Stratford Festival unveils 2025 season, including the return of Robert Lepage

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/By Aisling Murphy / Aug 28, 2024

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The Stratford Festival has unveiled its highly anticipated 2025 season.

As usual, the festival will feature a carefully curated blend of classic plays, blockbuster musicals, and new works by Canadian artists. The season will additionally see the return of acclaimed director Robert Lepage, who is set to helm Macbeth at the Avon Theatre.

As well, the season features two exciting commissions: a new adaptation of Anne of Green Gables by Kat Sandler, and Ransacking Troy, an adaptation of The Odyssey and The Iliad, by Erin Shields.

In a press release, artistic director Antoni Cimolino attributed his programming choices to the drama and magic of the gods.

“As I was putting together the 2025 season, I began with a few wonderful plays, and one in particular that I have always wanted to direct, Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale,” said Cimolino. “Central to the resolution of this story is the god Apollo, who helps bring harmony to a family ripped apart by passionate conflict.

“Apollo is the God of healing, of music and the arts, of truth and the protection of the young,” he continued. “What a wonderful figure to have at the centre of the season, I thought: a god of harmony, a state we yearn for in this world.”

Tickets for the 2025 season will go on sale to Stratford Festival members on November 10 and to members of the general public on December 16.

Here’s what to expect from the Stratford Festival in 2025:

Festival Theatre

As You Like It
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Chris Abraham

Following on the success of past shows such as Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew, Abraham will add his spin to Shakespeare’s most famous pastoral.

Annie
Book, music, and lyrics by Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse, and Martin Charnin
Directed and choreographed by Donna Feore
Music directed by Laura Burton

Feore returns to the Festival Theatre with a classic family musical filled with memorable tunes like “Tomorrow,” “It’s the Hard Knock Life,” and “Maybe.”

Sense and Sensibility
Written by Kate Hamill
Directed by Daryl Cloran

Helmed by Citadel Theatre artistic director Cloran, Hamill’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic promises to be a hit with die-hard literature fans as well as newcomers to Austen’s work.

Dangerous Liaisons
Written by Christopher Hampton
From the novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos
Directed by Esther Jun

Written in 1985 and adapted for film in 1988, Dangerous Liaisons was last produced at the Stratford Festival in 2010. 

Avon Theatre

Macbeth
Written by William Shakespeare
Created in collaboration with Ex Machina
Directed by Robert Lepage

Lepage returns to the Stratford Festival with a fresh take on Shakespeare’s spookiest tragedy. According to a press release from the festival, the production will be set in the milieu of Quebec’s biker gangs.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Book, music, and lyrics by Jeffrey Lane and David Yazbek
Directed by Bobby Garcia
Choreographed by Stephanie Graham
Music directed by Franklin Brasz

On the heels of this year’s glitzy La Cage aux Folles, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels follows a conman who woos his way to riches on the French Riviera. 

Anne of Green Gables
A new adaptation by Kat Sandler
Based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Directed by Kat Sandler
Commissioned by the Stratford Festival

Anne of Green Gables will see Sandler’s trademark wit and charm come to life on the stage of the Avon Theatre, with a new take on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s timeless heroine and the surrounding village of Avonlea.

Tom Patterson Theatre

The Winter’s Tale
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Antoni Cimolino

Cimolino will direct one of his favourite Shakespeare plays — whether or not he’s pursued by a bear remains to be seen.

Forgiveness
Written by Hiro Kanagawa
Adapted from “Forgiveness: A Gift From My Grandparents” by Mark Sakamoto
Directed by Stafford Arima

Adapted from Sakamoto’s bestselling memoir, Forgiveness tells the story of Sakamoto’s grandparents during the Second World War. Theatre Calgary artistic director Arima will helm the production.

Ransacking Troy
Written by Erin Shields
Directed by Jackie Maxwell
Choreographed by Esie Mensah
Commissioned by the Stratford Festival

Following on the successes of plays like Paradise Lost and Queen Goneril, Shields returns to the Stratford Festival with a re-telling of The Iliad and The Odyssey. Maxwell, who directs, was also at the helm of Paradise Lost in 2018, as well as The Changeling in 2017.

Studio Theatre

The Art of War
Written by Yvette Nolan
Directed by Keith Barker

The Art of War, set during World War Two, examines the role of artists in war and peace. Barker is director of the Stratford Festival’s Foerster Bernstein New Play Development program, and will be recognizable to Stratford Festival audiences from his performance as Louis Riel in Women of the Fur Trade in 2023.

You can learn more about the Stratford Festival here.

WRITTEN BY

Aisling Murphy

Aisling is Intermission's senior editor and an award-winning arts journalist with bylines including the New York Times, Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, CBC Arts, and Maclean's. She likes British playwright Sarah Kane, most songs by Taylor Swift, and her cats, Fig and June. She was a 2024 fellow at the National Critics Institute in Waterford, CT.

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