From June 17 to June 21, I was at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada, on a trip organized by Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Over the course of five days I saw six productions: three plays by Shakespeare (AS YOU LIKE IT, MACBETH – reimagined with Hell’s Angels and motorcycles – and THE WINTER’S TALE), a stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, the musical DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS and a new play, FORGIVENESS, about Japanese-Canadian citizens after World War II. Photos from several of these are below.
This theater festival has been happening for 70 years, and it deserves its renown. They employ dozens of accomplished actors and stage plays in four venues. Shows are offered from April into November in rotating repertory; most productions are performed 110 times during that stretch — which means they’re well polished by early summer.
Each production I saw was memorable, both in terms of staging and acting. The Festival mainstage (seating 1,800) is a 3/4 thrust (similar in design to the late Cincinati Playhouse’s Marx Stage); the Avon (seating 1,100) is a traditional proscenium venue; and the beautiful new Tom Patterson Stage (seating 600) looks like a long narrow runway with the audience alighend along both sides and at one end.
The festival employs 110-130 actors annually. Many of them hold down roles in multiple productions. (Many of them live in Stratford year-round.) On Saturday, watching MACBETH and then WINTER’S TALE, I saw 8-9 actors in vary different roles in each production.
As I saw each production, I wrote some commentary and thoughts about what I’d seen and what I took away. You’ll find my coverage on my Facebook Page, RICK PENDER’S THEATER STAGES & SCENES
If you’re looking for a theatrical summer getaway, I can heartily recommend Stratford as a perfect destination — it’s about 6-7 hours from Cincinnati. The town is charming, and the theater is top notch! Here are some photos.
