Stratford Shakespeare Festival production history

The Festival Theatre

This page describes the production history of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival (formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival and the Stratford Festival of Canada) is a summer-long celebration of theatre held each year in Stratford, Ontario.[1] Theatre-goers, actors, and playwrights flock to Stratford to take part—many of the greatest Canadian, American and British actors have played roles at Stratford. It was one of the first and is still one of the most prominent arts festivals in Canada.

The Festival's primary mandate is to present productions of Shakespeare's plays, but it also produces a wide variety of theatre from Greek tragedy to contemporary works. The following is a chronological list of the productions that have been staged as part of the Stratford Festival since its inception.

On February 17, 2015, AP News reported that the Stratford Shakespeare Festival plans to film all of Shakespeare's plays.[2]

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

The 1986 season was staged by Artistic Director John Neville with Shakespeare plays produced against a modern play with similar themes or characters (i.e. Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead).[3]

1987

Artistic Director John Neville staged the 1987 season with an Anti-War theme.[3]

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

The 2013 season was staged by Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino around the themes of Societies Divided and The Outsider

2014

The 2014 season was staged by Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino around the theme of Madness: Minds Pushed to the Edge

2015

2016

Frequency of production of Shakespeare's plays[4]

Comedies

Histories

Tragedies

Note: All 3 parts of Henry VI were performed in 1966 and 1980 in an abridged version. In 2002, using the Barton/Hall method of combining 1 Henry VI with the first half of 2 Henry VI, and the second half of 2 Henry VI with 3 Henry VI, the plays were renamed Henry VI: Revenge in France and Henry VI: Revolt in England. In 2016, "Richard II" and "1 Henry IV" were combined as was "2 Henry IV" and "Henry V". The Plays were renamed "Breath of Kings: Rebellion" and "Breath of Kings: Redemption".

References

  1. CBC Arts report, July 17, 2007
  2. Kennedy, Mark (February 17, 2015). "Stratford Festival plans to film all Shakespeare's plays". AP News. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Robert Cushman, Stratford Festival of Canada. Fifty Seasons at Stratford. Madison Press Books. ISBN 1-895892-15-5
  4. http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/about/history.aspx?id=1178
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