The Stratford Festival - One Of The Most Successful
Theatre Events In The World
By Habeeb Salloum
 We were touring the virtually unknown to
the public artist, craftsmen, wig and makeup rooms as well as the administrative
area under the Festival Theatre that make possible the plays of the Stratford
Festival – Canada’s epitome of literary events. The previous day, Molly, our
guide, had taken us through a huge Stratford Festival workshop and the largest
costume warehouses in the world housing some 50,000 costumes all used in plays
held during Stratford’s annual festivals. Today, our knowledge of how the
Stratford Festival Theatre ticks would be complete.
 Now she was taking us for a tour through
the innumerable rooms under the Festival Theatre where everything needed for the
plays to run smoothly was being invented, manufactured or re-built for the
productions - from costumes, mechanical animals and stage props and other
objects that theatre goers see on stage. It was an underground beehive city –
one of the largest backstage areas in North America humming with activity.
Molly, one of the 150 festival
volunteers who donate annually at least 30 hours of their time, seemed to be in
love with all things related to actors and the industry they engender. “They
are all geniuses, the craftsmen who are working here. There is almost nothing
that they cannot build.”
 A short time later, after seeing workers
constructing planes and trains for the stage shows, I stopped and I asked one of
the craftsmen building a mechanical animal that seemed eerily real where he
learned his trade. He smiled, “I have no formal training! I learned through the
years all that I know by building objects for the shows.” “Geniuses they are!”
I thought to myself as we continued our tour.
As we passed dummy models fitted with
bum pads and other types of padding to enhance the bodies of actors, Molly,
pointed to a mannequin with breast enlarger pads, remarking in improvised
poetics: “As you can see! What the Good Lord has forgotten can be remedied by
cotton!”
 After the tour it was evident that there
is a whole industry that supports the actors and their plays. The craftsmen and
other workers are the foundation on which the Stratford Festival rests. They are
the ones who add glamour and appeal to the plays that visitors come to enjoy.
The Stratford Festival, luring between
600,000 and 700,000 annual visitors, rivals New York’s Broadway in its drawing
power. Strangely, this town of nearly 30,000, located near the U.S. border in
southwest Ontario and surrounded by affluent-looking farms, has become a theatre
centre par excellence, with an impact on the Stratford area’s Gross Domestic
Product of over 145 million dollars. Celebrating its 55th anniversary as a
centre for Shakespearean plays, it lures people from the four corners of the
globe. Beginning in April and ending in November, North America’s largest
classical repertory theatre with an annual budget – in 2007, $53,923,000 -
offers the public some of the world’s leading plays.
 Since its inception, the Stratford
Festival has been one of the most successful and widely admired theatres of its
kind in the world. For more than half a century, many of the world’s-renowned
plays have been preformed, and a good number of famous stars of world theatre
have come to this once sleepy rural town. Called by some ‘Canada's sacred cow’,
the Festival has brought fame and repute to Canada's artistic community.
In 1832, early English settlers,
homesick for their homeland, changed the name of the hamlet, which had been
first called ‘Little Thames’, to Stratford, and the river running through town,
Avon - after Shakespeare's hometown, Stratford-on-Avon, in England. For many
years, Stratford continued as a village in the backwoods of Canada's rural
areas, until in 1951, Tom Patterson, a businessman and a great Shakespearean
enthusiast, came up with the idea of the Stratford Festival.
 His concept soon bore fruit. On July 13,
1953, the Festival opened under a massive tent. The famous actor Sir Alex
Guinness joined one of the greatest Shakespearean directors Tyrone Guthrie and
the well-known stage designer Tanya Moiseiwitsch, who stayed attached to
Stratford until she died in February 2003, to launch the Stratford Festival
premiering with the plays Richard III and All’s Well That Ends Well.
 Due to success of
the enterprise in the first few years, during 1956-57, the Festival Theatre was
constructed. Evolving from the tent, which had for the first three years been
the home of the Festival, it was designed along the lines of the Elizabethan
stage. In 1957 the Avon Theatre, a former movie house located in the middle of
town, and later the Tom Patterson Theatre, were added. In the ensuing years, the
venture became a successful world-class theatre festival, bringing fame and
money to the town of Stratford.
 To accommodate the
continuing growth in the number of visitors, in 2002, the new 250-seat Studio
Theatre opened its doors. Throughout the last decade a great deal of renovation
has been done in upgrading these theatres. Today, some 400 people work in all 4
theatres and create in the area some 3,000 other jobs.
Through the years, Stratford's Festival
has put most other similar festivals to shame. Carousal, Coriolanus, Cyrano de
Bergerac, Guys and Dolls, Hamlet, Journey into Night, Kiss Me Kate, Richard III,
My Fair Lady, Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Scarlet
Pimpernel, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night and endless other world-famous
productions, are only a few of the celebrated plays most of which more than once
have been enacted in this country town.
While the Festival rests on a
Shakespearean foundation, other classic and contemporary works, along with
international stars, are featured. In 2007, of the 14 plays to be performed,
four are Shakespearean: King Lear, The Merchant Of Venice,
Othello, and The Comedy of Errors.
 Besides plays, Stratford offers visitors
other activities such as concert recitals and readings by celebrated authors and
an extensive program of educational activities for students, teachers and
others. The Festival runs its own school of professional artist development and
is currently building a $50 million Endowment Foundation to ensure that its
founder’s vision remains a reality for the foreseeable future.
Enhancing the theatres and their plays
are the landscaped lawns and parks as well as flower gardens. The attractiveness
of flowers in the Japanese, Rose and Wildflower Gardens, as well as the
Shakespearean Gardens containing flowers that Shakespeare mentions in his works,
give the city an aura of beauty and bewitchment. As well, numerous festivals are
held throughout the summer - the most important being the Music Festival.
 No less embellishing is the dammed Avon
River, creating Victoria Lake on whose waters swim ducks and swans, seemingly
furthering the connection between the Canadian and English Stratford. Americans,
more than 40% of the visitors, travelling to this festival town, feel that they
have enjoyed a taste of England.
For guests, the town has 500
hotel rooms and a series of antique and gift shops. The town is a fine place to
experience the culinary arts. These are interlaced by a wide range of
eating-places, many of these elegant dining places, as well as dainty bistros,
ethnic eating-places and snug pubs, within walking distance of each other. Five
art galleries and the Saturday Farmer's Market, rarely missed by weekend
visitors, add to the lure of Canada's Shakespearean home.
For 2007, as it has been for all the
previous seasons, in scenery, art galleries, dining and, especially in its
festival plays, Stratford offers something for every taste. Since its inception,
the Festival has set the standard for the production of classical drama in the
Western Hemisphere and there is little doubt that this will continue for the
foreseeable future.
IF YOU GO
How to Get There:
Stratford is located 145 km (90 mi)
south west of Toronto - a leisurely 2 hour drive by car. However, the best and
most comfortable way to travel to Stratford is by Via Rail - contact - 1-888-VIA-RAIL for Ontario, and 1-800-USA-RAIL, for U.S.A.
Facts about Stratford:
A good time to travel to Stratford is
during the Summer Music Festival that runs from July 25 to August 13. In its
sixth season, the Festival includes cabarets, concerts, musical productions and
recitals. A combination of this Festival and some of the plays will make for a
great holiday.
While in town take some of the tours
offered such as the Historic Downtown Walk – a self-guided walk that highlights
Stratford’s historic downtown; and the self-guided Festival Walk, exploring the
area around and beyond the Festival Theatre. As well the Festival Theatre Backstage Tour where visitors can see the workshops of the
plays.
Explore the Shakespearean Gardens:
Stratford was the winner of the 1997 worldwide competition ‘Nations in Bloom’
and as a result was awarded the title of “World’s Most Beautiful City’ for a
city of its size. It is noted for its gardens rich in vivid colours, serene
parks, and green carpets of grass overshadowed by stately trees.
If one has the time, a drive to
Shakespeare, virtually on the outskirts of Stratford, could be a pleasant
interlude. Known as the ‘Antique Capital of Ontario’, it is a small picturesque
hamlet with an English village atmosphere, offering choice bake and gift shops,
a tearoom, a 50-room inn and, of course, a dozen antique outlets. Another
pleasant excursion is the short drive to St. Mary, a picturesque town that
boasts a nostalgic past. Known as ‘The Stone-town’ due to the eye-catching
architecture of its local limestone structures, it is a charming town to visit.
For golfers, there
are two 18 hole golf courses near Stratford: St. Marys Golf and Country Club,
Tel: 519-284-3704. Fax: 519-284-0908. E-mail:
stgolf@stmarysgolf.com Website:
www.stmarysgolf.com ; and Stratford Country Club, Tel: 519-271-4212. Fax:
519-271-2358. E-mail: info@stratfordcountryclub.com Website:
www.stratfordcountryclub.com
My Two Favourite Places to Stay and Eat
in Stratford:
Bentley’s Inn, Bar & Restaurant – a fine
place in the heart of town to stay and eat. For
reservations & room availability call: 1-800-361-5322. E-mail:
bentleys-annex@orc.ca
Website:
http://www.bentleys-annex.com
The Olde English
Parlour Historic Inn & Suites, located in downtown Stratford, the establishment,
a fine place to stay and eat, has recently been renovated. For reservations for
either the Inn or Dining, call: 519-271-2772,or Toll-Free: 1-877-728-4036.
Email:
reservations@oldeenglishparlour.com Website:
http://www.oldeenglishparlour.com
For Tourism Information, Contact:
Stratford Festival
of Canada, P.O. Box 520, Stratford, Ontario, Canada N5A 4M9
Tel: toll free - 1-800-561 SWAN or 1-800-567-1600. Fax: 519-273-1818.
E-mail: orders@stratfordfestival.ca
Website:
http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/
Back to TravelLady Magazine |
|
