THE BASICS: Canada’s Stratford Festival continues to deliver world-class performances of Shakespeare plays that make the 400-year-old language come alive. They are fully up and operational in 2022 with four theaters including the Festival (modeled after Shakespeare’s own Globe Theater) showing HAMLET, and the brand new Tom Patterson Theater showing ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL along with RICHARD III (lead image). All three plays are in repertory through October 28, 29, and 30th respectively. For more about the festival, read my season overview here.
Runtime: Each play is just minutes under three hours, including one intermission
So I went to Stratford Ontario and took in six plays and two of the 140 different “Meighen Forum” events. Here I’ll talk about the three Shakespeare plays and next time I’ll discuss some more contemporary plays as well as one participatory reading and one discussion.
HAMLET: Having pared a potentially four-to-five-hour play down to just under three hours, this current HAMLET (both the play and the character) are much more active than you may have experienced in the past. Often portrayed as mopy and indecisive, this current Hamlet as played by Nigerian-born and raised (but now Toronto-based) actress Amaka Umeh is wily and wild on stage. And, believe it or not, funny.
This production of HAMLET should appeal to U.S. audiences dealing as it does with Hamlet’s dismay at the way his uncle apparently seized power unjustly. It’s also true that Hamlet’s desire to “stop the steal” is based on pretty sketchy testimony, and that from a ghost of all things. Hamlet may pause to wonder if violence is ever justified but he doesn’t pause for long, and by the time the play is done, the stage is littered with bodies. (More than the play Richard III? Almost, but not quite.)
It’s a modern production and always at Stratford, the costumes are impeccable, suits are tailored, dresses are exquisitely detailed, and all the tricks available to a director on the big thrust Festival stage are used. And when you go, keep your eye on actor Michael Spencer-Davis as Polonius, usually portrayed as a doddering fool. Here we get a much more sympathetic (and funny) Polonius making his demise quite emotional. To go or not to go, that is the question. But I say go! HAMLET runs through October 28. I give it Four Buffalos (see rating system below).
ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, like HAMLET this summer, uses “color rich” casting. Unlike HAMLET at Stratford, there is no gender-bending in the casting; that’s taken care of by the play. The plot revolves around a highly skilled daughter of a recently deceased doctor. Helen uses her skill to cure the king and thereby is granted a wish. She wishes to marry Bertram, who, since his father also died recently, is in fealty to said king and must obey. But he doesn’t want to get married to someone he did not choose. The gender reversal here is that Bertram finds himself in the same situation as millions of women have over the years – being told whom to marry, like it or not. Helen does get her man but by subterfuge, making this one of the so-called “problem plays” (as is HAMLET) in that the ethics and actions of the characters to achieve their goals (both Helen and Bertram) are questionable.
So, yes, it’s not one of the more often produced plays, but if you want to see it performed as good as it can be, and if you want Shakespeare that’s accessible to first-time theater-goers as well as old Shakespeare hands, then this is your ticket. A major shout-out to the super-talented Jessica B. Hill as Helen and to the talented trio of actor Rylan Wilkie, director Scott Wentworth, and costume director Michelle Barnier for making the character Parolles (Bertram’s friend) absolutely hilarious. ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL runs through October 29 and was the first play we saw at the new Tom Patterson Theatre, an impressive space with great sightlines, comfortable seating, a big lounge area and generous hallways. I give ALL’S WELL Four Buffalos.
I’ve saved the best for last. Shakespeare’s RICHARD III (say “Richard the third”) is one of those productions that we will be talking about for a long, long time. It stars one of the Stratford Festival’s marquee names, Colm Feore (say “fee-OR”), and was directed by “the boss” (the Artistic Director of the entire Festival) Antoni Cimolino. Yes, it’s a history play, so you might get confused at times by the warring factions, but the through-line (and really, there are no subplots) is all Richard. That’s Richard, Duke of Gloucester (sometimes referred to simply as “Gloucester”) who is bound and determined to kill off anyone in the royal line of succession who stands in his way to becoming king. He’s like a shark, completely focused. He is the consummate serial killer – heartless on the inside, charming on the outside.
The concept of advancing one’s career through deceit and treachery is extremely popular with audiences.
The concept of advancing one’s career through deceit and treachery is extremely popular with audiences, whether presented as a comedy as in MusicalFare’s recent A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER or as a “comedy-drama” as in the current popular TV series “Succession.” Is RICHARD III, like “Succession,” a comedy-drama? In this production, yes. Feore revels in his dastardliness so deliciously that we love him and the audience loved “being in the know” as Richard dupes and connives his way forward. I wasn’t used to laughing along with an audience at a production of RICHARD III, but I enjoyed those delicious “Do you believe this guy?” moments as much as everyone else.
Long-standing repertory stars of Stratford are on stage, including Lucy Peacock and Seana McKenna, along with rising star Jessica B. Hill as Lady Anne, who is being seduced by Richard shortly after killing her husband. (Another “Do you believe this guy?” moment.) And, making quite a presence on stage is a star of both The Shawfest and the Stratford Festival, André Sills, as the Duke of Buckingham, Richard’s most loyal companion, who is screwed over at the end by the new king.
I loved the opening of the play which has on stage what appears to be an archeological dig, with tents set up and workers in hard hats holding shovels. It’s an obvious reference to the discovery in August 2012 of the remains of Richard III who had died in 1485, at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which ended the War of the Roses and ushered in England’s House of Tudor. The historical Richard was buried at Greyfriars Church in Leicester but that church was later destroyed, perhaps by Henry VIII, a Tudor king, who would have held no love for Richard. Years later the area was paved over to make a parking lot. And that’s where his bones were unearthed. In the play, as fog rolls across the site, climbing out of the pit is Richard, in full battle gear, ready to speak the famous opening lines: “Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious by this summer son of York.”
And now, at Stratford, is the pandemic winter made glorious by this summer of excellent Shakespeare. This is the Stratford Festival’s 70th Anniversary and, in honor of that, they went back to the very first play produced when it all began in 1953, a vision of Stratford-born journalist Tom Patterson and noted British director, Tyrone Guthrie. Playing the role of Richard III inside a tent then (Stratford’s first stage) was Alec Guinness. I’d say they did the founders proud with this Richard III production and I give it Five Buffalos.
Lead image: STRATFORD’S RICHARD III with Jessica B. Hill as Lady Anne with Colm Feore as Richard III
*HERD OF BUFFALO (Notes on the Rating System)
ONE BUFFALO: This means trouble. A dreadful play, a highly flawed production, or both. Unless there is some really compelling reason for you to attend (i.e. you are the parent of someone who is in it), give this show a wide berth.
TWO BUFFALOS: Passable, but no great shakes. Either the production is pretty far off base, or the play itself is problematic. Unless you are the sort of person who’s happy just going to the theater, you might look around for something else.
THREE BUFFALOS: I still have my issues, but this is a pretty darn good night at the theater. If you don’t go in with huge expectations, you will probably be pleased.
FOUR BUFFALOS: Both the production and the play are of high caliber. If the genre/content are up your alley, I would make a real effort to attend.
FIVE BUFFALOS: Truly superb–a rare rating. Comedies that leave you weak with laughter, dramas that really touch the heart. Provided that this is the kind of show you like, you’d be a fool to miss it!