An Item for describing and discussing visits to the Stratford Festival
in Ontario, Canada.

8 responses total.

We went to the Stratford Festival for two days this past week, and saw
_Alice Through the Looking Glass_, _Pirates of Penzance_, and _The
Comedy of Errors_. I don't know why, after living in Ann Arbor for
three decades, that I hadn't attended sooner. Perhaps because there 
are many opportunities to see drama in Ann Arbor, and it *is* more
expensive to go to Stratford for the purpose.

However, regardless of all this introspection, the performances, and
our first visit to Stratford, were all very enjoyable. With better
timing one could have crammed six performances into two days, but I
think we did OK with:

_Alice_ a stage adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic. All the goodies
were there *and* a lot of special effects, that heightened the story.

_Pirates_ The classic operetta *embedded* into a dumb framework of a
flapper-era movie-making venture, which detracted at points from the
performance. However the singing was excellent and it was hard to believe
the *energy* the performers put into their roles, considering that they
do it several times a week. A gem, but in an inappropriate setting.

_Comedy_ Straight Shakespeare, competently and energetically performed,
on a thrust stage. It was called a "contemporary interpretation", but
that only amounted to dress and a few gimmicks (like a court reporter
with a laptop). These anachronisms, however, did not seriously detract
from the original language, and it was clear that the story was not
contemporary.

We'll be making our biannual trek to Stratford in September and
will see O'Neill's _Long Day's Journey into Night_ and, I believe,
a Moliere play.  We'll let you know...

Two Moliere's, actually.  One program presents both _The School for
Husbands_ and _The Imaginary Cuckold_. 

Although the plays are never less than good and a few have been
brilliant, Stratford is quite a nice town even without the
price of the tickets.  I'm especially fond of the Bed and Breakfast
we stay at, 18 Waterloo, just about half a mile from the Festival
Theatre.  Of all the B&B's we've tried it's still our favorite.

If you (or anyone) haven't done so, I recommend the tour of the props
and costumes warehouse. It costs $3.50CAN, and is well worth it - 
try on some show costumes (and bring a camera). 

I don't particularly recommend the paddle-boat rental, unless you
have a child along that has never tried it - and short legs.

Although it's been a few years, I remember the tour as quite
interesting.

Does anyone have a recommendation for fine dining?  We've 
enjoyed The Church and an old Victorian hotel restaurant
as well as the pub downtown, Bailey's maybe?  Are there
other favorites?

For *fine* dining, we recommend Woolfy's, just down from the Avon Theatre.
The prices are also fine. We also tried Kasturi Indian Restaurant on
George St. You should know what you want here. Breakfast was a challenge
(if you don't B&B it). We initially drove out to the outskirts looking for
a "family" restaurant, but that isn't a Canadian entity. We finally found
the simple restaurant at the corner of Ontario and Waterloo, across from
Knox Presb. Ch. 

By the way, there is a *big* free parking lot on St. Patrick, and
the meters fizzle out at the rear of the lot next to Knox's. These
are downtown, not especially close to the Festival Theatre, where
the Moliere's are staged. We ended up walking between the theatres
and downtown.

I noticed that Bob Denver from "Gilligan's Island" (Gilligan himself)
was not only acting in but *directing* a play at Stratford this year.
Did anyone see this man?

We went back to Stratford again this year, and saw _Death of a Salesman_
last Thursday evening, and _Taming of the Shrew_ and _Oedipus Rex_ on
Friday. This year we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast (suggested and booked
for us when we ordered tickets), and had delightful hosts (we regretted
that we did not have more time to be sociable with them). There was one
(1) ticket available for _Camelot_ for Saturday, so just our daughter went
to that while we explored the antique shops in Shakespeare (11 miles east
of Stratford). It rained Thursday and Friday - and we walked most
everywhere, but managed to stay mostly dry. Our daughter bought Beanie
Babies, and I bought Marmite (and some duty-free _Cave Spring_ wine, but
that's another story). All in all, a very enjoyable time. 

_Death_ Followed Miller's book. Very moving - and having different meaning
for me now, when I am about to retire, than when I saw it several decades
ago. This was staged conventionally in the Avon theatre. 

_Taming_ Shall I say...a little different? Set in New Pauda, you know,
where the Empira State-a Building-a is located? All stagings of _Taming_
try to make sense of Kate's solliloquy - and this staging makes a
different sense of it.  This was in the Festival Theatre, which is in the
(half) round.

_Oedipus_ A very powerful, classical, staging. I had not seen it for some
time and thought I knew the story. *Everyone* knows the story - but I
almost felt I didn't because the revelations of Oedipus' origins came out
very slowly and dramatically (I had forgotten how well Sophocles had done
this).

Before _Oedipus_ the company presented a "Satyr" - a comical version of
the background to this tragedy, apparently not unlike the kind of public
entertainment mixed with the serious formal plays in Greece. 

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