Ontario’s Stratford Festival features 13 plays

When the railroad industry left Stratford, Ontario, in the 1950s economic ruin was predicted. But one man, Tom Patterson, had a visionary idea: a Shakespeare Festival. He approached the city for funding. With a notable lack of vision, the city granted him the whooping sum of $250. Undeterred, he built a concrete thrust stage and covered it with a tent. 

 

On July 13, 1953, Alec Guinness starred in the title role of Richard III. It was the start of an astonishing new chapter in Canadian theater history that now produces months of performances each summer and is North America’s largest classical repertory company.

 

Stratford is only a three-hour drive from my hometown of Detroit. After crossing the border at the Blue Water Bridge, the road is lined with miles of farmland and colossal wind turbines. It’s a land the festival honors as a “beautiful territory which has been the site...of storytelling for many thousands of years.” Before every performance these ancestral guardians are respectfully recognized and their tribe’s names recited.  

 

The town itself is quaint and very walkable. Our charming Airbnb was perched above the shops on the main street. We picnicked on the rooftop and walked everywhere. The restaurant scene is diverse with ethnic cuisine, farm to table menus and prix fixe meals. We were lucky to land at Elizabeth, a petite jewel of a place where we enjoyed watching the chef wield his blow torch as we reviewed the Wagyu meatballs and scallop succotash with adjoining tables.  

 

The festival’s programming for 2023 includes 13 plays performed from April to October.  Popular works are often held over. They range from Shakespeare classics like “King Lear” and “Richard II” to “Rent” and “Frankenstein Revisited.” Antoni Cimolina, the festival’s artistic director explains, “New plays examine who and where we are at this particular time; the classics remind us that we’ve been here before, that our present experience is part of a larger pattern that can be wonderful or profoundly disturbing.”  

 

In years past we laughed ourselves silly at “Little Shop of Horrors” followed by a more elevated afternoon with “Merry Wives of Windsor.” This summer we chose “Spamalot” and “Grand Magic.” It was a wonderful combination that left us with so much to talk about. 

 

Was “Spamalot” pure nonsense?  

 

“It is nonsense with a point,” David Seljak writes in the program notes. “It asks us to challenge all of the serious things that serious people take seriously — including ‘serious’ theatre.”  The irreverent hijinks, nonstop dancing and stupendous singing created a bubble of happy ridiculousness. When the audience joined the cast to sing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” I felt the dust of everyday concerns blow away.  

 

The themes of “Grand Magic” kept us talking for days. As the venerable George Costanza said in Seinfeld, “It’s not a lie if you believe it,” the play enchantingly explores the idea of confirmation bias, a theme as relevant today as it was when Eduardo De Filippo wrote it in Italy after World War II. 

 

Cimolino describes that as “a time when the supposed bedrock truths and realities of Italy’s fascist era were exposed as tawdry lies and delusions,” and the country grappled with redefining who they were and how they would avoid being fooled by demagoguery.  The play asks,

“Do we choose the illusions we live by or do those illusions choose us?”

 

Today there are four theaters in Stratford including the magnificent 77,000-square-foot Tom Patterson Theatre on the bank of the Avon River. Surrounded by lush perennial gardens, it includes an intimate 600-seat venue, a rehearsal hall, presentation area, lobbies and lounges. 

 

It’s apparent that the festival has surpassed Patterson’s vision. It generates $140 million in economic activity and attracts over 500,000 visitors each year. It employs over 1,000 people including aspiring and seasoned actors who take on multiple roles. There are also programs for teachers, filmmakers, youth camps, intensive seminar weeks and university courses that foster new talent. Not a bad return on a $250 investment! 

 

For more information, visit stratfordfestival.ca. 

 

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