John Neville, Stephen Ouimette, Lucy Peacock, Nicholas Pennell, David J. Phillips, Amanda Plummer, Christopher Plummer, Sarah Polley, Douglas Rain, Kate Reid, Jason Robards, Alan Scarfe, Paul Scofield, Goldie Semple, William Shatner, Maggie Smith, Jessica Tandy, Peter Ustinov, Christopher Walken, Al Waxman, Irene Worth, Geraint Wyn Davies and Janet Wright.[18]

Female directors at Stratford have included Pam Brighton, Zoe Caldwell, Marigold Charlseworth, Donna Feore, Jill Keiley, Pamela Hawthorne, Martha Henry, Jeannette Lambermont, Diana Leblanc, Marti Maraden, Weyni Mengesha, Carey Perloff, Lorraine Pintal, Vanessa Porteous, Susan H. Schulman, Djanet Sears, Kathryn Shaw, Jennifer Tarver.

From 1956 to 1961 and 1971 to 1976, the Stratford Festival also staged the separate Stratford Film Festival, which was credited as one of the first North American film festivals ever to schedule international films.[19] That festival collapsed after the 1976 launch of the Festival of Festivals, now known as the Toronto International Film Festival, impacted both the Stratford Film Festival's funding and its audience.[20]

In 2011, the visual artist, Chris Klein, started producing a series of paintings depicting the costumes from festival costume warehouse, having served as their Head of Scenic Art from 2007 to 2015.[21]

In March 2020, as preparations for the upcoming season were underway, the Festival was forced to announce performance cancellations and layoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A month later, the entire 2020 season was put on hold and effectively cancelled.[22][23] Just before the season's cancellation, Cimolino announced that all productions that had been filmed as part of the Stratford Festival On Film series would be streamed online for free, with a different production being shown each week.[24] Throughout the summer of 2020, the Festival produced four web series which, along with all the filmed productions and other Stratford documentaries and interviews, were launched in October 2020 on the new Stratfest@Home web streaming service.[25]

In April 2021, the Festival announced a season of plays and cabarets, with most productions being held under large canopies at the Festival and Tom Patterson Theatres. Only one late-opening production was held indoors at the Studio Theatre with reduced capacity.[26] The theme for the 2021 season was metamorphosis.[27]

In May of 2022, the Festival officially opened the rebuilt Tom Patterson Theatre. Designed by Toronto-based architect, Siamak Hariri, the building overlooks the Avon river and sits on the site of the previous Tom Patterson space. The project cost an estimated 100 million dollars (CADきゃど) and was funded by private donations with support from both provincial and federal governments.[28]

Today

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The Festival traditionally runs from April to October, and has four permanent venues: the Festival Theatre, the Avon Theatre, the Tom Patterson Theatre, and the Studio Theatre.[29][30] Although the Festival's primary mandate is to produce the works of Shakespeare, its season playbills include contemporary works and at least one musical, as well as the classic repertory. The Stratford Festival Forum runs during the season, and features music concerts, readings from major authors, lectures, and discussions with actors or management.

The Stratford Festival is an industry partner of the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus.[31]

Directors

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Artistic Directors

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Executive Directors/General Managers

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  • Victor Polley
  • William Wylie
  • Bruce Swerdfager—General Manager (1972–1976)[32]
  • Gary Thomas
  • Mary Hofstetter—General Manager (1995–1997)[33]
  • Antoni Cimolino—Executive Director (1998–2006); General Director (2007–2012)
  • Anita Gaffney—Executive Director (2013–)[34]

Productions

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Main article: Stratford Shakespeare Festival production history

2024 season

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The 2024 season programmed by Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino has a theme of A World Elsewhere.[35]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Canadian Encyclopedia - Stratford Festival
  2. ^ a b c "Obit: Tom Patterson". Telegraph. London, UK. 25 February 2005. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  3. ^ Carolynn Bart-Riedstra and Lutzen H. Riedstra (1999). Stratford: Its Heritage and Its Festival. James Lorimer & Company. p. 57.
  4. ^ "The Unlikeliest Idea". Stratford Festival. 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  5. ^ J. Alan B. Somerset. 1991. The Stratford Festival Story, 1st edition. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-27804-4
  6. ^ Tom Patterson. 1987. First Stage. McClelland and Stewart. ISBN 978-0-7710-6949-9
  7. ^ Middleton, Lisa (10 July 2012). "Celebrate our 60th season with 1953 pricing!".
  8. ^ a b "Our Timeline". Stratford Festival. Stratford Festival. 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  9. ^ Tyrone Guthrie. 1959. A Life in the Theatre. McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-0-86287-381-3
  10. ^ Martin Hunter. Romancing the Bard: Stratford at Fifty. Dundurn Press. 2001. ISBN 978-1-55002-363-3
  11. ^ Urquhart, Bruce (25 May 2013). "The challenges and rewards of repertory theatre". The Beacon Herald.
  12. ^ Wilson, Gemma (10 February 2011). "Earnest Ingenue Sara Topham on the Generosity of Gavin Creel and Getting to Know All About Julie Andrews".
  13. ^ Webb, Rebecca (18 February 1998). "Christopher Walken at Stratford".
  14. ^ Posner, Michael (March 14, 2008). "All does not end well at Stratford". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 2008-03-15.
  15. ^ Stratford Festival vet Antoni Cimolino to take over for Des McAnuff
  16. ^ Nestruck, J. Kelly (19 March 2016). "Stratford Festival 'back on track' with attendance boost, surplus in 2015". Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  17. ^ Kennedy, Mark (17 February 2015). "Stratford Festival plans to film all Shakespeare's plays". AP News. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  18. ^ Canadian Encyclopedia - Stratford Festival
  19. ^ J. A. B. Somerset and James Lindroth, The Stratford Festival Story: A Catalogue-index to the Stratford, Ontario, Festival, 1953-1990. Greenwood Press, 1991. ISBN 9780313278044.
  20. ^ "Stratford closes film festival". The Globe and Mail, June 7, 1976.
  21. ^ "Chris Klein". TERAVARNA. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  22. ^ "Stratford Festival lays off hundreds, cancels more shows amid COVID-19 spread", CBC News, March 20, 2020
  23. ^ Nestruck, J. Kelly (April 27, 2020), "'It's just devastating': Stratford Festival puts entire 2020 season on hold - leaving a $40-million hole in budget", The Globe and Mail
  24. ^ Ethier, Matthew (April 20, 2020), "Stratford Festival streaming Shakespeare performances for free", CTV News
  25. ^ Nestruck, J. Kelly (October 20, 2020), "Aroint thee, Netflix! Stratford Festival launches new streaming service Stratfest@Home", The Globe and Mail
  26. ^ Montanini, Chris (8 July 2021), "Stratford Festival's return offers excitement and a bit of serendipity", Stratford Beacon Herald
  27. ^ Simmons, Galen (April 7, 2021), "Stratford Festival emerges from COVID cocoon with drastically different 2021 season", Stratford Beacon Herald
  28. ^ Ghonaim, Hala (May 11, 2022). "Stratford Festival's 'beautiful, intimate' Tom Patterson Theatre reopens after $72M transformation". CBC. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
  29. ^ Williams, Patricia (February 16, 2018). "Stratford's new Tom Patterson Theatre to be a showstopper". Daily Commercial News. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  30. ^ Bozikovic, Alex (October 23, 2020), "Stratford's new Tom Patterson Theatre deserves a standing ovation", The Globe and Mail
  31. ^ "Industry Partnerships". University of Waterloo. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  32. ^ Theatre actor, administrator Bruce Swerdfager dies at 79 21 February 2020.
  33. ^ “Mary Hofstetter: The Banff Centre,” News, CFUW Stratford (2015-12-13).
  34. ^ Galen Simmons, “Festival Executive Director Named One of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women,” The Stratford Beacon Herald (2018-11-22).
  35. ^ Chong, Joshua (12 September 2023), "Stratford Festival's 2024 season features three Shakespeare classics, two musicals and an Ibsen masterpiece", Toronto Star

Further reading

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