Shaw Festival news

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the 2014 season announced at the Stratford Festival, and I knew before the month was out I would be doing the same for our very own Shaw Festival, who are currently riding a tide of good feelings following a very successful 2013 season in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The 2014 season will be the Shaw's 53rd season, and for me it is hard to believe it has already been two years since the big 50th anniversary season with that fabulous production of My Fair Lady.  But for the Festival, as celebratory as that season was, it was perhaps best to put it in the rear-view mirror since they experienced a financial loss that season due to the increased costs incurred in celebrating the milestone.  As mentioned in an earlier column, 2013 was very much a bounce back season for Shaw, so it is onwards and upwards for one of the greatest theatre companies in North America, and they are right here in our own backyard.

One of the nice things for the coming season will be the return of several familiar faces to Niagara-on-the-Lake, including Deborah Hay, Fiona Reid, Mary Haney, Kate Hennig, Kevin Hanchard, Gordon Rand, Thom Marriott, Fiona Byrne, Jonathan Tan, Norman Browning and the one and only Jennifer Phipps.  All great performers, true, and it will be wonderful to welcome them all back.  But consider this:  did you miss them, really?

I don't mean that as a slight to any of them in any way.  My point is, Shaw casts their shows so well and has such a deep pool of theatrical talent to draw from, they find the right people each and every year.  One of the nice things about having two great theatre festivals in the province, Shaw and Stratford, is that many of these performers can and do travel from one to the other and back again.  Going to one festival does not preclude them returning to the other in the future, and I think that kind of genial democratic approach is to be admired.

Certainly part of the travel might be due to the roles offered, but partly it is the different personalities and how they interact with each other.  Theatre is all about teamwork on every level, and so a clever and perceptive artistic directer knows how to assemble a cast from their own talent pool and where they have to go to hire the rest.  All the performers know each other and many have worked with fellow actors at both festivals over time.  I like that.

Often, an actor very closely associated with one festival heads to the other and you just have to see them to see how the harmonic convergence works out.  I remember years ago the late, great Stratford actor William Hutt was lured to Shaw by Christopher Newton for one magical season, and I remember that performance to this very day.  So too, Shaw's Goldie Semple, whom we lost far too early in her career, appeared several seasons at Stratford as well.  What's more, in each and every case, these actors appear right at home in their new theatrical setting for that particular season.

So, what's on tap for Shaw in 2014?  Here's the lineup:

FESTIVAL THEATRE
CABARET - Previews start April 10; opens May 10 and closes October 26.
The big news here is the return of Deborah Hay to play the pivotal role of Sally Bowles, playing opposite Juan Chioran as The Emcee.  The show is directed by Peter Hinton, who wowed audiences this past season with Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde.

THE PHILADELPHIA STORY - Previews start May 15; opens June 7 and closes October 25.
Philip Barry's romantic comedy stars Moya O'Connell, Gray Powell and Patrick McManus, and is directed by Dennis Garnhum.

THE PHILANDERER - Previews start June 26; opens July 12 and closes October 12.
Bernard Shaw's evergreen story of a philandering rake is directed by Lisa Peterson, and stars Gordon Rand as the charismatic Leonard Charteris opposite Moya O'Connell's Julia Craven.  Also appearing are Marla McLean, Michael Ball and Ric Reid, among others.

COURT HOUSE THEATRE
A LOVELY SUNDAY FOR CREVE COEUR - Previews start June 28; opens July 12 and closes October 11.  This play by Tennessee Williams is very seldom staged, which means it is a perfect vehicle to rediscover at Shaw.  The all-female cast brings this one-act play to life with Kate Hennig, Deborah Hay, Julian Molnar and Kaylee Harwood making up the female foursome here.  The play will be directed by always reliable Blair Williams.

THE CHARITY THAT BEGAN AT HOME:  A COMEDY FOR PHILANTHROPISTS - Previews start April 25; opens May 10 and closes October 11.  Written by St. John Hankin, this rarely-seen comedy will star Fiona Reid, making her first Shaw Festival appearance in ten years as the misguided matriarch Lady Denison.  Also in the cast are Julia Course, Martin Happer, Graeme Somerville, Laurie Paton, Sharry Flett, Donna Belleville, Jim Mezon and Neil Barclay.  Now that is a great cast!  Directing will be Christopher Newton, so this one will certainly be a must-see.

THE SEA - Previews begin June 3; opens July 11 and closes October 12.  This Edward Bond play marks the first time the playwright is presented at Shaw, and once again Fiona Reid appears in the cast, along with Patrick Galligan, Wade Bogert-O-Brien, Peter Millard, Julia Course and many others.  Eda Holmes directs this comic view of pre-WWI England.

ROYAL GEORGE THEATRE
ARMS AND THE MAN - Previews start April 4; opens May 9 and closes October 18.  Bernard Shaw's classic comedy about love, war and so much more stars Martin Happer, Kate Besworth, Graeme Somerville, Laurie Paton, Norman Browning, Peter Krantz and Claire Jullian, and will be directed by Morris Panych.

WHEN WE ARE MARRIED - Previews starts May 7; opens June 6 and closes October 26.  Real-life couple Thom Marriott and Claire Jullien are one of the trio of couples in this comedy by J.B. Priestley.  Also in the cast are Patrick Galligan, Kate Hennig, Catherine McGregor and Patrick McManus, among others.  Joseph Ziegler will direct.

JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK - Previews start June 28; opens July 25 and closes October 12.  Jackie Maxwell directs this Sean O'Casey play that marks the return of Shaw stalwart Mary Haney, who appears along with Jim Mezon, Benedict Campbell, Andrew Bunker, Corrine Koslo and many others.  It will also feature original music by Paul Sportelli.

STUDIO THEATRE
THE MOUNTAINTOP - Previews begin July 16; opens July 26 and closes September 7.  This play by Katori Hall features the return of Kevin Hanchard, last scene at Shaw in Topdog/Underdog and The Millionairess.  Here, he plays Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. opposite Alana Hibbert as a young hotel maid named Camae.  The play will be directed by Philip Akin.

So there you have it.  I can hardly wait to see many of these plays next season!  If you want more information on all shows and of course, buy your tickets, go to www.shawfest.com.

Next week, we'll look at the always-popular winter film series at Shaw, which gets underway next weekend.

November 24th, 2013.