Stratford Festival Announces 2023 Season
iPhoto caption: Amaka Umeh (left) as Hamlet with Matthew Kabwe as the Ghost of King Hamlet in Hamlet. Stratford Festival 2022. Photo by David Hou.
The Stratford Festival in Stratford, ON has announced its 2023 season, inspired by a theme of “Duty versus Desire.” The roster includes thirteen lively and thought-provoking productions across four theatres, along with a full slate of ancillary events in The Meighen Forum.
The 2023 season will run from mid-April through October, featuring four Shakespeare plays, two musicals, and a wide range of additional plays.
The programming examines both sides of the “Duty versus Desire” debate, some through irreverence and comedy, others through the catharsis of tragedy. They look at social stigma and societal pressures, at selfishness and selflessness — at a time when we are all reexamining our place in the world. They also entertain and offer a healthy dose of laughter.
Below is the 2023 Stratford Festival season at a glance.
FESTIVAL THEATRE
King Lear
By William Shakespeare
Director: Kimberley Rampersad
Rent
Book, Music and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson
Director: Thom Allison
Choreographer: Marc Kimelman
Much Ado About Nothing
By William Shakespeare
Director: Chris Abraham
Les Belles-Soeurs
By Michel Tremblay
Translated by John Van Burek and Bill Glassco
Director: Esther Jun
AVON THEATRE
Monty Python’s Spamalot
Book and Lyrics by Eric Idle
Music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle
A new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
From the original screenplay by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Director: Lezlie Wade
Choreographer: Jesse Robb
World Première Adaptation: A Wrinkle in Time
By Madeleine L’Engle
Adapted for the stage by Thomas Morgan Jones
Director: Thomas Morgan Jones
World Première: Frankenstein Revived
By Morris Panyc
Based on the novel by Mary Shelley
Music by David Coulter
Director: Morris Panych
Movement choreographer: Wendy Gorling
Dance choreographer: Stephen Cota
TOM PATTERSON THEATRE
World Première Translation: Grand Magic
By Eduardo De Filippo
In a new English translation by John Murrell
Director: Antoni Cimolino
Richard II
By William Shakespeare
Adapted by Brad Fraser
Conceived by Jillian Keiley
Director: Jillian Keiley
Choreographer: Cameron Carver
Wedding Band
By Alice Childress
Director: Sam White
STUDIO THEATRE
World Première, Stratford Festival Commission: Casey and Diana
By Nick Green
Director: Andrew Kushnir
Women of the Fur Trade
By Frances Koncan
Director: Yvette Nolan
Love’s Labour’s Lost
By William Shakespeare
Director: Peter Pasyk
You can find out more about the Stratford Festival here.
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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