Village Squire, 1976-06, Page 7f the Snakespearean all-time
favourites, The Merchant of Venice is the
second production of The Festival state.
Jackie Burroughs stars as Portia, the forceful
daughter of a tight-fisted father. Hume
Cronyn makes his debut in ,this work and
Lewis Gordon and Nick Mancuso also star. It
opens June 8.
Maggie Smith makes her appearance again
in the powerful leading role in Antony and
Cleopatra which opens at the Festival Stage
on Jun 9. The love affair between the Roman
general and the Queen of Egypt has
fascinated generation after generation.. Keith
Baxter, Lewis Gordon, William Needles and
Alan Scarfe also appear and Robin Phillips
directs.
The last of the early season opening is The
importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
which will open at the Avon, June 10. •
The play was a hit in late season last year
but saw only nine performances at the smaller
Third Stage so this year has been remounted
at the Avon. William Hutt attracted a good
deal of attention as Lady Bracknell. Pat
Galloway, Amelia Hall, Barry McGregor,
Marti Maraden and Nicholas Pennell also
appear. Robin Phillips directs.
Another return from 1975 is Measure for
Measure, which won critical acclaim for
Robin Phillips last year. Starring this year are
Martha Henry, William Hutt, Richard
Monette, Douglas Rain, Ton van Bridge. It
opens on June 30.
A maior Canadian production reaches the
stage at Stratford this year when Constance
Beresford-Howe's "The Book of Eve" comes
to the stage as Eve. Jessica Tandy stars in
Larry Fineberg's adaptation as Eve starts oft
at 65 to find out who she is by shedding her
respectable Montreal Address and her
comfortable middle-class values. It opens at
the Avon, July 14.
A Midsummer Night's Dream opens
August 18 at the Festival stage. Mia
Anderson, Jeremy Brett, Hume Crony,
Denise Fergusson, Tom Kneebone and
Jessica Tandy appear in the earthy comedy
fantasy, the best loved of Shakespeare's
comedies.
September 1 sees the opening at the Avon
of Anton Chekov's Three Sisters. Chekhov's
women are unliberated but never defeated as
they attempt to come to terms with provincial
life in 19th century Russia and with their own
Yearnings for something better. It features
Keith Baxter, Pat Galloway, Martha Henry,
William Hutt, Marti Maraden, Alan Scarfe
and Maggie Smith
Also at the Festival are many concerts and
other events too plentiful to mention. Among
the big names appearing are Oscar Peterson,
Cleo Lane and John Dankworth, Murray
McLauchlan and Anne Murray.
One feature that will not be held this year,
(at least at time of writing) is the Stratford
Film Festival which was scheduled to run Oct.
9-16. It- has been cancelled because of
government funding cutbacks.
Jack Wetherall as Ferdinand and Marti Maraden as Maranda in The Tempest at Stratford
Festival.
Playhouse salutes
Olympic year
The Playhouse had a disappointment
before the season even began this year
when an expected Canada Council grant
failed to materialize. It meant some
cutbacks for the season including the
cancellation of the expensive touring
program that was undertaken last year
throughout Western Ontario. Also chopped
was a big extravaganza to celebrate the
U.S Bicentennial 1776. A new play,
commissioned for the Playhouse from
Warren Graves, a fine Canadian writer,
also bit the dust
Still, an interesting season is in store at
the Playhouse.
The season opens June 30 with You're a
Good Man Charlie Brown taking the place
of the ill-fated 1776. The warm-hearted
little musical is based on the Peanuts
characters of Charles Shultz' famous comic
strip. The play may not be the blockbuster
that 1776 would have been, but it has a
charm of its own. It manages to capture a
good deal of the feeling of the comic strip,
both the warm humour and the gentle
pathos. It runs until July 3.
It will be followed by a play by a man
that probably gets more summer theatre
exposure than any other writer: Neil
Simon' This time it's his Star-Spangled
Girl which the Playhouse's publicity
department describes as a "patriotic
pastiche": Those looking for a deep
message may despair at Simon's works,
but those who want fun, love it.
VILLAGE SQUIRE/JUNE 1976, 5