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Curtain Call
The play has been the thing at Stratford for more than 55 Years
fall best time to enjoy some of canada’s best performances
By Iris Winston
Arose by any other name might smell as sweet, but
Canada’s largest Shakespearean festival might never
have come into being if its home city had not been
named in honour of England’s Stratford-upon-Avon when it
was founded in 1832.
The seed of the multi-million dollar theatre festival was
a long-held dream for one Stratford native. Tom Patterson
saw economic opportunity in the name of his city on
Canada’s Avon River with the village of Shakespeare down
the road.
Others had taken the connection to the Bard seriously
over the years. Stratford had celebrated the tercentenary
of William Shakespeare’s birth in 1864 and annual
amateur performances of the Bard’s plays had been held
at the local Normal school, from the time that the teachers’
college opened in 1908. Gardens named after
September 2008 • 28 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine
Brian Dennehy (right) as the King of France,
with Daniela Vlaskalic as Helena and Jeff Lillico
as Bertram, Count of Rossillion.
Shakespeare were opened in 1936 and a bust of the Bard
was erected there in 1949.
But Tom Patterson’s vision was bigger, much bigger
than such tokens of respect to the memory of Shakespeare.
He hoped to revitalize his city — once a thriving railway
town that had fallen on hard times—through a world-class
theatre festival.When he finally convinced the city council
of the economic advantages of his dream and then connected
with the world-renowned director Tyrone Guthrie,
fantasy was on its way to becoming reality.
Tyrone Guthrie had his own dream. He envisioned
staging Shakespeare closer to audiences in a setting more
in the style of the original Globe Theatre in the 16th century.A
new theatre on the banks of the Canadian Avon River
could be his opportunity to fulfill his vision.
To deliver the immediacy he sought, there should be
PHOTO: STRATFORD SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL