The Stratford Festival has announced its 2025 season playbill, a collection of classic and new texts celebrating harmony and the forces that enhance it or work against it.
Antoni Cimolino, artistic director of the Stratford Festival, said in a media release that The Winter’s Tale was one play in particular that caught his attention when conceptualizing the season. The Greek god Apollo is central to the resolution of the story, helping to bring harmony to a family in conflict.
“Apollo is the god of healing, of music and the arts, of truth and the protection of the young,” Cimolino stated. “What a wonderful figure to have at the centre of the season, I thought: a god of harmony, a state we yearn for in this world … But in its humblest form harmony can become dull …
“And so two other gods took their place in my mind alongside Apollo, Venus and Mars, entwined in a never-ending cycle of destruction and creation. Together these three inspired what I hope audiences will find to be an entertaining and meaningful playbill, themed around Apollo, Venus, Mars: Reflections on Harmony, Love and War.”
These plays are Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Macbeth and The Winter’s Tale; the musicals Annie and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; the classics Sense and Sensibility and Dangerous Liaisons; the contemporary Canadian plays Forgiveness and The Art of War; and two Stratford Festival commissions, Anne of Green Gables and Ransacking Troy, both of which will have their premières in 2025.
The 2025 playbill is supported by Ophelia Lazaridis. Tickets will go on sale to members of the Stratford Festival beginning Nov. 10 and to the public on Dec. 16.
The plays at the festival theatre next year, with support provided by Daniel Bernstein and Claire Foerster, are:
As You Like It
Written by William Shakespeare and directed by Chris Abraham.
Rediscover Shakespeare’s tale of transformation and resilience, in a production directed by Chris Abraham, whose Much Ado About Nothing was a critical and box office hit this season.
In a world rocked by political upheaval, a duke’s daughter, Rosalind, faces exile from the city to the countryside. She flees with her cousin Celia, and the pair discover new identities and the prospect of new love, even as they confront their deepest fears.
The production underwriters are John and Therese Gardner and the production co-sponsors are Martie and Bob Sachs.
Annie
Book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, and lyrics by Martin Charnin. Original Broadway production directed by Martin Charnin, based on “Little Orphan Annie” by permission of Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Directed and choreographed by Donna Feore with music director Laura Burton.
Donna Feore is back with a musical for the whole family. Annie, winner of seven Tony Awards, tells the story of a loveable orphan, Annie, who is stuck in an orphanage run by the dreadful Miss Hannigan. The child dreams of being reunited with her parents, but instead finds happiness with the wealthy Daddy Warbucks, who becomes not only her protector but also her hero, finding wealthy homes for all her friends at the orphanage.
The production co-sponsors are Robert and Mary Ann Gorlin and Peter and Carol Walters.
Sense and Sensibility
Written by Kate Hamill, based on the novel by Jane Austen, and directed by Daryl Cloran.
This production of Jane Austen’s beloved classic will use an adaptation by Kate Hamill, one of the most exciting and oft-produced playwrights working today. Audiences will enjoy the vibrancy of her script, which clearly reflects her genuine love of Austen and of classical theatre. Her adaptation is filled with playfulness, humour and emotional depth, as well as substantial roles for women – and men – which makes Sense and Sensibility an ideal showcase for exceptional actors.
The play follows the Dashwood sisters, who have been left destitute after the sudden death of their father. The girls find romance – and suffer heartbreak – as they try to regain social stability for their family in gossipy 18th century England.
Dangerous Liaisons
Written by Christopher Hampton, from the novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos, and directed by Esther Jun.
In pre-Revolutionary France, the Marquise de Merteuil and her sometime lover the Vicomte de Valmont amuse themselves by plotting the seduction of two women of virtue: the virginal Cecile Volanges and the respectably married Mme de Tourvel. But as their cynical game proceeds, the players’ motives grow deeper – and more deadly.
The production co-sponsors are Cathy and Paul Cotton.
The 2025 productions being staged at the Avon Theatre are:
Macbeth
Written by William Shakespeare and created in collaboration with Ex Machina. Directed by Robert Lepage.
Visionary director Robert Lepage takes on Shakespeare’s tragedy of unchecked corruption and heinous self-interest. Set in the milieu of Quebec’s biker gangs, the production will reflect on violence and the allegiances that drive it, revealing the horrors that grow unhindered once the seeds of evil are planted in the soul.
The production underwriter is Laurie J. Scott and the production co-sponsor is Carol Stephenson, CM.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Book by Jeffrey Lane, with music and lyrics by David Yazbek. Based on the film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels written by Dale Launer and Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning. Original Broadway production directed by Jack O’Brien. Directed by Bobby Garcia, choreographed by Stephanie Graham, with music directed by Franklin Brasz.
Like this season’s La Cage aux Folles, this razzle-dazzle show, in the vein of The Producers, is set on the French Riviera. It features a conman who woos wealthy women and pockets their money to fund a glamorous lifestyle. When a competitor comes to town, they team up to raise the stakes but soon find themselves in unhealthy, though hilarious, competition. A final con – to prove who is the better hustler – sees both men get their just reward.
Production co-sponsors are Sylvia D. Chrominska and The Whiteside Foundation.
Anne of Green Gables
A Stratford Festival commission for Schulich Children’s plays. A new adaptation written and directed by Kat Sandler, based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
Anne of Green Gables by Kat Sandler is a bold adaptation of the timeless tale of imagination, resilience and the transformative power of love. Set in the picturesque village of Avonlea, it follows the adventures of Anne Shirley, an irrepressible orphan with a vivid imagination and an unyielding spirit.
The production sponsor is the Schulich Foundation.
The 2025 productions being staged at the Tom Patterson Theatre are:
The Winter’s Tale
Written by William Shakespeare and directed by Antoni Cimolino.
Artistic director Antoni Cimolino will at last have the opportunity to direct one of his most beloved Shakespeare plays, The Winter’s Tale, a story about the intense power of human emotions and their ability both to bring people together and tear them apart.
King Leontes, obsessed by suspicions of infidelity, puts his pregnant wife, Hermione, on trial for her life. He comes to his senses only when his actions have cost him both wife and children. But true love can work miracles and even the bitterest winter contains the seeds of spring.
The production co-sponsors are Dr. Dennis and Dorothea Hacker, Dr. Desta Leavine in memory of Pauline Leavine, and Dr. M.L. Myers and Peggy Ptasznik in memory of Vic Ptasznik.
Forgiveness
Written by Hiro Kanagawa, adapted from the book Forgiveness: A Gift From My Grandparents by Mark Sakamoto. Directed by Stafford Arima.
Adapted from the acclaimed 2018 Canada Reads-winning memoir by Mark Sakamoto, this moving and heartfelt play by Hiro Kanagawa tells the story of Sakamoto’s grandparents and their harrowing experiences during the Second World War. In the face of tremendous adversity and horrific transgressions, they chose not to live a life of anger but rather to embrace and teach forgiveness.
The production co-sponsors are the Schubert Family.
Ransacking Troy
A Stratford Festival commission written by Erin Shields. Directed by Jackie Maxwell and choreographed by Esie Mensah.
After nine and a half years of war, Penelope is tired of waiting for Odysseus to return home, so she gathers a band of Greek women to set sail for Troy. An epic journey ensues as the women struggle to bring about a peaceful end to the war and imagine the future they want to create when it’s through. Written by Erin Shields, the dynamo behind 2018’s Paradise Lost, Ransacking Troy is a compelling adaptation of the Trojan War narrative through the lens of its female players.
Production co-sponsors are Marilyn Gropp, Jane Laird, Dr. Robert and Roberta Sokol, as well as an anonymous donor.
The 2025 productions being stages at the Studio Theatre are:
The Art of War
Written by Yvette Nolan and directed by Keith Barker.
The Art of War by Yvette Nolan is a dramatic examination of the role of artists in war and in peace. During the Second World War, Nick is sent to the front lines as an imbedded painter. What he witnesses, what he paints, will transform not only him, but Canada’s idea of itself.
The production underwriters are the Harkins Manning family in memory of Jim and Susan Harkins. The production co-sponsors are Karon Bales and Charles Beall, Bryan Blenkin and Alan Rowe and Catherine Elliot Shaw.
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