Shaw Festival
 Festival Logo | |
| Location | Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1962 |
| Founded by | Brian Doherty |
| Artistic director | Tim Carroll |
| Type of play(s) | plays by or in the spirit of George Bernard Shaw |
| Festival date | April–October each year |
| Website | www |
The Shaw Festival is a major not-for-profit theatre festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is 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, supported by Buffalo businessman Calvin Rand, 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 (1856—1950). His successor, Jackie Maxwell, was appointed in 2003 and expanded the mandate further to include works by "contemporary Shavians" such as Tony Kushner and Caryl Churchill. She produced many plays written and directed by women.
In the summer of 2015, it was announced that Tim Carroll would take over as Artistic Director. He announced his inaugural 2017 season in August 2016. Under its current mandate, the Shaw Festival celebrates the life and spirit of Bernard Shaw by creating theatre that is as entertaining and provocative as Shaw himself.[1]
Artistic Directors
- Andrew Allan (1963–1965)
- Barry Morse (1966)
- Paxton Whitehead (1967–1977)
- Leslie Yeo (1979)
- Christopher Newton (1980–2002)
- Jackie Maxwell (2003–2016)
- Tim Carroll (2017–)
Theatres
Dates listed are when the theatre's association with the Shaw Festival began; The Court House and Royal George theatres predate the festival.[2]
- Festival Theatre (1973, 856 seats)
- Royal George Theatre (1980, 313 seats)
- Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre (2004, 200 seats)
Former venue: Court House Theatre (1962–2017, 327 seats)[3]
2019 season
Source:[4]
- The Horse and His Boy — by C.S. Lewis, adapted for the stage by Anna Chatterton
- Brigadoon — book and lyrics by Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe
- The Ladykillers — by Graham Linehan, from the motion picture screenplay by William Rose
- Man and Superman with Don Juan in Hell — by George Bernard Shaw
- Mahabharata: Beginnings — by Ravi Jain
- Rope — by Patrick Hamilton
- Getting Married — by George Bernard Shaw
- The Russian Play — by Hannah Moscovitch
- Cyrano de Bergerac — by Edmond Rostand, translated and adapted for the stage by Kate Hennig
- The Glass Menagerie — by Tennessee Williams
- Sex — by Mae West
- Victory — by Howard Barker
- A Christmas Carol — by Charles Dickens
- Holiday Inn — music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, book by Gordon Greenberg and Chad Hodge
2020 Season
- Gypsy - book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
- The Devil's Disciple - by Bernard Shaw
- Sherlock Holmes and the Raven’s Curse - by R. Hamilton Wright, based on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Mahabharata - adapted by Ravi Jain and Miriam Fernandes, original concept developed with Jenny Koons
- Charley's Aunt - by Brandon Thomas
- Prince Caspian - adapted for the stage by Damien Atkins, based on the novel by C.S. Lewis
- Flush - based on the novella by Virginia Woolf, adapted and directed by Tim Carroll
- Assassins - book by John Weidman, music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, from an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr.
- The Playboy of the Western World - by J.M. Synge
- Desire Under the Elms by Eugene O'Neill
- Trouble in Mind - by Alice Childress
- The History of Niagara - created and performed by Mike Petersen and Alexandra Montagnese, at Fort George Historic Site, in association with Parks Canada
- A Christmas Carol - by Charles Dickens
- Me and My Girl - book and lyrics by L. Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber, book revised by Stephen Fry, with contributions by Mike Ockrent, music by Noel Gay. Presented for the Christmas season.[5]
References
- ^ "The Shaw Festival renames theatre in honour of former Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell – Media Releases from Shaw Festival Theatre, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada". news.shawfest.com.
- ^ "Theatres - Shaw Festival Theatre".
- ^ "Shaw Festival Announces 2018 Season – Media Releases from Shaw Festival Theatre, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada". news.shawfest.com.
- ^ "Announcing The Shaw's 2019 Season". Shaw Festival. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
- ^ "Announcing The Shaw's 2020 Season". Shaw Festival. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
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.
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External links
| International | |
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| National | |
