Word: stratford
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...Guthrie emphasizes European drama, including adaptations of fiction, in a schedule rarely leavened by a conventional comedy or musical. Unlike its rivals in total audience, the Shakespeare festivals in Ashland, Ore., and Stratford, Ont., it depends chiefly on its heartland community rather than tourists. And it is plainly prized by that constituency: the Guthrie is filling more than 80% of the house for almost 250 performances this season. It derives a hefty 54% of operating costs from the box office, with local corporations subsidizing a further 13% of the $8.5 million annual budget. While a dip in subscription sales last...
RICHARD III. Ontario's Stratford Festival shows why it has become the biggest repertory company in North America in this robust 51-actor staging. Colm Feore cackles, skitters and charms as Shakespeare's bottled-spider King...
Institutionally, Stratford has never been healthier. The $2.5 million deficit brought about by the last administration has been converted under John Neville, artistic director since 1985, to a projected $820,000 surplus this season. The old era's often staid and unimaginative productions -- typified by a dusty Twelfth Night and a ranting King Lear that toured the U.S. in 1985 -- have been supplanted by lively, risk-taking efforts, including innovative versions of Twelfth Night and King Lear, which are highlights of this year's offerings. Although the search has dragged on for more than a year to replace Neville...
...with the Bard, and a lot of local mercantile hustle, emerged a 1953 season performed in a tent, with a rotating repertory of All's Well That Ends Well and Richard III, featuring Alec Guinness, already an established film star, in the title role. Thirty-five years later, the Stratford Festival has three theaters, seating a total of 3,870 people, and its repertory sometimes offers as many as six different shows on the same day, a dozen within a single week. Guinness has been followed by Tony Winner Brian Bedford, two-time Oscar Winner Maggie Smith and, last year...
Just such imagination, vividly expressed, is what brought Phillips the artistic directorship in 1975, when he was 32, and the same qualities made him the front runner to succeed Neville. According to highly placed sources at Stratford, the board's negotiations with Phillips have broken down, and there is some concern that, as a result, he may also eventually give up the young company. For the moment, however, the team of Neville and Phillips has made Stratford not only the biggest theater in North America but one of the very best...