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The Stratford Festival of Canada is a summer-long celebration of theatre held each year in Stratford, Ontario. Beginning November 2007, its name will change to The Stratford Shakespeare Festival.^[1] Theatre-goers, actors, and playwrights flock to Stratford to take part — many of the greatest American and Canadian actors play 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 success of the festival dramatically changed the image of Stratford into one of a city where the arts and tourism play important roles in its economy.

Contents 1 History 2 Today 3 Artistic Directors 4 2008 Repertoire 5 Theatres 6 See also 7 External links 8 References 9 Notes

The Festival was founded as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada, due mainly to Tom Patterson, a Stratford-native journalist who wanted to revitalize his town's economy by creating a theatre festival dedicated to the works of William Shakespeare, being that the town shares the name of Shakespeare's birthplace. Stratford had originally been a major railway junction and had fallen into decline when the railway yards were moved. Patterson achieved his goal, and the Stratford Shakespearean Festival became a legal entity on October 31, 1952. British actor and director Tyrone Guthrie agreed to become the festival's first Artistic Director. On July 13, 1953, actor Alec Guinness spoke the first lines of the first play produced by the festival: "Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this son of York."

This first performance took place in a giant canvas tent on the banks of the River Avon. The season lasted six weeks and comprised just two plays: Richard III and All's Well That Ends Well. In the second year the playbill expanded, and included the first non-Shakespeare play, Oedipus Rex. The Festival Theatre was opened in 1957, and was deliberately designed to resemble a tent, in memory of those first performances. The Festival Theatre's thrust stage was designed by British designer Tanya Moiseiwitsch to resemble both a classic Greek amphitheatre and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and has become a model for other stages in North America and Great Britain.

As of 2006 the festival runs for seven months and there are four permanent festival venues: the Festival Theatre, the Avon, the Tom Patterson Theatre, and the Studio Theatre. Although the festival was originally named for Shakespeare, and still concentrates on his works, Shakespeare is not the only playwright produced. The current playbill includes classical, contemporary and musical performances.

The Festival Fringe features music concerts, readings from major authors, and lectures.

2007 will mark the final season of longest-running Artistic Director Richard Monette (1994-present). He will be succeeded in 2008 by an artistic unit consisting of General Director Antoni Cimolino and Artistic Directors Marti Maraden, Des McAnuff, and Don Shipley.

Starting in 2008, Stratford's original Festival Theatre will focus on the works of Shakespeare, a request made by the new artistic directors (one play by Shaw will also be presented). The newly renovated Avon Theatre will now be the host for various musicals (confirmed to be Cabaret and The Music Man for the 2008 season) and classic plays. The Tom Patterson Theatre and Studio Theatre will continue to showcase world premieres and various Shakespeare and other playwright's works.

• Tyrone Guthrie (1953-1955)
• Michael Langham (1956-1967)
• Jean Gascon (1968-1974)
• Robin Phillips (1975-1980)
• John Hirsch (1981-1985)
• John Neville (1985-1989)
• David William (1990-1993)
• Richard Monette (1994-2007)
• Marti Maraden, Des McAnuff, Don Shipley (2008-)

• Hamlet
• The Taming of the Shrew
• Romeo and Juliet
• All's Well That Ends Well
• Love's Labour's Lost
• The Music Man
• Cabaret
• Caesar and Cleopatra
• Fuente Ovejuna
• The Trojan Women
• Emilia Galotti
• Palmer Park
• Moby Dick
• Krapp's Last Tape / Hughie
• Her Infinite Variety
• There Reigns Love

Further information: Stratford Festival production history

• Festival Theatre
• Avon Theatre
• Tom Patterson Theatre
• Studio Theatre

• Theatre in Canada

• The Stratford Festival official website
• The City of Stratford official website
• CBC Digital Archives - The Stratford Festival: The First Fifty Years
• House programme from inaugural 1953 season
• Press release announcing full 2008 season
• Stratford Adventure, an NFB documentary on the founding of the festival
• Offstage, Onstage: Inside the Stratford Festival, an NFB documentary on the festival's 50th anniversary

• Martin Hunter. 2001. Romancing the Bard: Stratford at Fifty. Dundurn Press. ISBN 1-55002-363-2.
• J. Alan B. Somerset. 1991. The Stratford Festival Story, 1st edition. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-27804-0
• Tom Patterson. 1987. First Stage. McClelland and Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-6949-9.
• Tyrone Guthrie. 1959. A Life in the Theatre. McGraw Hill. ISBN 0070252920.

1. ^ CBC Arts report, July 17, 2007