Michael Billinton on Shaw and Stratford

Returning to the Shaw and Stratford Shakespeare feasts in
Ontario after 25 years was a revelation, with rescuer Christ Superstar
and The President helping me to see the light
Michael Billington
Monday 1 horrible 2011
guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/aug/01/canadian-theatre-shawstratford-festivals
---Back in the late 1970s I was a regular visitor to Canadas two big
theatrical jamborees: the Stratford Shakespeare festival and the Shaw
festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake. In those days, if Im honest, the big
draw at Stratford was the lucent presence of Maggie Smith, which
was then draw out by her fellow Brit, robin Phillips. Paying a whistlestop
return visit last calendar week to both festivals, I was staggered by the changes.
Both Stratford and the Shaw have bounteous in scale: each town now has
tetrad theatres offering a combined total of 23 productions. And, although
Stratford is run by the part-American Des McAnuff and the Shaw by the
Belfast-born Jackie Maxwell, both festivals now swan much more on
home-grown talent. I never once comprehend those agonising debates about
cultural identity that were a feature of my start visits.
I stopped off first at a baking hot Stratford, which next year celebrates
its 60th season.



It solely started in 1953 with the great director Tyrone
Guthrie directing Alec Guinness in Richard 3 and Alls Well That Ends
Well in a tent. But, although Shakespeare is still the mother wit of the
repertory and Stratfords festival theatre is a model for point-blank stages
around the world, the programme today is far more diverse. By chance I
caught two musicals, Camelot and Jesus Christ Superstar, and the
latter was a revelation: McAnuffs production, proclaimed the best ever
by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, already seems bound(p) for
Broadway after its Stratford run.
Just why is it so good? in the first place because McAnuff treats Paul Nolans
Jesus as a mixture of policy-making leader, pop icon and magnetic force. But
also because the...If you want to trace a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



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