2019 Shaw and Stratford Season Previews
Thoughts on the 2019 Seasons
at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and the Shaw Festival!
By David Grapes – Arts Journalist
Theatre patrons, who are
passionate about quality theatre here in the U.S., should consider a trip North
across the Canadian border into Ontario and spend some serious time exploring
North America’s two largest theatre festivals – The Stratford Shakespeare
Festival and The Shaw Festival. The American dollar appears to have stabilized
against the Canadian dollar, so the entertainment value when compared to the
costs of theatre tickets for Broadway ($150+ average) or in London is high. And
if you search the web, there are some excellent airfare deals for the upcoming
summer into Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson airport for about $500.00 to $800.00
from most major US airports. Rental cars are readily available at the Toronto
airport. (Try Hotwire.com for the best airport rental rates) Driving time from
the airport to either of the two festivals is less than two hours on four lane
highways. Remember – Passports are now REQUIRED for any border crossing!
The Shaw Festival
Located in historic
Niagara-on-the-Lake (30 miles North of Buffalo, 120 Miles South of Toronto)
along the beautiful Lake Ontario shoreline, The Shaw Festival is the only
theatre in the world that specializes exclusively in plays by George Bernard
Shaw and his contemporaries. During the last three decades, under the artful
and highly creative leadership of Christopher Newton and Jackie Maxwell, the Shaw
not only earned a reputation for innovative programming and stunning visuals,
but also became home to one of the finest acting ensembles in North America. Tim
Carroll, now in his third year as Artistic Director, has planned a season that
will appeal to both the Shaw’s more traditional stalwarts as well as the newer
audience that he has been cultivating for the past two seasons.
For 2019 the Shaw Festival’s
ever expanding artistic mandate under Carroll will include two Broadway style musicals
(Brigadoon and Holiday Inn), contemporary plays (The Glass Menagerie and Rope,
Sex, Victory), three Shaw offerings (Man
and Superman with Don Juan in Hell and Getting
Married) Edmund Rostand’s masterpiece (Cyrano
de Bergerac) and number of world and Canadian premieres (The Horse and His Boy and The Ladykillers) plus a remount of the
company’s wildly success holidy production of A Christmas Carol at the Royal
George Theatre. I for one find it to be a very diverse, eclectic and daring
season that expands the Shaw’s mandate without exploiting it. Well done Mr.
Carroll.
Another exciting development
over the past nine years has been the addition of an intimate fourth
performance venue – The Studio Theatre (which seats just under 200 patrons). With
the retirement of the Court House Theatre last year, more and more work is
being programmed into this very audience friendly space. The change in venue
was a boon to the senior citizens last season who often found it quite daunting
to traverse the long steep stairs in the old Court House Theatre.
The new facility, which is
now known as the Maxwell Studio Theatre, has hosted such diverse productions as
Shakespeare’s Henry V, John Osborne’s
The Entertainer starring Benedict
Campbell, Caryl Churchill’s provocative contemporary play Serious Money, When the Rains Stop Falling, Topdog/Underdog, Helen’s
Necklace, The Mountaintop, The
Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the
Scriptures, Middletown and the 2013 megahit production of Tom Stoppard’s theatrical
gem Arcadia, which later transferred
to Toronto for an additional run in 2014, August Strindberg masterwork The Dance of Death which featured the
all-world cast of Jim Mezon and Fiona Reid directed by Martha Henry. The change
in venue will certainly be a boon to the senior citizens, who often found it quite
daunting to traverse the long steep stairs in the old Court House Theatre. This
year the Maxwell Studio Theatre will again host three productions (The Glass
Menagerie, Sex, and Victory).
2018 SHAW SEASON AT A GLANCE
Festival Theatre
The Horse and His Boy – April 6 to July 21
Brigadoon
– May 5 to October 13
The Ladykillers – June 11 to October 12
Man and Superman – August 17 to October 5
with 17 performances of Don Juan in Hell
Holiday Inn
– November 16 to December 22
Royal George Theatre
Rope –
April 12 to October 12
Getting Married – May 10 to October 13
The Russian Play – June 8 to October 12
Cyrano de Bergerac – July 27 to October 20
A Christmas Carol – November 13 to December 22
Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre
The Glass Menagerie – May 22 to October 12
Sex – June
21 to October 13
Victory –
July 14 to October 12
David’s recommendations for the 2019 season
The Ladykillers – (Directed
by Tim Carroll)
Man and Superman – (Starring Gray Powell and Sara Topham)
Getting Married – (Starring Martin Happer)
Cyrano de Bergerac – (Starring Tom Rooney)
Sex – (Directed by Peter
Hinton)
ALSO OF INTEREST AT OR NEAR THE SHAW FESTIVAL
Reading Series
Pre and Post-show Chats
Beyond the Stage Events
Friends Days
Shaw Conference
Teen Workshops
Summer Camps
Teacher Days
Niagara Falls
Old Fort Erie/ Old Fort
Niagara
Wine country excursions
Lake activities
Theatre and Hotel Packages
PLAY INFORMATION
TICKET PRICES
Range from $25.00 CDN (student matinees) to $240.00 CDN (Mythos)
Rush seats are available day of show
$30 rate for patrons under 30 years of age at any theatre
There are also excellent student discounts and group rates
available
BOX OFFICE
1-800-511-7429 or
905-468-2172
ACCOMODATIONS
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE BED and BREAKFAST ASSOCIATION (BBA) 905-468-0123 or 1-866-855-0123. Box 1228, Niagara-on-the-Lake L0S 1J0. www.bba.notl.on.ca Members are identified by BBA in the listings. Call or visit our website for a free availability search or to book online. We maintain high standards and adhere to a code of ethics. Book with a member.
ABOUT HISTORIC BED and BREAKFASTS IN OLD TOWN CENTRE www.historicbb.com These private homes, built before 1850, are within 4 short blocks of a theatre, dining and shops. Visit our website or contact the following homes in the Bed and Breakfast section: Adam Lockhart’s Storrington House, Annette Twining House, Apple Tree Bed and Breakfast, Barrett Cottage, B&B’s “Pacific”, Blaney House, Burns House, Davy House, Regent House, The Rogers-Harrison House, Royal Manor, Saltbox 1820 Cottage, Schoolmaster’s House. Open year-round. Central air. Full breakfasts. Private parking. Smoke-free. All rooms have private en-suite bathrooms. $125-$225.
ACCOMMODATION ALTERNATIVES NIAGARA www.accommodationalternativesniagara.com A fine selection of licensed cottages, apartments and homes in Niagara, suitable to those who prefer privacy and self-catering accommodations. Nightly from $150, weekly from $1,000.
Check this blog in August for reviews of many of the 2019 Shaw Festival productions.
The Stratford Festival
Located in the bucolic hills
of Southern Ontario in the working-class town of Stratford, The Stratford
Festival has grown from its humble beginnings in 1953 (two Shakespearean plays
produced in a tent) to one of the largest and most respected theatre festivals
in the world, now under the capable leadership of Antoni Cimolino.
Having completed a 50
million-dollar capital and endowment drive a few years back, long time patrons now
enjoy improvements at all four of the Festival’s theatre venues, upgraded
electronic services, and enhanced production quality on stage. Exciting indeed has been the addition of a
fourth stage known as the Studio Theatre located above the Avon Theatre. This
small flexible space, which opened six years ago, is now home to new works by
Canadian playwrights, workshops, productions, and for the first time in its
short history – Shakespeare. However,
the Studio Theatre only seats 260 patrons, so if you want to see a popular
production in the Studio Theatre, you need to purchase your tickets well in
advance. That will be especially true this year as the Tom Patterson Theatre remains
closed to make way for the construction of an entirely new state of the art performance
facility that is set to open for the 2020 season.
Variety has always been a
hallmark of the Stratford Festival, where works by Shakespeare, Marlowe,
Moliere and Ibsen share the stage with Broadway musicals and the comedies of Oscar
Wilde and Noel Coward and although Shakespeare did not dominate the large
Festival Stage under previous Artistic Director Des McAnuff, now that Director
Cimolino is entering his seventh season, the Bard has once again returned as the
artistic heart of the festival and will dominate the Festivals large Festival
Theatre mainstage again in 2019.
This year Shakespeare lovers
will be treated to three productions including Othello (Michael Blake, Laura Condlin, Gordon S. Miller – under the
direction of Nigel Shawn Williams), The
Merry Wives of Windsor (Geraint Wyn Davies, Sophia Walker, Bridgit Wilson,
Graham Abby, Lucy Peacock – under the direction of Antoni Cimolino) and Henry
VIII (Johnathan Goad). The 67th season will also feature the
festival premier of the popular American musical Billy Elliot (directed and choreographed by Donna Feore) on the
Festival Stage while the campy Off-Broadway hit musical Little Shop of Horrors, will hope to catch the same audience attendance
fire as last season’s mega hit The Rocky
Horror Picture Show did at the Avon Theatre.
Other gems in the 67th
anniversary season include Arthur Miller’s masterwork The Crucible, a timely production of the Hecht and MacArthur political
comedy The Front Page, (Ben Carlson –
directed by Graham Abbey), not to mention a production of Private Lives (Lucy peacock, Geraint Wyn Davies), Mother’s Daughter a new play by Kate
Henning, and a family friendly production of The Never Ending Story! Add to the mix two contemporary plays at
the Studio Theatre and you have 12 amazing reasons to visit North America’s
largest theatre festival this summer.
The US dollar has fluctuated
in recent years against the Canadian dollar and it has been rising again this
year, making the trip an outstanding value for 2019. With Broadway prices
soaring to $175-$500+ a ticket, it is hard to imagine that you could get more
“bang for your entertainment buck” anywhere in the world than in Ontario,
Canada.
STRATFORD SEASON AT A GLANCE
Festival Theatre
Othello – May
3 to October 27
Billy Elliot
– April 16 to November 3
The Merry Wives of Windsor – May 11 to October 26
The Front Page – July 30 to October 25
Avon Theatre
Private Lives – April
24 to October 26
Little Shop of Horrors – April 29 to November 2
The Neverending Story – May 16 to November 3
The Crucible
– August 1 to October 25
Tom Patterson Theatre
No productions until the new theatre is completed in
2020
Studio Theatre
Henry VIII
– May 8 to October 12
Mothers Daughter – May 18 to October 13
Nathan the Wise – May 25 to October 11
Birds of a Kind – July 30 to October 13
David’s recommendations for the 2019 season
Merry Wives of Windsor (Directed by Antoni Cimolino)
Billy Elliot
The Front Page (starring Ben Carlson)
Private Lives (starring Lucy Peacock and Geraint Wyn Davies)
Henry VIII (starring
Jonathan Goad)
ALSO OF INTEREST AT STRATFORD
The Festival Forum
Family Series Events
Stageside Chats
Festival Tours
Celebrated Writers Series
Night Music – Special
concerts each Monday evening June to August in the Festival Theatre
A wide assortment of
classes, workshops, special events.
PLAY INFORMATION
www.stratfordfestival.ca
TICKET PRICES
Range from $19.00 CAN to $181.00 CAN
Rush seats are available day of show
There are also excellent student discounts and group rates
available
BOX OFFICE
1-800-567-1600
ACCOMODATIONS
1-800-567-1600
I recommend the Swan Motel
(Downie Street South)
Phone: 519-271-6376
Fax: 519-271-0682
E-mail: info@swanmotel.ca
https://canadiantheatrefestivals.blogspot.com/
David Grapes has been a theatre producer/director/playwright/educator and freelance theatre journalist for over forty years. He holds a BA in Theatre from Glenville State College and an MFA in Acting/Directing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. You can also read his theatre reviews on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheatreNewsandReviews?ref=br_tf or follow him on Instagram @theatredavid or on Twitter @davidgrapes. Grapes also served as the Artistic Director of TN Rep from 1999 to 2004. He has been privileged to attend nearly 700 productions at Shaw and Stratford since 1978.
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