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Thursday, January 2, 2014

Stratford Festival box office opens to the public this weekend

MEDIA RELEASE

January 2, 2014… After a brisk advance sales period for Members, the Stratford Festival is opening its box office to the public this Saturday, January 4.

Highlights of the season include Colm Feore starring as King Lear, in a production directed by Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino; a groundbreaking take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream created by internationally acclaimed director Peter Sellars; and the whimsical family classic Alice Through the Looking-Glass starring Trish Lindström and featuring Cynthia Dale as the Red Queen.

The season features two musicals. Donna Feore, director of the 2013 hit Fiddler on the Roof, returns at the helm of Crazy for You, starring Josh Franklin and Chilina Kennedy. Ms Kennedy also stars in Man of La Mancha opposite leading man Tom Rooney.


Other highlights include Seana McKenna in Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children; Lucy Peacock and Cynthia Dale in Noël Coward’s Hay Fever; A Midsummer Night’s Dream under the direction of Chris Abraham, starring Stephen Ouimette, Evan Buliung and Jonathan Goad; Geraint Wyn Davies and Yanna McIntosh in Antony and Cleopatra; Tom McCamus and Seana McKenna in King John; and a comic turn by Colm Feore in the Restoration comedy The Beaux’ Stratagem, directed by Antoni Cimolino and featuring Martha Henry, Lucy Peacock and Mike Shara. The season is rounded out by the world première of the Festival-commissioned English version of Michel Marc Bouchard’s Christina, The Girl King, starring Jenny Young.

“The Festival experienced huge growth in ticket sales during the 2013 season,” says Executive Director Anita Gaffney, “and we have been delighted to see that upward trend continue with our advance sales to Members. Now that the box office is open to the public, theatregoers will want to act quickly to take advantage of our many incentives, including an early booking discount, which is valid until the end of January, and two-for-one Tuesdays and Thursdays. We’re also offering a new child-care service on weekends, as well as discounted tickets for children. Our Stratford Direct bus service will be operating again this year, offering twice-daily service from Toronto for just $20 round trip, and we’re introducing a $40 return-trip bus three times a week from Detroit.” 

The theme of the 2014 season is Madness: Minds Pushed to the Edge, a topic that will be explored throughout the playbill and in more than 150 events at The Forum. Forum speakers include Margaret Trudeau, Muhammad Robert Heft, Romeo Dallaire, Jian Ghomeshi, Izzeldin Abuelaish, John de Chastelain, Camille Paglia and Robert Lepage. The Forum also features Festival company members and special guests like Hawksley Workman, Colin Mochrie, Barbara Budd and Gary Malkin in musical showcases, readings, screenings, and other explorations of the theme, as well as a series of events to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare.

“Our season’s theme encompasses a huge range of dramatic situations, from the craziness of love to the insanity of war,” says Mr. Cimolino. “The works on our stages and the Forum events that complement them invite audiences to explore the irrational elements that lie buried deep within us all – primal forces that have shaped the course of human history, both for better and for worse, and that continue to drive us today. This is the very stuff of drama, whether it’s the gut-wrenching tragedy of King Lear or the zany comedy of Noël Coward.”

For more information on The Forum, visit www.stratfordfestival.ca/forum. For more on the theme of Minds Pushed to the Edge, visit www.stratfordfestival.ca/madness.

Tickets for the 2014 season of the Stratford Festival are available through the box office at 1.800.567.1600 or online at www.stratfordfestival.ca.

The 2014 season runs from April 21 to October 12, featuring King Lear; Crazy for You; two versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream; The Beaux’ Stratagem; Man of La Mancha; Alice Through the Looking-Glass; Hay Fever; King John; Mother Courage and Her Children; Antony and Cleopatra; Christina, The Girl King; and more than 150 events in The Forum.

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Stratford Festival 55 Queen Street PO Box 520 Stratford ON | N5A 6V2
519.271.4040 x 2297
Box Office: Toll Free 1.800.567.1600 Local 519.273.1600
stratfordfestival.ca

2014 Season | April 21 to October 12
King Lear | Crazy for You | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | The Beaux’ Stratagem
Man of La Mancha | Alice Through the Looking-Glass | Hay Fever | King John
Mother Courage and Her Children | Antony and Cleopatra | Christina, The Girl King
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a chamber play

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