The Stratford Festival of Ontario may be known first and foremost for mounting productions of Shakespeare's plays, but there are certain plays by the bard that only seem to come around once in a while. For example, HENRY VIII, a play written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, has only been performed three other times in the history of the Stratford Festival--the last one being in 2004. This season, director Martha Henry has created a production of this play that feels relevant and exciting. Stunning performances by Jonathan Goad and Irene Poole elevate it event further.
At a press conference held May 28 in the Davies Takacs Lobby of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 282 nominations for the 40th Anniversary Dora Mavor Moore Awards, which recognize excellence in professional theatre, dance and opera in Toronto. On Tuesday, June 25 at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 49 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the Silver Ticket Award and the Jon Kaplan Audience Choice Award will be presented.
Earlier this evening at the opening celebration of Brigadoon, Shaw Festival Executive Director Tim Jennings announced a three-year commitment from the RBC Foundation for the ongoing support of the Shaw Festival's Emerging Artists Program. Supporting the Festival since 1972, the RBC Foundation continues their long-time partnership with The Shaw with a multi-year pledge of $250,000 in funding. This renewed commitment will provide support to approximately 21 emerging Shaw Festival artists through the 2021 season.
Mother's Daughter, the highly anticipated final instalment of Kate Hennig's Queenmaker Trilogy, is now on stage at the Studio Theatre. The production officially opens on Friday, June 14.
Henry VIII, Shakespeare's thrilling drama about a pivotal moment in history, is now in previews at the Studio Theatre. The production officially opens on Wednesday, May 29, and early demand for tickets has led to an extended run until October 20.
Mirvish and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre's production of A DOLL'S HOUSE PART 2 does for theatre what is usually reserved for blockbusters and novels - it provides a sequel, many years down the road, to one of Henrik Ibsen's more controversial works (A Doll's House). Written more than a hundred years after the original play's debut, Lucas Hnath has composed a script that investigates what Nora, the wife and mother who left her family, has been up to since her prompt departure. While the cast and creative team navigate the fine line between humour and solemnity the show requires well, there are moments where it seems like something's missing from the narrative.
David Mirvish in a co-production with the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre presents A DOLL'S HOUSE, PART 2 by Lucas Hnath. Starring four outstanding Canadian actors and directed by Krista Jackson, this brilliant and audacious play is performed March 23 to April 14, 2019 at Toronto's CAA Theatre as part of the Off-Mirvish Season.
I made the mistake of seeing this play on Valentine's Day (it just worked out that way) and perhaps that influenced my expectations away from the actual promise of what this production was going to deliver.
Soulpepper's production of Kate Hennig's THE VIRGIN TRIAL, originally produced by the Stratford Festival, brings an investigation of power, morals, and misconduct to the stage. The gripping re-imagining looks at Henry VIII's second daughter Elizabeth I (Bahia Watson), a 15-year-old princess who's a few positions behind in line for the throne and extremely charming, if not untrustworthy.
Centaur Theatre presents the Quebec premiere of Kate Hennig's historical drama, THE LAST WIFE, from February 12 to March 3, 2019. This imagined contemporized examination of Henry VIII's last wife, Katherine Parr, chronicles Kate as she negotiates the halls of power through the bedroom and the dinner table. The Last Wife was a hit when it opened at the Stratford Festival in 2015, and subsequently led Hennig to write The Virgin Trial and Mother's Daughter, thereby creating the Queenmaker Trilogy. This production is directed by Centaur Theatre's Artistic and Executive Director, Eda Holmes, with native Montrealer, Diana Donnelly, reuniting with her former Shaw Festival collaborator to play Katherine.
Just like its tagline, Cygnet Theatre's seventeenth season takes audiences UP CLOSE - close to the heart, close to the action, close to the edge. It's also FAR REACHING - traveling across oceans, across time, and across the tracks.
People will have a number of opportunities to see the work of the Stratford Festival on stages in Toronto and Montreal, as well as on screens across Canada and internationally this year.
With work well underway for an exciting 2019 season, the Stratford Festival box office opens to the public tomorrow, Friday, January 4. There are lots of new developments for the coming season, including expanded bus service from the GTA and Kitchener-Waterloo, and the new Bravo Zone, which offers 150,000 tickets priced at $41.
The 2018 season ended on Sunday but work continues at the Stratford Festival with a number of exciting projects in the Laboratory, the Festival's research and development arm.
Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino has announced key casting for the 2019 season, including Michael Blake as Othello and Amelia Sargisson as Desdemona in the season opener, Othello, one of Shakespeare's greatest and best-known tragedies.
Opening Tuesday, October 9 and running until October 21, Alberta Theatre Projects will present The Shakespeare Company and Hit & Myth's imaginative new production of Tom Stoppard's dark, witty comedy Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. Set against the backdrop of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Stoppard's masterpiece follows the hilarious antics of two minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, as they question their place in the story of Hamlet and their inevitable fate.
After three days without power, GCTC's power has been fully restored and the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre is fully operational. Due to the power outages across the city, the performances on September 21, 22, and 23 were unfortunately cancelled. GCTC is happy to report that there is still a full week of performances of The Virgin Trial that run until Sunday, September 30. If a patron missed a performance due to the power outage, they should contact the GCTC Box Office at boxoffice@gctc.ca (email is the preferred method of contact right now) with the new date they'd like to attend. See below for the remaining performance dates and times for Kate Hennig's The Virgin Trial:
I had the pleasure of being invited to attend the premiere of The Great Canadian Theatre Company's production of Kate Hennig's The Virgin Trial, directed by Eric Coates. Although this production is the sequel to Hennig's The Last Wife, the play stands on its own so no prior knowledge is needed. The play is set in modern times, but the characters and events are from the Tudor era. English history buffs will particularly enjoy the story as it is partially based on factual events with some speculation thrown in, which makes for a fascinating crime drama.
Lauded as one of Canada's most exciting playwrights, Kate Hennig is back at the Great Canadian Theatre Company with The Virgin Trial: the sequel to her 2016-17 smash hit The Last Wife. In The Virgin Trial, Hennig reimagines the story of young Elizabeth I as a modern day crime drama, full of political and sexual intrigue in the Tudor court. Directed by GCTC Artistic Director Eric Coates (Ordinary Days and Gracie), The Virgin Trial runs on the GCTC stage from September 11 - 30.
