Based on the screenplay by Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard Adapted for the stage by Lee Hall North American Premièreby special arrangement with Disney Theatrical Productions & Sonia Friedman Productions Director Declan Donnellan
Shakespeare in Love contains brief nudity, except at Senior and Student Midweek Matinée performances. The production also includes strobe lights and haze.
A young playwright named Will Shakespeare comes down with writer’s block – until he finds a muse. Art mirrors life in a hilarious and passionate tale of romance and backstage fun.
Production support is generously provided by Martie & Bob Sachs.Support for the 2016 season of the Avon Theatre is generously provided by the Birmingham family.
2016: Viola de Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love and Angelique/Armand Bejart in The Hypochondriac. Third season. Stratford: The Diary of Anne Frank, Oedipus Rex, She Stoops to Conquer, The Sound of Music, Inherit the Wind. Elsewhere: The Road to Mecca (Soulpepper); Pride and Prejudice (National Arts Centre/Theatre Calgary); True (Criminal Theatre/Aluna Theatre); When the World Was Green, The Jones Boy (Surface/Underground); Salt-Water Moon (Thousand Islands Playhouse); A Midsummer Night's Dream, Little Women: The Musical (Citadel Theatre); The Madonna Painter (Factory Theatre); Johnny Belinda, Pygmalion (Montgomery Theatre, P.E.I.); Scenes from the Bathhouse, Emily (Talk Is Free Theatre). Recordings: Première CD recording of Cyrano featuring Brent Carver and David Rogers. Training: Birmingham Conservatory; Ryerson Theatre School (BFA). Awards: Mary Savidge Award; Dora nomination for The Jones Boy (Outstanding Performance). Et cetera: "Deepest gratitude to my Taylor and Pasyk families, Angela and Peter for their love and support."
2016: Maugrim in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Ned Alleyn in Shakespeare in Love. Fifth season. Stratford: Marlow in She Stoops to Conquer, Edmund in King Lear, Starveling in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cassio in Othello, O'Kelly in Mary Stuart and appeared in The Diary of Anne Frank, Oedipus Rex, The Beaux' Stratagem, Measure for Measure, Cymbeline, Elektra. Elsewhere: Hohenzollern in Prince of Homburg (TIFT); Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (Neptune); Darcy in Pride and Prejudice (Grand); Paul in Hail (RCAT); Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (c2c); Sin in Fear of Flight (Artistic Fraud); Clarke in No Man's Land (Rising Tide). Directing: Henry IV, Part 1, Caesar, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Perchance); The Leisure Society, Autobahn, The Stendhal Syndrome (c2c). Assistant directing: The Winter's Tale (Groundling). Film/TV: Reign (CW); Republic of Doyle, Diverted, Above and Beyond (CBC). Training: BFA (Acting), University of Alberta; Birmingham Conservatory.
2016: Guitar, Cello, Violin, Recorders, Melodeon and Hurdy-Gurdy (onstage) in Shakespeare in Love. Sixth season. Stratford: The Taming of the Shrew, The Pirates of Penzance, The Grapes of Wrath, As You Like It, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (all as onstage musician). Elsewhere: Composer, musician, Time (chorus), The Winter's Tale (Groundling); ensemble, musician, Boblo (KitchenBand); Lane, Merriman, The Importance of Being Earnest (Guild Festival Players); composer, musician, The Notorious Right Robert... (Festival Players PEC). Recordings: With Short Turn: Short Turn, Don't Get Around Much Anymore; with Quartetto Gelato: Quartetto Gelato, Rustic Chivalry, Aria Fresca, Neapolitan Café; as himself: Another Street, Late, The Easy Straight (available in the Theatre Store). Awards: 1996 NPR Performance Today Debut Artist of the Year (Quartetto Gelato), Tyrone Guthrie Awards. Online: gmeanwell.ca; @gmeanwell. Et cetera: "The next best time to plant a tree is now."
2016: Queen Elizabeth, Molly in Shakespeare in Love and Patient, La Troupe de Molière in The Hypochondriac. Fourth season. Stratford: Penfield (Possible Worlds), Widow (The Taming of the Shrew), White Queen (Alice Through the Looking-Glass), Matilda (Zastrozzi). Elsewhere: Sarah has appeared on stages across Canada for over 40 years. Originally from Halifax, she stepped on the boards at the age of five for the Neptune Theatre. A regular on Toronto stages: Hope Slide, The Optimists, The Retreat, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, Mrs. Klein - Tarragon; The Normal Heart, Stuff Happens, God of Carnage - Studio 180 and Mirvish; Apple, Beyond Mozambique - Factory; The Stillborn Lover - TPM. She worked 13 seasons with Shaw Festival: Heartbreak House, The Millionairess, The Playboy of the Western World, Detective Story, Blithe Spirit, Councillor at Law. Film/TV: Fugitive Pieces, The Calling, Reign, Rookie Blue. Awards: Dora Mavor Moore, Patience; Capital Critics' Circle, Doll's House.
2016: Lute-Guitar, Recorders, Tin Whistle, Trombone and Percussion (onstage) in Shakespeare in Love. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Billy Elliot (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre); Evangeline (Charlottetown Festival/Citadel); Shrek: The Musical, Barfee in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Grand Theatre); Les Misérables, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins (Rainbow Stage); The Sound of Music, 9 to 5: The Musical (Drayton Entertainment); Robin Hood, High School Musical (Theatre Aquarius); Made in Canada (Smile Theatre); Broadway: Andrew Lloyd Webber (Port Hope); An Evening with Jason Robert Brown (Glenn Gould Studio); Come From Away (CMTP/Sheridan). Training: Proud graduate of Sheridan's Music Theatre Performance Program and George Brown's Dance Program. Et cetera: Love and thanks to Jeff, Kerry, Graham, Jade and the Talent House for their constant love and support.
2016: Peter in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Ralph in Shakespeare in Love and Aeneas in The Aeneid. 13th season. Stratford: Roger (She Stoops to Conquer), Thom (The Last Wife), Unicorn/Carpenter (Alice Through the Looking-Glass), Sandy Tyrell (Hay Fever), Lodovico (Othello), Don John (Much Ado About Nothing), Louis the Dauphin (Henry V), Richmond (Richard III), Hosanna (Hosanna), Ferdinand (The Tempest), Proteus (The Two Gentlemen of Verona), Malcolm (Macbeth) (twice), Romeo (Romeo and Juliet), Nathaniel (Love's Labour's Lost), Edgar (King Lear), Gratiano (The Merchant of Venice), Pierrot (Don Juan), Cromwell (Henry VIII). Elsewhere: Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet) (MTC); Clown (The 39 Steps) (Globe); Simon/Wahab (Scorched) (Citadel/Tarragon); Pierrot (Don Juan) (Théâtre du Nouveau Monde); Narrator (The Rape of Lucrece) (Theatre Ste. Catherine); Henry V (Henry V) (Gravy Bath). Training: National Theatre School, John Abbott College, Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre. Awards: Michael Mawson Award, Chalmers Training Award. Et cetera: "Much love to Sarah and my girls."
Original screenplay co-writer: Shakespeare in Love
Films include Shakespeare in Love (Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture, two Golden Globes and Silver Bear for Outstanding Single Achievement at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival), Cutthroat Island, The Aviator, The Killer Elite, Breakout, Zandy's Bride and Oklahoma Crude. Marc Norman is also the author of two novels, Fool's Errand and Bike Riding in Los Angeles, and What Happens Next?: A History of American Screenwriting.
Original screenplay co-writer: Shakespeare in Love.
Tom Stoppard was born in Zlin, Czechoslovakia in 1937 and moved to England, via Singapore and India, with his family in 1946. He began his working life in 1954 as a junior reporter on The Western Daily Press. In 1967 Tom Stoppard's first full-length play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, was staged by the National Theatre. This play was followed by other award-winning works, including Jumpers, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (with André Previn), Travesties, Night and Day, The Real Thing, Hapgood, Arcadia, Indian Ink, The Invention of Love, The Coast of Utopia (a trilogy) and Rock 'n' Roll. His many stage adaptations and translations include Undiscovered Country (Schnitzler), On the Razzle (Nestroy), Rough Crossing (Molnár), The Seagull (Chekhov), Henry IV (Pirandello), Heroes (Sibleyras), Ivanov (Chekhov) and The Cherry Orchard (Chekhov). Tom Stoppard has also written for radio, television and film. His screen credits, as writer and co-writer, include Brazil, Empire of the Sun, Enigma and Shakespeare in Love (Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay). His most recent work includes, for screen, Anna Karenina; for television, Parade's End (a five-part series); and for radio, Darkside. He also directed his own screenplay of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Tom Stoppard received a knighthood in 1997 and in 2000 was awarded the Order of Merit by Her Majesty the Queen.
Adaptor: Shakespeare in Love.
Lee Hall has worked as a writer across theatre, television, radio and film. His stage adaptation of Billy Elliot the Musical won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Book, as well as the Olivier Award for Best Musical in 2006. It was based on his screenplay for the film of the same name, which saw him nominated for an Academy Award. In 2008, Lee Hall won the London Evening Standard Award for Best Play for The Pitmen Painters. Lee Hall has been writer in residence at the RSC and Live Theatre, and his screenplay for War Horse was directed by Steven Spielberg in 2011. Other theatre credits include Cooking with Elvis (Live Theatre, Newcastle), Spoonface Steinberg (Ambassadors Theatre, West End, also adapted for television and radio) and Two's Company (Live Theatre and Bristol Old Vic).
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