With such great productions as The Tempest, Coriolanus, To Kill a Mockingbird, Long Day's Journey Into Night, An Ideal Husband, The Music Man and The Rocky Horror Show - to name just a few - we hope you're looking forward to next year with great anticipation! Starting on November 12, valued Members like you will be able to purchase tickets and be guaranteed the very best seats in the house - weeks ahead of the general public on-sale date of January 5!
Don't miss your exclusive opportunity to order well in advance and book the best selection of tickets at great pre-season prices. That includes priority access to 2-for-1 Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday performances, and to our Musical Ticket Offer and Shakespeare Ticket Offer - enabling you to save up to 50%!
On-Sale DatesMembership Level | Online at noon | By phone or in person at 9 a.m. Playwright's Circle | November 12 | November 13 Sustainer/Prospero Society | November 13 | November 14 Associate | November 14 | November 15 Benefactor | November 15 | November 16 Ambassador | November 16 | November 17 Friend | November 17 | November 18
For more information about next season's line-up, and to plan your personal playbill, visit our website.
Casting a female actor in a male leading role is not a new concept to productions of Shakespeare's plays. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the famed stage performers Charlotte Cushman and Sarah Bernhardt both famously took on "breeches" roles such as Hamlet.
The idea is not a new one here at the Festival either: over the past decade, the growing trend of cross-gender casting has been seen in such productions as Breath of Kings and As You Like It, and in 2011, Seana McKenna took on the title role of Richard III to the great excitement of critics and fans alike. In Shakespeare's own time, of course, all female roles were portrayed by boys, so gender-bending in the other direction is not such a stretch as some might think.
This season, the Stratford Festival is showcasing women in some of Shakespeare's most compelling male roles, including Martha Henry's Prospero in The Tempest and Ms McKenna in the title role of Julius Caesar, alongside Michelle Giroux as Mark Antony and Irene Poole as Cassius.
"The gender parity casting in Julius Caesar goes from the top on down," says director Scott Wentworth. "We've seen women playing male roles here at the Festival before, but this production takes it another step further by having an equal number of male and female players taking on traditionally male parts.
"It was a joint decision with [Artistic Director] Antoni Cimolino to approach the play in this manner, and I was very interested in the experiment. We've been trying it out here for a number of seasons, but this is our first major production to be done with the leads and the ensemble parts being a 50/50 split between men and women. This way, both genders will be speaking without one voice dominating the other for too long."
In Mr. Wentworth's view, there are a couple of different angles from which to approach this exploration. One way is to create a world - either one wholly imagined, or one based in reality, like Margaret Thatcher's England - where women would be in a natural position to assume those strong roles. The other way is to see the entire concept of gender as a trapping of the 19th century and simply accept that these are actors taking on roles, in the same way that cross-cultural casting has become more and more the norm.
"The more I read and re-read the play, the more interested I became in this approach to it," says Mr. Wentworth. "Next to Timon of Athens, it's the play with the least number of female roles in it, and they never even get a chance to speak to one another. Knowing the casting, I keep hearing things differently as I read, and the more I think the poetry strongly reverberates with the culture that we're living in now. There are so many parallels to what is going on in the world.
"Take Rome and the way it extols the so-called masculine virtues of individuality and aggression to the point of fetishism - making them the only ones worthy of public discourse. At the same time, the feminine energy is banished to private rooms, becoming silent and silenced. It begs the pertinent questions, 'What does that do to the idea of a democracy? In that sort of atmosphere, does a dictatorship become inevitable? What do you do with a Julius Caesar when tyranny seems the only direction?'
"Donald Trump postures the aforementioned 'great' masculine qualities, and in so doing defeated Hilary Clinton, who was also posturing them. Putting female actors into these larger parts will give an insight to the dangers of male behaviour in ways of which a male actor may not be quite so aware - and that will also greatly affect the audience's perceptions."
One of Shakespeare's shortest plays, Julius Caesar fits well with a modern sensibility. Its language is terse and concise and lacks the soaring imagery found in his other plays of that time, such as As You Like It and Henry V.
"We seem to be in an altogether different language world," says Mr. Wentworth. "Again, there is a timely connection in the way that Julius Caesar speaks like he expects everything he says to be written down. Everything feels like a sound bite, like it belongs on YouTube or Twitter or Google tracking. Young audiences can relate well to this sort of thing: they have very different perceptions about gender relations and living life out in public without any real concern for their privacy rights.
"People may generally think that Julius Caesar is a stodgy, straightforward glimpse of history, but with its tight and considered use of language, the play has the voice to engage in the conversations we have today. It shows that politics is anything but intellectual - that it is all emotionally based and rife with explosive volatility. One minute citizens can think someone's a hero, and the next minute they want to lock him up or tear him to pieces."
Casting women in traditionally male roles also hugely expands the acting opportunities for gifted female performers.
"Barring her gender, an actor of Seana's range and experience would have played Julius Caesar already," says Mr. Wentworth. "This gives really extraordinary actors the chance to play the great roles and close that gap of time in their careers between playing Juliet and Queen Margaret. Beyond that, it will blow the dust off the play and give us a new way in - both as a creative company and as an audience - so that we can ask questions about what this play says to us in the here and now.
"The core idea behind presenting classical plays is that as a society we need to re-experience them every so often so we can ask ourselves those big questions, and actively conjure up and listen to the answers."
Key casting is now in place for 2018, including Martha Henry as Prospero, Seana McKenna as Julius Caesar, André Sills as Coriolanus and Daren A. Herbert as Harold Hill in The Music Man. Here's a look at what some of your Festival favourites will be up to, along with some familiar returning faces and welcome newcomers to the Stratford stages.
MUSICALS
Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show | Directed and choreographed by Donna Feore
Dan Chameroy as Dr. Frank N. Furter Jennifer Rider-Shaw as Janet Sayer Roberts as Brad Robert Markus as Riff Raff Erica Peck as Magenta Steve Ross as the Narrator Kimberly-Ann Truong as Columbia
Meredith Willson's The Music Man | Directed and choreographed by Donna Feore
Daren A. Herbert as Harold Hill Danielle Wade as Marion Paroo Denise Oucharek as Mrs. Paroo Steve Ross as Mayor Shinn Mark Uhre as Marcellus Washburn Blythe Wilson as Eulalie MacKecknie Shinn
SHAKESPEARE
The Tempest | Directed by Antoni Cimolino Martha Henry as Prospero Graham Abbey as Antonio Michael Blake as Caliban Tom McCamus as Stephano Stephen Ouimette as Trinculo André Sills as Sebastian
Julius Caesar | Directed by Scott Wentworth Seana McKenna as Julius Caesar Michelle Giroux as Mark Antony Jonathan Goad as Brutus Irene Poole as Cassius Monice Peter as Portia Joseph Ziegler as Caska
Coriolanus | Directed by Robert Lepage André Sills as Coriolanus Graham Abbey as Tullus Aufidius Michael Blake as Cominius Tom McCamus as Menenius Agrippa Stephen Ouimette as Junius Brutus Lucy Peacock as Volumnia Tom Rooney as Sicinius Velutus
The Comedy of Errors | Directed by Keira Loughran Beryl Bain as Dromio of Syracuse Josue Laboucane as Dromio of Ephesus Jessica B. Hill as Antipholus of Syracuse Qasim Khan as Antipholus of Ephesus
CLASSICS
To Kill a Mockingbird | Directed by Nigel Shawn Williams
Jonathan Goad as Atticus Finch Irene Poole as Jean Louise, the Narrator Matthew C. Brown as Tom Robinson Tim Campbell as Heck Tate Jonelle Gunderson as Mayella Ewell Randy Hughson as Bob Ewell Joseph Ziegler as Judge Taylor
An Ideal Husband | Directed by Lezlie Wade
Tim Campbell as Sir Robert Chiltern Brad Hodder as Lord Arthur Goring Joseph Ziegler as Lord Caversham Bahareh Yaraghi as Mrs. Laura Cheveley Sophia Walker as Lady Gertrude Chiltern
Napoli Milionaria! | Directed by Antoni Cimolino
Tom McCamus as Gennaro Iovine Brigit Wilson as Amalia Michael Blake as Errico Tom Rooney as Riccardo Spasiano Johnathan Sousa as Amedeo Long Day's Journey Into Night | Directed by Miles Potter
Seana McKenna as Mary Tyrone Scott Wentworth as James Tyrone Gordon S. Miller as James Tyrone Jr.
WORLD PREMIÈRES
OF STRATFORD FESTIVAL COMMISSIONS
Brontë | Directed by Vanessa Porteous
Beryl Bain as Charlotte Andrea Rankin as Anne Jessica B. Hill as Emily
Paradise Lost | Directed by Jackie Maxwell
Lucy Peacock as Satan Qasim Khan as Adam Amelia Sargisson as Eve
Support for the 2018 season of the Festival Theatre is generously provided by Daniel Bernstein and Claire Foerster.
Support for the 2018 season of the Avon Theatre is generously provided by the Birmingham Family.
Support for the 2018 season of the Studio Theatre is generously provided by Sandra & Jim Pitblado.
Do you hate long lines in shops and crowded mall parking lots? So do we! This year, avoid the madness and enjoy stress-free holiday gift buying with Stratford Festival Gift Certificates. They're a perfect solution for theatre lovers of all ages: great for a favourite teacher, a beloved young person, kind neighbours, valued colleagues, your parents or your special sweetheart.
Our Gift Certificates are available in any denomination, making them a great one-size-fits-all present. Just enter the amount and quantity of each certificate you'd like to buy. Both mail and email delivery options are available - perfect for last-minute gift-giving!
Stratford Festival Gift Certificates can be redeemed for:
- Theatre tickets - Membership donations - Warehouse, garden and backstage tours - Specialty items from our Stratford Festival Shops
For guaranteed holiday delivery of physical Gift Certificates by standard mail, please order online or call 1.800.567.1600 by December 8. You can also purchase in person at the Festival Theatre Box Office until December 24 at 2 p.m. Get your Gift Certificates any time online and have them delivered to you electronically - available 24 hours a day, seven days a week - including December 25!
Shop in person! If you find yourself in the Stratford area, why not stop by our wonderful downtown Stratford Festival Shop? Located next to the Avon Theatre at 99 Downie Street, it's a delightful place in which to browse through our large selection of wonderful books, DVDs, theatrical goodies, T-shirts, jewellery, toys and quality gift ideas! Our friendly staff can help you choose that perfect something for your extra-special someone.
And if you can't make it to town, you can explore our virtual shop online.
Beginning this month, our stunning HD film productions of Macbeth and Love's Labour's Lost will be available to rent or buy online, along with six other titles from our acclaimed Shakespeare series: King Lear, King John, Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew and The Adventures of Pericles.
The films can be accessed through iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play. Visit http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/OnDemand for details.
Stratford Festival HD is sponsored by Sun Life Financial as part of their Making the Arts More Accessible™ program.
Support for Stratford Festival HD is generously provided by The John and Myrna Daniels Charitable Foundation, Laura Dinner & Richard Rooney, the Jenkins Family Foundation, the Henry White Kinnear Foundation, Ophelia & Mike Lazaridis, The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation, Sandra & Jim Pitblado, the Slaight Family Foundation, Robert & Jacqueline Sperandio, and an anonymous donor.
Support for Stratford Festival HD has also been provided by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.
Canadian distribution is through Cineplex, which specializes in bringing world-class events and performances to the big screen.
Screenings are followed by a broadcast window on CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster.