fox | more on the Stratford Festival

My usual Stratford companion, C, and I disagreed in the car on Sunday about a couple of points in our shared history -- specifically, whether she had been with me when I saw The Two Noble Kinsmen (I said yes, she said no) and whether I had ever seen Titus Andronicus (she said yes, I said no). So this evening I looked in the Archival Box O Programs to research the matter -- I was right on both questions, as it happens, but she claims the hormones associated with being seven months pregnant are addling her mind, so she can be excused. :-) Anyway, though, for a giggle I wrote down what I'd seen up there each year so next time I wonder I can answer the question with keystrokes rather than aging original documents.

Understand that I grew up with videos (in many cases recorded from the CBC, back when we still got the CBC as far from Canada as I grew up) of the Stratford productions of The Mikado (1982), The Gondoliers (1983), Iolanthe (1984), The Pirates of Penzance (1985), and As You Like It (also early 80's some time), so for a long time I kept after my parents to take us up there so we could see some stuff live. They'd gone a number of times before I was born, so they were happy to resume when they judged us old enough. In 1990 my brother was ten and that was good enough for them.

1990

The Merry Wives of Windsor - with Colm Feore as Frank Ford, and you might be surprised to learn that I remember him; there was a bit where Ford takes a flying leap at the wicker basket where he thinks Falstaff is hiding, and physical comedy is always funny, right? So there you go. I don't remember a lot else about this production. I thought it was William Hutt as Falstaff, but the program tells me it was James Blendick.
Julius Caesar - with Colm Feore as Cassius, as it happens, and Brian Bedford as Brutus. My father is a big ol' Brian Bedford fanboy, and I remember that he was really looking forward to this performance, and found it something of a letdown. Bedford seemed to stumble over a lot of his lines, and I suspect it was not a character choice. Ah well. This production had a great deal of really sloppy stage blood, so the smearing-up of their hands was particularly gory. (We went to a post-show discussion or some such thing where they talked about the laundry difficulties of that production.) And then when Scott Wentworth as Antony came in and shook all their hands, and did that left-hand clasp thing with each of them as well, he ended up with his right arm bloody all the way up to the elbow. It was very effective.
As You Like It - with Lucy Peacock as Rosalind, in a very beautiful production that sets Arden more or less in the woodier parts of Quebec.
Guys and Dolls - I remember this being not too bad. Big expensive showy production, I'm sure it looked fantastic and was technically unimpeachable but not all that exciting. Certainly not so memorable, is what. :-)

1991, we apparently didn't go.

1992

Romeo and Juliet - with Megan Follows as Juliet, Antoni Cimolino (now General Director of the Festival) as Romeo, Colm Feore - these were the Colm Feore years - as Mercutio, and Barbara Bryne as the Nurse, whom I can still hear screaming "scurvy knave!" This production was very beautiful, set in Italy in the 20's, with lots of white silk flowing about the place. It's available on DVD, and one of these days I might have to buy it.
HMS Pinafore - This I remember being good, but not great, not up to the level that the 80's productions had been. It was musically sound and the dancing was good, but somehow it wasn't the same. In retrospect, this is because by the early 90's the spark had gone out of everyone's affair with Gilbert and Sullivan, but I wouldn't recognize this for a few more years. Stay tuned.

1993

Gypsy - This I remember being good. Good Rose, good Herbie, good Louise, good dancers. I don't know if I've ever seen a weak production of this show, actually, but let's not make the mistake of thinking the show is foolproof. (That'd be Guys and Dolls, above. [g])
The Mikado - this was a remount of the 1982 production, which would not in itself be a bad thing, but it had some of the same people in the same roles, which, ack. Actually the same woman reprising her Pitti-Sing was fine, because she still had it, but the same woman reprising her Katisha, ack, she'd gained about forty pounds which wouldn't have been a thing except that she had no air left. She was singing at a volume an order of magnitude below everyone else. Disappointing. See above re: spark, G&S, 90's. But did we learn?
A Midsummer Night's Dream - with Colm Feore as Oberon and Lucy Peacock as Titania. I remember the fairy costumes involved a lot of swirly-colored spandex, and Puck had (unsurprisingly) wild hair, and almost nothing else about the production except that it was good. I'd seen the play once before, at the RSC when I was eleven, so I had something to compare this to, at least, and I liked this one better. (The RSC one had a bicycle hanging from a tree, and at least one character (other than the young lovers, on whom it might have made sense) in pajamas, but it did include a moment I still remember where Puck has put the nectar on Demetrius' eyes and Demetrius wakes up and seems about to turn toward Lysander instead of Helena, and Puck has to strain with all his magical might to make sure he hasn't fucked it all up again. Good stuff. But anyway, that was the RSC in 1988.)
The Importance of Being Earnest - was this the first time I'd ever seen this play? Might have been. Colm Feore as Jack Worthing and Lucy Peacock as Gwendolyn, and wtf, the two of them were everywhere in those days.

1994

The Pirates of Penzance - this was a very fun production of the sort where there's a company putting on Pirates and then some snobbish English types come in and make their production better, a framing device, I guess, not quite a play-within-a-play, and it was very good, exactly what everyone's affair with G&S needed (though as it turned out it was more of a last hurrah than any recharging or anything). Colm Feore as the Pirate King, and this is getting silly.
Alice Through the Looking Glass - Sarah Polley was very big at the time on account of being on some Avonlea-related TV show, I guess?, so they put this on for her. It was good. Helps to like the Carroll stories, I guess. :-) Lots of fun costuming and over-the-top stuff, because, well.
The Comedy of Errors - Stephen Ouimette and Tom McCamus as the Dromii, and manalive, what a pair those two are. Also, Adriana was pregnant. (Apparently she had no understudy, as this was one of the smaller productions, and along about the end of the season she had the baby earlier than she'd expected and some small number of weeks' worth of tickets had to be refunded. I learned this from the bios in the following year's programs. Always hire an understudy!)
The School for Husbands/The Imaginary Cuckold - ... about which I remember nothing.

1995

The Gondoliers - this was a remount of the 1983 production, and again had one or two of the same people; I think maybe only the Duke and Duchess of Plaza-Toro, and they were still funny?, but they were more than ten years older, I mean, dude, and so even though there weren't the same kind of gasping problems there'd been in The Mikado, it just wasn't the same. We finally learned our lesson. Fortunately, so did they; there hasn't been another G&S on the playbill since, I don't think.
The Boy Friend - the show that made Julie Andrews! It was fine. Fine singing, very good dancing. Frothy.
Amadeus - with Stephen Ouimette as Mozart and Brian Bedford as Salieri, and oh my god, it was brilliant. Brilliant. I can't, it was all those years ago, and I can still see Bedford throwing the blanket off his shoulders and standing up out of the wheelchair, and he was awesome, awesome, and do you guys even know how good Stephen Ouimette is?, I mean, of course you do, because you've seen Slings & Arrows, and gah. Gah. Brilliant.
The Country Wife - ... about which I remember nothing.
Macbeth - Scott Wentworth and Seana McKenna as the Macbeths, and they were good, but what I really remember from this is the Macduff family; Wayne Best as Macduff, who when he got the news that his family was gone put his hand over his mouth and stood frozen for probably a full minute, which is a long damn time when nothing else is happening; and the family, which, oh my god. In addition to Lady Macduff and Young Macduff, who are in the text, there were two more children, a boy and a girl, who (obviously) didn't speak. And the four of them are together when the murderers come, and of course it's terrible, the murderers kill the older boy and rape Lady Macduff and kill her and break the younger boy's neck and through all of this, the fighting and the yelling, the little girl has been down at the front of the stage clutching her rag doll and watching the whole thing in mute terror, and the murderers don't notice her. And they've killed the mother and the two boys and they're leaving, and the little girl turns her back to the scene, i.e. turns to face the audience, and whimpers, and the murderers stop and look at her and look at each other and look back at her and step towards her and blackout. OH MY GOD YOU GUYS, that was the first time I can remember hearing a whole audience wibble all at the same time. Not that I had the word "wibble" in my lexicon at that time, but that's exactly what we all did. Listen to me, it was fourteen years ago and I have goosebumps again from describing it to you.

1996, the first year without my family; we couldn't get all four schedules together, so I went by myself

The Merchant of Venice - what I remember about this production was the end of the trial scene. Portia has done her lawyer thing and persecuted Shylock, and everyone else has cleared out, and just as she's leaving two guys in black shirts come on and notice her and stop on their way through the square to applaud her. And her face absolutely falls - the actress did a nice non-verbal "oh, shit" before she ran off. (They always seem to exit running, don't they.)
As You Like It - Jonathan Crombie as Orlando, and I believe the formerly-pregnant Adriana as Rosalind, who did the best job I think I've seen with the epilogue. Also this production had a much younger Jaques than usual, contemporary with Orlando and Oliver, which makes Jaques a whole different guy, doesn't it.
King Lear - with William Hutt as Lear; need I say more? But I will: this had a very young Fool, which I didn't know was unusual, but wow, was he good, and in any other production he'd have got whoops and hollers, but he was opposite William Hutt, so, you know. And when that man came out for his curtain call, everyone in the building -- and it was a full house, because this was at the height of the exact opposite of a recession and it was William fucking Hutt as King Lear -- was on their feet between one clap of your hands and the next. It was nuts.
The Music Man - with a Harold Hill who could sing, who knew you could do that? Dude sang and danced the hell out of the part, and the whole thing looked and sounded and was fantastic. Hurrah!

1997 - the first year C came along.

Romeo and Juliet - with Jonathan Crombie as Romeo (several years after Megan Follows played Juliet, that's right [g]), and he was very good; the rest of the production wasn't as good as the previous one, except that the death scene was excellent. Romeo takes the poison, right, believing Juliet is dead, and he says how quick the drug is working, and he starts to slide to the floor, and then Juliet stirs, and the audience gasps (again, unanimously), and of course it's too late for him, and he's looking like oh god and helplessly finish his collapse as she comes around, facing the other way so she doesn't even see him there at first. (I later learned that something not unlike this occurred in the death scene in Baz Luhrmann's R&J? Except she woke up in time and they had an eyes-meeting oh-shit moment before he died? I still haven't seen it, and I'm not sure which I'd prefer, but not having seen that before I saw this, I was utterly shocked and thought it was a brilliant, brilliant choice and awfully well executed. Goosebumps, I've got, though not of Macduff-murder-scene proportions.)
Richard III - Stephen Ouimette as Richard, in a small, odd production. I don't remember a ton about it. There was a good bit with Richard dragging a cape out of the way, which had been covering the whole stage, so that a flunky of some kind could approach where he was reclining without stepping on it.
The Taming of the Shrew - Lucy Peacock as Katherine. There was some on-stage business with raw eggs, which I remember being funny. They solved the massive problems of the play by adding a bit after the end where Petruchio, having won the bet, splits the winnings with Katherine, according to what were obviously the terms of their deal.
Oedipus Rex - done in the classical style, with big ol' robes and face masks; hey, they've got a place that's more or less an indoor amphitheatre, why not? What I remember in particular is that Oedipus had a terrific gold mask and headdress and robe when he was king, and then after his fall the next time he appeared it was all more or less mustard-colored, right, the luster had literally gone out of it. Also lower platform sandals and smaller shoulder-frames than he'd had before. Ah, the platforms; everyone was on platform sandals of pretty impressive height, so that a) Oedipus could literally be lowered, like I said, and also b) the two daughters at the end, who were on plain flat sandals and in robes with no infrastructure, would line up next to everyone else like children. Their last line was (in unison) "The dead are free from pain." (Goosebumps!) And there was no curtain call; the Chorus leader came out and gave a nod and that was it. One imagines everyone else was completely exhausted, and plus it wouldn't fit with the period concept, I guess.
Camelot - it was in a curtain speech by the actress about to play Guinevere that I learned Princess Diana had died. (She said something about "the accident in Paris last night", and while everyone was applauding politely I turned to the complete stranger next to me - C doesn't care for musicals, so she was amusing herself elsewhere - and asked what had happened in Paris the night before; I'd made it all the way to the theatre without seeing a headline anywhere, apparently.) Gave a different spin to the show, is what. Tom McCamus as King Arthur, and they dressed him in tunics a little too big in the shoulder and a little too long, while the dude playing Lancelot had costumes a little too snug and a little too short, which nicely emphasized the difference in their sizes and relative bulk, and made Arthur overwhelmed and Lancelot all big and strong and heroic.

1998

Waiting for Godot - Stephen Ouimette and Tom McCamus as the tramps, and the whole thing was awesome. See above re: the pair of them.
Dracula - a chamber musical, which was meh.
Julius Caesar - ah, these were the Benedict Campbell years, I remember now. He'd played Oedipus and done a hell of a job, and I believe he was Brutus here, and okay, sure, the production was fine, but in this case for the besmearing-their-hands they all reached into a hidden pouch on the upstage side of Caesar's costume and pulled out handfuls of purply-red string, for entrails or something, and my gracious, it didn't work at all.
A Man for All Seasons - Ben Campbell again, as Henry, and he was exactly right in the part, and I believe it was a very good More (but who could be as good as Paul Scofield?), but I really remember Brad Rudy as Everyman, a character missing from the film, and wow, was he good. With a bit of a northern accent, as I recall, which, if I'm right about that, was a nice touch. His last line: "If we should bump into one another - recognize me." Goosebumps again!
The Winter's Tale - a charming small production. Loved it.
Man of La Mancha - a big good-looking production, with a dynamite Sancho Panza (Bruce Dow, who was playing Pseudolus in Forum this year until he was injured).

1999

A Midsummer Night's Dream - from the pictures it looks like there was a lot of spandex in these fairy costumes, too. Huh. Also a dynamite cast - Seana McKenna as Titania, Brian Bedford as Bottom, and the young guy who'd been Lear's terrific Fool as Puck, none of which I had recalled. What I remember about this production was that Peter Quince was a young guy who was just about beside himself during the play, and eventually couldn't stand it, you could see him losing his shit by the second. ("Ninus' Tomb!") And also that Oberon got pretty snarky with Puck when giving him the fixing-the-mess-you've-made instructions. Pronounced "Lysander" very slowly and carefully. Big laugh line. :-)
West Side Story - I remember it being very good, but I don't remember anything about it in particular.

2000

Fiddler on the Roof - with Brent Carver as an unusually quiet Tevye. A very good production, but it doesn't hurt that I love this show.
As You Like It - Lucy Peacock as Rosalind again, and you're reading that right, yes, ten years later. Ah well, I don't remember anything especial about this production, but if it's the third-strongest As You Like It they've done at Stratford in ten years, well, it's still an awfully good show.
Medea - Seana McKenna as Medea, and damn. She was good, and the three women of the chorus were tremendous. There's a moment between when she goes in for the last time and when they realize what she's about to do in there, omg frozen horror, and then they all fling themselves at the door screaming, and they must have given themselves bruises night after night.
The Importance of Being Earnest - the four-act version. Apparently Oscar wrote this four-act play with more depth and, well, earnestness than the one we're accustomed to, and the producer convinced him to cut the third of the four acts, and based on the reception of the three-act version, said "Well? Wasn't I right?" ... He was. :-P
The Three Musketeers - ... about which I remember nothing. (From the program, it seems that this was a family-type production - there's a kid with a storybook in the poster shot, and the three - actually four, of course - musketeers behind him. Seems to be Ben Campbell as ... Porthos, probably, but it could be any of them, I suppose.
Hamlet - with Paul Gross, not that I had the faintest idea who he was at the time. Ben Campbell as Claudius, incidentally. The performances were solid, but the production was odd. Hamlet was given to tantrums, which didn't seem to line up with what I'd have thought would be described as 'melancholy'. And it tried to make Claudius more sympathetic than usual, which is an interesting idea, but turned out to remove most of the conflict since they didn't take the additional step of giving him a good reason for his actions - Hamlet was temperamental but not dangerous. (I understand that the recent David Tennant ~ Patrick Stewart version handled this concept better. Those TV stars and their Hamlets, I tell you what.)
it was this year that my friend saw Titus Andronicus, by the way, while I was at either Fiddler or Musketeers. Hee.

In 2001, we were intending to go toward the end of September, and that turned out to be a difficult time to make plans to leave and return to the United States, so we didn't.

2002

Threepenny Opera
King Lear
Henry VI - three into two
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Richard III
The Two Noble Kinsmen (C was totally there, and once I reminded her, she remembered [g])

2003

Quiet in the Land
The Birds
Antony and Cleopatra
No Exit
Pericles, Prince of Tyre

2004 - I had to go look in the Archival Program Box to remind myself that I'd gone in 2004. Erm. But listen, that was a summer of much upheaval for me, so I bet there's a lot I don't remember.

A Midsummer Night's Dream - we are now in the Jonathan Goad years, is what we're in. He was Pericles in 2003 and both Theseus and Oberon here. I see from the program that there was a lot of color accomplished with gels on the lights, which, okay; leaves and feathers and beads and things in the fairy costumes - they were going for a sort of jungle thing - and, you know, okay. I don't remember that so much. I remember that the mechanicals were a bit much, as is often the case, and the Athenians were unusually good. Also, a moment during the play where a cell phone went off, and just as the audience was looking around for whom to glare at, Demetrius goes omg and pulls out his phone and struggles to turn it off, while Nick Bottom looks absolute daggers at him. A nice bit.
Noises Off - a thing about this play is that for two of the three acts it's the funniest thing you've ever seen, and then in the third act it kind of all falls apart, doesn't it? It's better in the movie, where the play within a play finally comes together, instead of the way it is in the play, where it (the play within a play) is just a complete disaster. That's what happened here. They did it well, but it's only two-thirds of it that's worth doing.
King John - I would have bet money that I'd never seen this play. And I'd have lost! That's what C should have disagreed with me about. Now that I see the program, though - hurrah for documentary evidence! - it's coming back to me. Stephen Ouimette as King John, and of course he was very good. I seem to remember three women being very good as well. Intrigue and vile doings, that sort of thing. The sort of play you go see when you have a chance, because how often do such chances come - I should have written up the 2004 trip at the time, clearly, because now the next time I get a chance to see King John I'll have to go see it again. :-)

And, just for completeness of the record all in one place: 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008, I didn't go. School, work, $. And then, 2009, in which three of the five shows we saw featured Jonathan Goad in important roles (Hippolytus in Phèdre, Antony in Caesar, and Quarelus or a name like that in Bartholomew Fair); I wasn't wrong about these being his years.

A Midsummer Night's Dream
Phèdre
Julius Caesar
Bartholomew Fair
Cyrano de Bergerac

So for those of you keeping track at home, that's 17 (or 18, if you count the two Henry 6's as all three parts) of the plays I've seen at Stratford (along with whatever-all I've seen elsewhere, which I have), including two Romeos and Juliet, three As You Like Its, and four bloody Midsummer Night's Dreams, so I think that's probably enough of that for a while. I mean, they're not wrong, when they keep doing it, that it'll sell, I guess, are they. But given that half my reaction this time was that they must have costumed it the way they did because they had to come up with something, it might be a good time for me and Dream to take a break.