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.

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 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. All's Well That Ends Well, 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, traveling 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.

NOTE: Habeeb Salloum is a freelance writer, author and member of Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC) residing in Toronto, Canada. Many of his writings can be found on the internet.

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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.