Shaw Festival
| Shaw Festival | |
|---|---|
 Festival Logo | |
| Location(s) | Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada |
| Artistic director | Jackie Maxwell |
| Foundation | 1962 |
| Founded by | Brian Doherty |
| Date(s) | April-October each year |
| Type of play(s) | plays by or written during the lifetime of George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) |
| Website | |
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www | |
The Shaw Festival is a major Canadian theatre festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, the second largest repertory theatre company in North America. Founded in 1962, its original mandate was to stimulate interest in George Bernard Shaw and his period, and to advance the development of theatre arts in Canada.
History
The Festival's roots can be traced to 1962 when Ontario lawyer and playwright Brian Doherty staged a summertime "Salute to Shaw" in the town's courthouse, a venue later known as the Court House Theatre. For eight weekends, Doherty and his crew produced Shaw's Don Juan in Hell and Candida. The "Salute", with its mandate to promote the works of Shaw and his contemporaries, was an immediate success
With the addition of actor and director Barry Morse as Artistic Director in 1966, the Festival gained huge international publicity and its productions garnered sold-out performances. Morse also joined the company as actor during this season. Paxton Whitehead took over management of the company with the 1967 season and under his leadership the Festival gained new heights. He served for twelve seasons as Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival; during his tenure, he was able to push through a plan of building the purpose-built 869-seat state-of-the-art Festival Theatre to expand considerably the capacity for audiences at Niagara-on-the-Lake. Queen Elizabeth II, Indira Gandhi, and Pierre Elliot Trudeau were among those who attended performances at the Shaw Festival Theatre during its inaugural season in 1973. Tony Van Bridge was interim artistic director for the 1974-75 season.
In 1980, Christopher Newton joined the company as Artistic Director and continued to foster its development with the addition of a third theatre, the Royal George. Outstanding directors such as Derek Goldby, Denise Coffey, and Neil Munro (who became Resident Director in the early 1990s) were hired, and the acting ensemble was carefully developed until it was widely recognized to be one of the best in the world.
Under Christopher Newton, the Festival's mandate became more narrowly defined: to produce plays written during the lifetime of Shaw (1856–1950), "plays about the beginning of the modern world," as Newton was quoted. In Newton's last years as Artistic Director, the mandate was widened to also include contemporary plays which are set within Shaw's lifetime. His successor, Jackie Maxwell, has expanded the mandate further to include works by "contemporary Shavians" such as Tony Kushner and Caryl Churchill. She has greatly diversified the acting ensemble and produced many plays written and directed by women.
Artistic Directors
- Andrew Allan (1963–1965)
- Barry Morse (1966)
- Paxton Whitehead (1967–1977)
- Leslie Yeo (1979)
- Christopher Newton (1980–2002)
- Jackie Maxwell (2003–present)
2015 season
- Sweet Charity - book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields
- Pygmalion - by George Bernard Shaw
- Light Up the Sky - by Moss Hart
- The Lady from the Sea - by Henrik Ibsen, adapted by Erin Shields
- Top Girls - by Caryl Churchill
- The Twelve-Pound Look - By J. M. Barrie
- Peter and the Starcatcher - by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, adapted by Rick Elice
- You Never Can Tell - by George Bernard Shaw
- The Divine: A Play for Sarah Bernhardt - by Michel Marc Bouchard, translated by Linda Gaboriau
2016 season (announced)
- Alice in Wonderland – by Lewis Carroll, adapted by Peter Hinton, music by Allen Cole
- A Woman of No Importance – by Oscar Wilde
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler
- Uncle Vanya – by Anton Chekhov
- Mrs. Warren's Profession – by George Bernard Shaw
- "Master Harold"...and the Boys – by Athol Fugard
- Our Town – by Thornton Wilder
- Engaged – by W.S. Gilbert
- The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God – by George Bernard Shaw, adapted by Lisa Codrington
- The Dance of Death – by August Strindberg, adapted by Richard Greenberg
References
Bibliography
- Holmes, Katherine ed. (1986). Celebrating!: twenty-five years on the stage at the Shaw Festival. Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press. ISBN 0-919783-48-1.