Stratford Festival

In a revolutionary adaptation by Brad Fraser, this Richard is the story of a king who believes that God gives him the right to live above the rules and who ultimately suffers the consequences. The story is embedded in a time of great freedom that is soon crushed - the late 1970s and early '80s: when lives were lived at great volume against a suffocating strain of conservatism and fear. Fraser's adaptation maintains Shakespeare's text but draws on sources beyond Richard II.

In Kenya in 1952, Mercy, a restaurant proprietor, is hired to cater the impending visit of Princess Elizabeth, soon to be Queen. In 2015, another story unfolds in London, England, where a young Kenyan-born Canadian, Tia, is working as an intern on a TV drama series about the British royal family – while also pursuing a writing project of her own. These parallel narratives seem only coincidentally connected – until a surprising twist reveals a deeper relationship between the two.

Filmed version of the 2019 Stratford Festival production.

Staged at the Stratford Festival and named on many 2018 year-end critics “best of” lists, the Stratford Festival’s “riveting” and “exhilarating” (The New York Times) production of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, has been called “the show of the decade… a landmark production for the Stratford Festival. Maybe for William Shakespeare, too” (The Globe and Mail), and “the greatest contemporary staging of this play that I have ever seen” (Chicago Tribune).

This filmed treatment of the original Stratford Festival production of Timothy Findley's Governor General Award-winning play is a lavish treat for the eyes and the ears. William Shakespeare and his company of actors are brought together with the formidable Queen Elizabeth I in a remarkable encounter on the night of April 22, 1616, hours before the execution of Elizabeth's former lover Essex. Through the course of the evening, actor Ned Lowenscroft, famous for his female roles in Shakespeares' plays, very touchingly teaches the Queen to be more of a woman, while the Queen helps Ned be more of a man. Part history lesson, part theatrical insight, the play is a beautifully crafted Shakespeare-like work with poignant reflections on grief, love, friendship, and art. Compelling performances are delivered by Diane D'Aquila as Queen Elizabeth, Peter Hutt as Shakespeare and Brent Carver as Ned Lowenscroft.

This radically reimagined version of Shakespeare's romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet invites you into an up-to-the-minute world of sound and music, a world in which the entrenched hostilities of an older generation are challenged by the passions of young people who only want to love.

An elderly women looks back on her life as she relates to two younger, female visitors a caregiver and a lawyer. An unexpected turn of events casts the three women in a very different light.

Exiled Prospero lives on a desolate island with his daughter, Miranda. When Prospero's usurping brother sails by the island, Prospero conjures a storm that wrecks the ship and changes all of their lives.

A ghostly visitor with a shocking secret, a daughter devastated by loss, a deadly duel – and the most famous question in all of drama. Just some of the reasons why Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy will hold you spellbound.

A long-simmering animosity between two families of Verona, the Montague's and the Capulet's, has recently boiled over, with members of the rival households brawling in the streets. One night, Romeo, a Montague, crashes a party given by the Capulet's in order to meet up with a young woman called Rosaline, with whom he is infatuated. Thoughts of her vanish from his mind, however, when he catches sight of Juliet, daughter of the head of the Capulet household. Juliet is equally smitten with Romeo, but her father already has other plans for her.

The swaggering Petruchio agrees to marry the spitting hellcat, Katherine.

Pursuing two respectably married women at the same time, a would-be seducer fails to anticipate that his targets will, quite literally, compare notes. Nor has he reckoned on the mischievous spirit in which the wives will use their wits and wiles to teach him the error of his ways. Set in the 1950s, in a town not unlike Stratford, Ontario, this production brings Shakespeare's rollicking comedy close to home - and close to our hearts.

Shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria, Viola adopts a male disguise and enters the service of Duke Orsino, only to find herself part of a triangle of unrequited love. Meanwhile, in the household of the Countess Olivia, Sir Toby Belch and his unruly companions trick Olivia's strict and disapproving steward, Malvolio, into believing that she loves him.

This scintillating production of Shakespeare’s boisterous comedy will stir your emotions even as it challenges you with its pointed social commentary. Is the story of Kate and Petruchio one of courtship or of conquest? The breaking down of a defiant spirit or a breakthrough that liberates a heart deprived of love? You decide – but either way, this is an experience not to be missed!

Captain's daughter Josephine and common sailor Ralph Rackstraw are in love. However, their relationship is complicated by her arranged marriage to the high-ranking Sir Joseph Porter. A secret about the characters' true identities revealed by Little Buttercup, which leads to a farcical resolution. Filmed live from the 1980 Stratford Festival in Ontario.

A scholarly king and his three companions swear off the society of women for three years, only to have a diplomatic visit from a French princess and her three ladies-in-waiting thwart their intentions.

The ultimate royal family crisis. Prince Hamlet's father is dead, poisoned by his uncle, who has usurped the throne and married his mother, the Queen. When the dead King's ghost appears, commanding his son to revenge his foul and most unnatural murder, Hamlet is set on a course of action that can only end in the destruction of a dynasty and his own extinction.

Margaret Shakespeare is a dazzling writer - in a time and place with no room for her. Her brother, William, just wants to be an actor - and friends have just the role for him.

In mythical Ilyria, Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are separated after a shipwreck. Disguised as a boy, Viola enters the service of Duke Orsino who sends her off to woo the Countess Olivia on his behalf. Confusion and misguided love eventually leads to the happy reunion of the siblings.

In a small Japanese town, Ko-Ko is appointed to the unenviable position of executioner. Knowing he must successfully perform before the appearance of the Mikado in a month's time, Ko-Ko finds a suitable victim in Nanki-Poo, who is distraught over his unrequited love for the maiden Yum-Yum. Nanki-Poo agrees to sacrifice his life if he is allowed to spend his remaining days with Yum-Yum, who is betrothed to Ko-Ko. Filmed live from the 1982 Stratford Festival in Ontario.