Shaw Festival 2024
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Escape those winter blues by planning your next trip to the Shaw Festival! February, the shortest of the months, always finds a way of keeping us busy. Though the Shaw Festival theatres are dark now, in just a few short months, our 2024 Season will be in full swing; we are hard at work preparing to usher in an incredible roster of productions. We are so excited to welcome our wonderful patrons back for a truly delightful season of theatre. A Conversation with The Shaw's Very Own TC. Recently, Daniel Lendzian, host of Western New York Soundstage over at Buffalo Rising, recorded a podcast with our very own Artistic Director, Tim Carroll, or as you may know him: TC. They chatted all about what goes into planning a season, our 2024 productions and why you should invest in a Season's Pass to make the most of The Shaw's offerings. Enjoy this abridged teaser of the interview below but be sure to listen to the full episode for the inside scoop! Dan: I would love to start talking through the 2024 Season, starting with My Fair Lady co-directed between you and Kimberly Rampersad. TC: My Fair Lady is a kind of golden piece for us because it is also a Shaw piece, so we kill two birds with one stone. It really fulfills the criteria of: “Is the language really brilliant?” My Fair Lady does because it takes so much of Pygmalion, word for word. They were talking about doing it at Stratford, which is our friendly rival theatre down the road. Luckily, I'm friends with the Artistic Director there and because he's Italian he understood what it was to be made an offer you can't refuse. Dan: Also on the Festival Theatre stage is the brilliant comedy One Man, Two Guvnors and Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Human Heart! Any exciting tidbits you could offer to our audience? TC: One Man, Two Guvnors is funny, even on the page; it's very silly and it's shameless in the right way. I directed Amadeus twice and one of the things I love about Mozart and Shakespeare is that they're not afraid of being a bit vulgar. One Man, Two Guvnors is vulgar all the way through, like a saucy, seaside postcard. Peter Fernandes, one of our funniest and most delightful actors is going to play the role of Francis; he's a fantastic ball of energy and silliness. I think the audience is going to be fairly helpless in his hands. And then of course Sherlock Holmes will be part three in our trilogy; we did The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Raven's Curse, and now, for the first time, we're doing a premiere; The Mystery of the Human Heart has never been done anywhere and it's written by a rather mysterious chap, Reginald Candy, nobody knows who he is. There's a mystery about that as well. Dan: The first play in the Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre is The House That Will Not Stand by Marcus Gardley, who is in the news right now because he wrote the screenplay for the film version of The Color Purple. He's an amazing playwright. Can you tell us a bit about The House That Will Not Stand? TC: He's an interesting playwright; he really engages with the past and other works of art. Almost every piece we're doing this year is based on something else. One Man, Two Guvnors is a Goldoni play, Witness for the Prosecution started life as a novel, as did The Secret Garden. The House That Will Not Stand is in relation to Lorca's great play The House of Bernarda Alba, a very brutal but beautiful play about young women locked up by their mother, who aren't allowed to discover their sexuality and fulfill their passion. It's set in New Orleans in 1850, so it's Antebellum, among a family of free Black women, a very unusual situation. Of course, they're not free in most social senses and their mother is aware of that, she's very Christian and is trying to stop them going astray. It sets up a red-blooded, melodramatic, overheated, deep South atmosphere where you just know there are going to be explosions and boy, are there. Dan: Also in the Studio Theatre, is Snow in Midsummer, can you tell us a bit about that? TC: Yes, also based on something! The Chinese American writer Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig did a version of The Injustice to Dou E That Moved Heaven and Earth, the original Chinese legend. It's in that great theatrical tradition going back to Oedipus, where you're working out what crime happened in the past leading to the plague affecting our city. It's a very clever new version of it because it includes some subplots and elements of the story that wouldn't have been in the original. I won't say more than that. Dan: Then, in the Royal George Theatre, is the Bernard Shaw piece, Candida. TC: It's a very charming love triangle with a typical Bernard Shaw twist. He's always a bit odd about sex — it's always there, but he's always trying to pretend it isn't. I think that makes the plays quite sexy. You go: “Why is everyone pretending that lust isn't playing a part here?” Because it is. Shaw himself was always full of rubbish about that, he would say: “It doesn't matter, it plays no part in my life, it's not interesting”, yet he was forever being jumped on by women who had crushes on him, and he tended to oblige them. He was full of shit really. It's a very charming, very funny and very embarrassing play in the best way. Dan: Is there anything that you feel was left unsaid or you would like to share with our listeners? TC: I would really love you all to get a Season's Pass, not because we want your money, in fact, we'll make more if you just buy separate tickets. But I really feel that the people who get the real value of The Shaw come to everything and take a chance on the thing that they don't think they're going to like. So, take a chance and come see a show you have no reason to see, let it surprise you!
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Honouring the impact of Black artists, playwrights, performers and visionaries this Black History Month. Black History Month is a time to reflect on historical and ongoing injustices, as well as an opportunity to celebrate the innumerable contributions and achievements Black voices have made to society at large. At the Shaw Festival, we take particular interest in amplifying the immeasurable mark that Black artists, playwrights, performers and visionaries have had on the theatre industry as we know it. If you are interested in supporting some truly exceptional work from Black artists, we couldn't recommend these two pieces of 2024 programming more: The House That Will Not Stand. June 12-October 12 Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre Marcus Gardley's The House That Will Not Stand is set in early 19th century New Orleans. Beartrice, a wealthy, free Black woman, finds herself at risk of losing everything after the death of her affluent, white lover. As racial divides widen, and the world around her begins to crumble, she must do whatever she can to keep her family together. Baldwin vs Buckley. August 2 | 8-10pm. Court House | $100/person. A re-enactment of the historic 1965 debate between American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin and pro-segregationist commentator William F. Buckley on race and the American Dream. A no-holds-barred verbal boxing match of radical thinkers of mid-20th century America.
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Remembering Norman Browning. It is with a heavy heart that we share the passing of longtime Shaw Ensemble member, Norman Browning. Spending 23 seasons with us, and appearing in upward of 50 productions, he was a staple in some of The Shaw's most memorable productions. Noteworthy performances include Sir Robert Chiltern in An Ideal Husband (1995), Britannus in Caesar and Cleopatra (2002), Thomas Putnam in The Crucible (2006) and Major Paul Petkoff in Arms and the Man (2014). A phenomenal performer and a generous friend, Norman will be profoundly missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him. Give your better half the gift of great theatre! Valentine's Day is fast approaching! And what better way to show appreciation for your sweetheart than with tickets to The Shaw? With our 2024 Season just on the horizon, planning a trip to picturesque Niagara-on-the-Lake is the perfect escape from your winter blues. Plus, our thrilling roster of upcoming productions offers a delectable assortment of plays, sure to appeal to theatre connoisseurs from all walks of life. Undecided on what to see? Consider a gift certificate and explore your options together! ORDER TICKETS TODAY BUY YOUR GIFT CERTIFICATE TODAY

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Andrew Broderick and Jacqueline Thair in A Grand Night for Singing (2023). Élodie Gillet and James Daly in Damn Yankees (2022). Photos by Peter Andrew Lusztyk.

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