Stratford Shakespeare Festival

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival (formerly known as the Stratford Festival of Canada) is an annual celebration of theatre running from April to November in the Canadian city of Stratford, Ontario. [ [http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Stratford%20Festival Canadian Encyclopedia - Stratford Festival] ] Theatre-goers, actors, and playwrights flock to Stratford to take part — many of the greatest American and Canadian actors play roles at Stratford. It was one of the first and is still one of the most prominent arts festivals in Canada.

The Festival's primary mandate is to present productions of 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 quarter 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.

History

The Festival was founded as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada, due mainly to 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, being that the town shares the name of Shakespeare's birthplace. Stratford had originally been a major railway junction and had fallen into decline when the railway yards were moved. 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." [J. Alan B. Somerset. 1991. "The Stratford Festival Story", 1st edition. Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313278044] [Tom Patterson. 1987. "First Stage". McClelland and Stewart. ISBN 9780771069499]

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. [Tyrone Guthrie. 1959. "A Life in the Theatre". McGraw Hill. ISBN 9780862873813] [Martin Hunter. "Romancing the Bard: Stratford at Fifty". Dundurn Press. 2001. ISBN 9781550023633]

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. In 2008 an outdoor venue (the Festival Pavilion) will be added. 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 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 12th, 2008 it was announced that Shipley and Maraden would be stepping down, leaving Des McAnuff as sole Artistic Director. [ Citation
last = Posner
first = Michael
author-link =
title = All does not end well at Stratford
newspaper = The Globe and Mail
pages =
year = 2008
date = March 14
url = http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080313.wstratford14/BNStory/Entertainment/home]

Starting in 2008, Stratford's original Festival Theatre will focus on the works of Shakespeare, a request made by the new artistic directors (one play by Shaw will also be presented). The newly renovated Avon Theatre will now be the host for various musicals (Cabaret and The Music Man for the 2008 season) and classic plays. The Tom Patterson Theatre and Studio Theatre will continue to showcase world premieres and various Shakespeare and other playwright's works.

Artistic Directors

* Tyrone Guthrie (1953-1955)
* Michael Langham (1956-1967)
* Jean Gascon (1968-1974)
* Robin Phillips (1975-1980)
* John Hirsch (1981-1985)
* John Neville (1985-1989)
* David William (1990-1993)
* Richard Monette (1994-2007)
* Marti Maraden, Des McAnuff, Don Shipley (2007-2008)
* Des McAnuff (2008-)

2008 Season

*"Hamlet" - by William Shakespeare
*"The Taming of the Shrew" - by William Shakespeare
*"Romeo and Juliet" - by William Shakespeare
*"All's Well That Ends Well" - by William Shakespeare
*"Love's Labour's Lost" - by William Shakespeare
*"The Music Man" - by Meredith Willson
*"Cabaret" - book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander
*"Caesar and Cleopatra" - by George Bernard Shaw
*"Fuente Ovejuna" - by Lope de Vega
*"The Trojan Women" - by Euripides
*"Emilia Galotti" - by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
*"Palmer Park" - by Joanna McClelland Glass
*"Moby-Dick" - by Morris Panych
*"Krapp's Last Tape" / "Hughie" - by Samuel Beckett / Eugene O'Neill
*"Her Infinite Variety" - by Peter Hinton
*"There Reigns Love" - by Simon Callow

2009 season (announced)

*"A Midsummer Night's Dream" - by William Shakespeare
*"Macbeth" - by William Shakespeare
*"Julius Caesar" - by William Shakespeare
*"Bartholomew Fair" - by Ben Jonson
*"Cyrano de Bergerac" - by Edmond Rostand
*"Three Sisters" - by Anton Chekhov
*"The Importance of Being Earnest" - by Oscar Wilde
*"Phèdre" - by Jean Racine
*"The Trespassers" - by Morris Panych
*"Zastrozzi" - by George F. Walker
*"Rice Boy" - by Sunil Kuruvilla
*"West Side Story" - book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
*"A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" - music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart

Theatres

* [http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/theatres/festivaltheatre.cfm Festival Theatre]
* [http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/theatres/avontheatre.cfm Avon Theatre]
* [http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/theatres/tompattersontheatre.cfm Tom Patterson Theatre]
* [http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/theatres/studiotheatre.cfm Studio Theatre]

ee also

* Theatre in Canada

References

External links

* [http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/ The Stratford Festival official website]
* [http://www.city.stratford.on.ca/ The City of Stratford official website]
* [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-68-249/arts_entertainment/stratford_festival/ CBC Digital Archives - The Stratford Festival: The First Fifty Years]
* [http://www.canadianshakespeares.ca/multimedia/pdf/stratford.pdf House programme from inaugural 1953 season]
* [http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/about/pdf/NR342007.pdf Press release announcing full 2008 season]
* [http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/about/pdf/NR472008.pdf Press release announcing full 2009 season]
* [http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=15415 "Stratford Adventure", an NFB documentary on the founding of the festival]
* [http://www.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/?id=50984 "Offstage, Onstage: Inside the Stratford Festival", an NFB documentary on the festival's 50th anniversary]
* [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007746 An article on Canada’s Stratford Shakespeare Festival from "The Canadian Encyclopedia"]