Showing posts with label Stratford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stratford. Show all posts

Thursday, 27 August 2026

Bottoms Up Everyone! Something Rotten Stratford Festival 2026 A Review

Bottoms Up Everyone! 
A Review of Something Rotten Stratford Festival 2026 by a 15 year old.

Something Rotten
2026
Book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell
Music and Lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick
Conceived by Karey Kirkpatrick and Wayne Kirkpatrick
Directed by Donna Feore
Choreographed by Donna Feore
Music Director Laura Burton 
Set and Costume Designer Michael Gianfrancesco
Lighting Designer Bonnie Beecher
Sound Designer Haley Parcher
Fight and Intimacy Director Anita Nittoly
Executive Producer David Auster
Creative Planning Director Jason Miller
Casting Directors Beth Russell and Ari Weinberg

Bottoms Up Everyone! Something Rotten Stratford Festival 2026 A Review

This 2026 review will be a little different. I had blown out my knee and could not make the trip. Fortunately friends had tickets the same day and took my son 18, and daughter 15 with them. We had purchased ticket for 5 performances this year, I am very thankful they were able to make it. So her in her own words, my daughter’s review:

Bottoms up everyone! 

It’s time for the 2026 season's review of Strafford’s Festival Something Rotten however, this time it’s a little different because right now you are reading the works of me, Z.E. McEvoy (the youngest daughter) and not my dad’s work. Unfortunately, my dad was unable to attend the show with us due to an injury but to still feel included we decided I would write a review instead! 

Something Rotten is a musical comedy about two brothers trying to rip off Shakespeare's next best show. This performance is immediately engaging with the opening number “Welcome To The Renaissance" which starts off by bringing you right into the story and mind-set of the show and the time period it takes place in, especially with the details in the costumes, which I’m sure you’ve heard of my love for before. This show has many tips and Easter eggs to other contemporary performances like Annie, Phantom of the Opera, Hamilton, Les Mis, and many others and they always managed to be at the most perfect moment to make everyone in the crowd laugh. From the costumes, to musical numbers, and every show piece in between my total and complete attention was on the stage. 

As someone who often struggles to stay focussed during long shows I was blown away by how captivating every moment was so that I couldn’t bear to look away for a minute. As the story follows the Bottom brothers, we are also given many varying references to the bard’s other works before Hamlet. This made the show progress very smoothly and gave a funny nod to Shakespeare. Though some of the characters may not have liked each other, the cast did an incredible job at building the roles to be something which made everyone feels the joy that they had throughout the entire show. 

With all that being said, this was another amazing performance put on at Strafford which I would hands down go see again in a heartbeat, so if you get the chance to, I’d highly recommend seeing it.

My son and I had seen the production 2 years ago and loved it. I am glad the kids got to see it. And am hoping that budget and timing will work to get to see it before the end of the season. 

Note: Photos by David Hou/Stratford Festival or our own.

Bottoms Up Everyone! Something Rotten Stratford Festival 2026 A Review 01

Bottoms Up Everyone! Something Rotten Stratford Festival 2026 A Review 02

Bottoms Up Everyone! Something Rotten Stratford Festival 2026 A Review 03

Bottoms Up Everyone! Something Rotten Stratford Festival 2026 A Review 04

Bottoms Up Everyone! Something Rotten Stratford Festival 2026 A Review 05

Stratford Festival 2024 Something Rotten Pre Show Stage

Reviews of Other Stratford Productions:
Richard III – 2022
Hamlet – 2022
The Miser – 2022
King Lear – 2023
Grand Magic – 2023
Annie - 2025 
Goblin Oedipus -  2025 
The Tempest - 2026  
Something Rotten – 2026 
Othello - 2026 
Saturday, Sunday, Monday - 2026 
...


Other Posts Related to Shakespeare:

Reviews of Stratford Shakespeare Productions:
The Tempest - Stratford Festival 2019 
Richard III – 2022
Hamlet – 2022
King Lear – 2023
Cymbeline – 2024
Reviews of Shakespeare Movies:
Cymbeline – 2014

Books by Ted Neill:
Post Apocalyptic Space Shakespeare Series:
Twelfth Night
As You Like It
A Mid Summers’s Night Dream 
Much Ado About Nothing 
…

Shakespearean Shorts from Pettyfeather Publishing:

Guy Hale's Shakespeare Murders Series:
2. All Our Yesterdays 
3. Put Out the Light 
4. Sleep No More 
…






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Thursday, 16 July 2026

The Dark Lady and Pandora: Two Plays - Jessica B. Hill

The Dark Lady and Pandora
Two Plays
Rodrigo Beilfuss (Contributor)
ISBN 9781990738357 
ISBN 1990738354

The Dark Lady and Pandora: Two Plays - Jessica B. Hill

I was doing research for a review of a play at the Stratford Festival this season when I stumbled upon this volume. My youngest two children and I have been attending plays in Stratford for the last several years. And Jessica has been one of our favourite actors in almost everything she has been in. Prior to reading this I had been on Shakespearian inspired fiction kick. Including Ted Neill’s Post Apocalyptic Space Shakespeare Series and the Shakespearean Shorts from Pettyfeather Publishing and the Shakespeare Murders Series by Guy Hale. It seems to be a spring and summer of not only Shakespeare plays (The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Othello) but also Shakespeare inspired fiction. And to be honest I could easily see Hill playing the main human-like construct is named J-9, though she prefers to be called Janine from Neill’s series. But back to the volume at hand.

The description on the back of this volume states:

“In The Dark Lady, William Shakespeare and Emilia Bassano wrestle with artistic collaboration, ambition, deep love, and legacy— an entanglement that will profoundly shape both their lives and their work.

In Pandora, the title character has been carrying the burden of all human suffering since the beginning of time and is now pondering the why of it all. Her curiosity starts connecting the dots between myth, modern science, and the meaning of theatre itself as she quests for answers to life’s unpredictability.”

About the author we are informed:

“Jessica is a bilingual actor, playwright and teacher originally from Montreal. Pandora and The Dark Lady marked her playwriting debut in 2023 with both having their world premiere productions within months of each other in Winnipeg and Saskatoon. Calgary welcomed a subsequent production of The Dark Lady within the same year.

Jessica has spent eight seasons acting at the Stratford Festival, starring as Viola in Twelfth Night, Helena in All's Well that Ends Well and Lady Anne in Richard III. She has performed in both English and French on stage, on screen, in voicework and in games.

A graduate of Stratford Festival’s Birmingham Conservatory, McGill University and Dawson College, she is also a visiting instructor at the National Theatre School of Canada, teaching Chekhov and Shakespeare.”

I typically do not highlight part of a play, but do in the notes  and forwards and such. This time I highlighted a few passages in each play as well. My highlights my first time through this volume are:

Playwright's Notes: 
  
“We all want to leave our mark. We are all trying to understand and make meaning of our place in the world. What of us lives on, whose story gets told, what kind of love or art can never be destroyed? What is the legacy we are leaving? I think both plays address this in different ways.” 
  
“The Dark Lady allowed me to explore these questions from a marginalized perspective.” 
  
“The play may be fiction, but Emilia Bassano-Lanier’s life truly does seem to encompass the breadth of Shakespeare’s work. The compounding historical coincidences in timelines, verse lines, friends in common, are astonishing...and delicious. It felt like uncovering a 400-year-old mystery. As if Time were untangling a secret knot. As if I was stumbling on ancient etchings waiting to be discovered, that simply said “I was here.””
  
“Pandora fed a fascination I’ve always had about the similarities between art and science. They both help us make sense of the world and give us drastically different yet complementary lenses on what we call reality. An act of theatre needs an audience to exist, and it’s different every time you see it. Until then, it’s just the possibility of a performance in an empty space. Funnily, that statement can also apply to quantum mechanics, a field of science so strange it skirts with philosophy.” 
  
Forward: 
  
“She became a playwright-actress, and I was lucky enough to be the friend, dramaturge and director that she shared her thoughts, desires and new plays with. Within the last three years of the plague, Jessica has written three plays and has so far scheduled four professional productions of her works (two of them are now published, and you hold them in your hands); with shows in Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg all taking place between 2022 and 2023. And there are more readings, productions and playwrighting commissions scheduled for 2024. My friend is unstoppable. We are so lucky to be alive now in the Age of Jess!” 
  
“In early 2023, before we finally collaborated on the full production of The Dark Lady in the spring, we delivered the world-premiere of Pandora in a very dark and cold Winnipeg winter. A solo piece about Greek mythology, quantum mechanics, the plague, and molecular and metaphysical interconnectedness somehow became a beacon of hope and joy during a very sombre season. Winnipeg audiences fell in love with Jessica then.” 
  
The Dark Lady: 
  
“Oh, you should know this about me: 
I love old books, the bigger, the older, the 
better. 
They've endured...you know? 
They’re real. Lasting. Tactile. 
And... they smell amazing! 
They smell like what I imagine knowledge 
should smell like.” 
  
““Sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.”” 
  
“Where do the notes go after we can’t hear 
them? 
They seem to reverberate in the air fainter 
and fainter until they disappear... 
But what if they don’t? What if instead, 
they float up, up, beyond the clouds and 
then hang there like stars, suspended in the 
firmament. “
  
“Hamnet and Odyllia. You wrote them a play. 
What you wrote... 
I have no words for what you wrote. 
Is this.... is this what genius is? Why does it 
hurt? 
...words 
don’t taste the same. 
What was I fighting so hard for? 
What do I...? 
Where do I belong?” 
  
“I’m reinterpreting the Bible from the women’s perspective. 
Starting with Eve, then working my way up to the Virgin Mary. 
Most of the women in there don’t even have names. 
I’m going to give each one of those women a voice.” 
  
Pandora: 
Designer's Note: 
  
“The script is all the things I love: mythology, history, quantum physics, real nerd shit. It is such a wonderful text that there was no shortage of inspiration and no hesitation to say yes to the opportunity. It wasn’t my first production design, but it would certainly be my most ambitious. Lighting, video, sound and set, all conceived to work together to support this epic script.” 
  
“My favourite element of the show was our use of shadows. Live and projected shadows would give Jessica a scene partner, or shadow duet featured a prerecorded three. A choreographed they danced Pandora’s movement, and together mirroring the past in sync with present and across the quantum field; the one another.” 
  
Pandora The Play: 
  
“From stubbed toes to sinkholes... If something unpredictable happens that messes up your plans, it’s all my fault.” 
  
“I call them... weasels. 
The unexpected wrenches in the machine. 
They le in wait...ready to pop and remind you what little control you actually have over your life.” 
  
“They’ve kept me around all these years, so I 
could witness the damage I’ve done. 
That’s my punishment. 
“The first of our kind...Cursed to witness all 
the days of our kind.”” 
  
“We have two valid theories to explain how 
the world works.  
But hey are completely incompatible descriptions of Reality.  
Wo which one is is Real? 
Is everything deterministic, linear and logical? 
Or probabilistic, chaotic and unpredictable? 
Or have we been looking at it all wrong? 
Is there a way to connect the two? 
Inevitable unpredictability. Deterministic chaos.” 
  
“What if that feeling is the cost of meaning? 
Because it could have gone differently. 
Because it can still go differently. 
What if being curious.... is enough?” 

Both plays are masterfully written. And I can easily create the picture of the staging in my mind’s eye. Both touch on some serious issues, And yet they also are encouraging and inspiring.

I enjoyed this so much I ordered a copy for my 15 year old knowing she will love it as well. These are two very moving and powerful plays. I could easily see both expanded into novels that would be popular, or even graphic novels. But they are well enough written and so good, I put the volume back on my ‘to be read’ pile to circle back to again! One of the notes mentions that Jessica has written 3 plays, I would to see the other one in print, to read or on stages based on how good these two are, and would pick up any others she published to read as well. An excellent volume with two amazing plays! Well worth the read, and attending if you ever get the chance.

Other Posts Related to Shakespeare:

Reviews of Stratford Shakespeare Productions:
The Tempest - Stratford Festival 2019 
Richard III – 2022
Hamlet – 2022
King Lear – 2023
Cymbeline – 2024
Twelfth Night – 2024

Reviews of Other Stratford Productions:
The Miser – 2022
Grand Magic – 2023
Annie - 2025 
Goblin Oedipus -  2025 
Saturday, Sunday, Monday - 2026 
…

Reviews of Shakespeare Movies:
Cymbeline – 2014

Books by Ted Neill:
Post Apocalyptic Space Shakespeare Series:
Twelfth Night
As You Like It
A Mid Summers’s Night Dream 
Much Ado About Nothing 
…

Shakespearean Shorts from Pettyfeather Publishing:

Guy Hale's Shakespeare Murders Series:
3. Put Out the Light 
4. Sleep No More  
…
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Sunday, 12 July 2026

Othello - Stratford 2026

Othello
2026
Director Haysam Kadri
Set Designer Brian Dudkiewicz
Costume Designer Gillian Gallow
Lighting Designer Siobhán Sleath
Composer and Sound Designer Thomas Ryder Payne
Fight and Intimacy Director Anita Nittoly
Executive Producer David Auster
Creative Planning Director Jason Miller
Casting Director Ari Weinberg

Othello - Stratford 2026

In the weeks leading up to seeing this production, I reread The Pelican Classic edition of the play; and also Ted Neill’s Post Apocalyptic Space Shakespeare Othello. Often the kids and I will watch a previous production either filmed from stage or movie, but time did not work for that. This is one of my favourites of the Bards works, and one I am always interested in seeing.  My youngest 15 went in fairly blind. My Son had read most of it, and I have read it a few times over the last 40 years, and seen a few productions over the years. This was as one of the 5 plays we picked over the season because my son 18 and daughter 15 both really wanted to see it, and it was the third and final of Shakespear's plays we are seeing this season. 

Over the last few years my children and I have been attending Stratford and reviewing all the plays we attend. We have a great appreciation for the bard, and typically attend all plays of his works, and usually a few others as well. Prior to attending my son and I try and read a copy of the play, usually the Oxford School Shakespeare or the Pelican Classic Editions. I believe the festival has put on A Othello 9 times, as of the 2026 season, the first being in 1959. It is the directorial debut of Haysam Kadri at the festival. This season is Antoni Cimolino’s  final as artistic director and he selected plays based on his favourites from his tenure at the festival. 

The summary of the play on the festival site states:

“Love. Lies. And the ultimate betrayal. 

A beautiful marriage and a brilliant military career are destroyed by the devious manipulations of a vindictive comrade. Heroism and dishonour walk hand in hand in this gripping tale of jealousy, regret and revenge.”

The synopsis in the house program states:

“Othello, a respected general in Venice, secretly marries the noblewoman Desdemona, defying societal expectations and drawing scrutiny. Soon after, he is deployed to Cyprus, accompanied by his loyal lieutenant Cassio and the seemingly devoted Iago. Beneath his façade of service, however, Iago conceals deep resentment and begins plotting revenge to destroy Othello’s happiness and professional standing. By planting false evidence and preying on Othello’s insecurities, Iago convinces him that Desdemona has been unfaithful with Cassio. As jealousy corrodes Othello’s trust, alliances fracture and tensions escalate, plunging everyone into emotional turmoil. With deception tightening its grip and reason slipping away, the stage is set for a devastating reckoning that neither love nor honour will survive.”

When we go and see the play in person we have an almost an hour drive home, and usually spend the time discussing the performance. I could hardly get a word in as they both loved the production so much. One of the things we talk about is our favourite performers. It was a very heated discussion this time. We each pick our top 5. Our picks are:

My top ranking for the performers would be:
Krystin Pellerin as Desdemona
André Sills as Othello
Jordin Hall as Cassio
Jessica B. Hill as Emilia
Evan Buliung as Iago

My son's (18) top picks are:
André Sills as Othello
Evan Buliung as Iago
Krystin Pellerin as Desdemona
Jordin Hall as Cassio
Chick Reid - Brabantia

My daughters (15) were:
Jessica B. Hill as Emilia
Krystin Pellerin as Desdemona
André Sills as Othello
Evan Buliung as Iago
Jordin Hall - Cassio

The full cast is:

Othello - André Sills
Desdemona - Krystin Pellerin
Iago - Evan Buliung
Cassio - Jordin Hall
Emilia - Jessica B. Hill
Roderigo - Rylan Wilkie
Bianca - Vivien Endicott-Douglas
Brabantia - Chick Reid
Gratiano - Mike Nadajewski
Duke Of Venice - Michael Spencer-Davis
Montano - Cyrus Lane
Lodovica - Irene Poole

Attendants, Citizens, Officers, Senators - Sarah Dodd, Thomas Duplessie, Steven Hao, Michael Louis Johnson, Josh Johnston, Tarique Lewis, Angel Lo, Devin Mackinnon, Mike Nadajewski, Anthony Palermo

Understudies
Emilia, Lodovica, Second Senator - Sarah Dodd
Roderigo, Gratiano - Thomas Duplessie
Desdemona – Vivien Endicott-Douglas
Othello - Jordin Hall
Messenger - Michael Louis Johnson
Montano, First Senator - Josh Johnston
Iago - Cyrus Lane
Cassio - Tarique Lewis
Bianca - Angel Lo
Duke Of Venice - Devin Mackinnon
Brabantia - Irene Poole

André Sills had a standout performance it what he is calling his double ‘O’ season, playing both Othello and Oberon. This was another great production. My son and I absolutely loved it. My daughter appreciated it more so the second half than the first. She was so frustrated with Iago she even flipped him off when he appeared on stage at one point. She also loved every time that Mike Nadajewski appeared on stage because she so loved his portrayal of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I could not help but wonder about a swap and having André Sills as Iago and either Jordin Hall or Jamie Mac as Othello. I would love to see Sills in this villainous role or even as Richard III.

My kids and I often keep an eye out for the filming taking place at Stratford, and would absolutely go back to see this again for the filming. I am incredibly thankful my children have discovered a love for theatre, and for the amazing productions at Stratford. As one of my favourite plays by Shakespeare, this is now one of my favourite staging’s of it. And my kids really appreciated it! It is an excellent production. I highly recommend it, if you have the chance to go this season, and if not maybe on Stratford@Home or other streaming in the future!

Note: Photos by David Hou/Stratford Festival or our own.

Othello - Stratford 2026 Image 1

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Reviews of Other Stratford Productions:
The Tempest - Stratford Festival 2019 
Richard III – 2022
Hamlet – 2022
The Miser – 2022
King Lear – 2023
Grand Magic – 2023
Cymbeline – 2024
Twelfth Night – 2024
The Tempest - 2026  
Othello - 2026 
Saturday, Sunday, Monday - 2026 
…

Reviews of Shakespeare Movies:
Cymbeline – 2014

Related Posts:



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Tuesday, 16 June 2026

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Stratford 2026

A Midsummer Night's Dream
2026
Director Graham Abbey
Set Designer Lorenzo Savoini
Costume Designer Joshua Quinlan
Lighting Designer Kevin Lamotte
Projection and Video Design Normal Studio
Composer and Sound Designer Thomas Ryder Payne
Movement Director Stephanie Graham
Fight and Intimacy Director Anita Nittoly
Executive Producer David Auster
Creative Planning Director Jason Miller
Casting Director Ari Weinberg

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Stratford 2026

In the weeks leading up to seeing this production, I reread The Pelican Classic edition of the play. Often the kids and I will watch a previous production either filmed from stage or movie, but time did not work for that. My youngest 15 went in fairly blind. My Son had read part of it, and I have read it a few times over the last 40 years, and seen a few productions over the years. It is to be honest not one my favourite plays by the bard. I am not a big fan of comedies either on film or stage, usually, there are some exceptions like Something Rotten which my son and I loved 2 years ago and are looking forward to seeing again this year. So this ended as one of the 5 plays we picked over the season because my son 18 and daughter 15 both really wanted to see it. If I had been going by myself I would not have picked this one, but I am very thankful we attended. And we attended the first public performance of the preseason. 

Over the last few years my children and I have been attending Stratford and reviewing all the plays we attend. We have a great appreciation for the bard, and typically attend all plays of his works, and usually a few others as well. Prior to attending my son and I try and read a copy of the play, usually the Oxford School Shakespeare or the Pelican Classic Editions. I believe the festival has put on A Midsummer Night's Dream 9 times, the first being in 1962 and this season 2026. Antoni Cimolino directed a version in 2018 thought it does not appear to be one that was filmed. Antoni Cimolino is in his final season as artistic director and he selected plays based on his favourites from his tenure at the festival. It would have been interesting to compare the 2018 version with this one directed by Graham Abbey.   

The summary of the play on the festival site states:

“Magic, mischief and moonlight 

Strange things happen in the woods by night, with neither spirit nor mortal safe from the wiles of the trickster Puck. For mismatched lovers, romance runs delightfully amok, but true love triumphs at dawn.”

The synopsis in the house program states:

“Hermia and Lysander are devoted to one another, but her father forbids their marriage and insists she wed Demetrius, with whom Hermia’s best friend Helena is besotted. Hoping to escape her father’s demands, Hermia and Lysander flee into the forest, with Demetrius and a determined Helena close behind. There, Oberon, king of the fairies, sets an enchantment on his queen, Titania – and, through the meddling of Puck, Oberon’s jester, the four lovers are unwittingly ensnared in the magic’s confusion. Meanwhile, Puck tangles with a troupe of amateur actors, heightening the night’s mischief. As night deepens, identities blur, lovers quarrel, fairies and mortals intermingle, and the boundaries between dream and reality dissolve. What resolution will the dawn bring?”

When we go and see the play in person we have an almost an hour drive home, and usually spend the time discussing the performance. I could hardly get a word in as they both loved the production so much. One of the things we talk about is our favourite performers. It was a very heated discussion this time. We each pick our top 5. Our picks are:

My top ranking for the performers would be:
Mike Nadajewski as Puck
Jessica B. Hill as Helena
Sara Topham as Titania 
Jordin Hall as Lysander 
Vivien Endicott-Douglas as Hermia

My son's (18) top picks are:
Mike Nadajewski as Puck
Jordin Hall as Lysander 
André Sills as Oberon 
Sara Topham as Titania 
Tim Campbell as Egeus

My daughters (15) were:
Mike Nadajewski as Puck
Sara Topham as Titania
Jessica B. Hill as Helena
Michael Man as Robin Starveling especially as the Moon
Jordin Hall as Lysander

The full cast is:

The Courtiers:
Theseus - Evan Buliung
Hippolyta - Ijeoma Emesowum
Hermia - Vivien Endicott-Douglas
Helena - Jessica B. Hill
Lysander - Jordin Hall
Demetrius - Thomas Duplessie
Egeus - Tim Campbell
Philostrate - Rylan Wilkie
Philostrate’s Associate - Richard Lee

The Fairies:
Oberon - André Sills
Titania - Sara Topham
Puck - Mike Nadajewski
Fairies In Titania’s Court
First Fairy (Viola) - Laura Condlln
Nightingale (Violin/Mandolin) - Dominique Leblanc
Peaseblossom - Davinder Malhi
Cobweb - Anthony Palermo
Moth - Silvae Mercedes
Mustardseed - Tarique Lewis
The Votaress - Sara-Jeanne Hosie

Fairies In Oberon’s Court:
Brimstone - Heidi Damayo
Limestone - Derek Kwan
Burdock - Richard Lee
Twig - Angel Lo

Changeling Children:
Rose Petal - Vivienne Abbey
Daisy - Alexandra Krohn
The Mechanicals
Nick Bottom - Michael Spencer-Davis
Rita Quince - Sarah Dodd
Francis Flute - Aaron Krohn
Snout - Sara-Jeanne Hosie
Snug - Steven Hao
Robin Starveling (Piano) - Michael Man

Understudies:
Hippolyta - Laura Condlln
Hermia - Heidi Damayo
Titania - Ijeoma Emesowum
Francis Flute - Steven Hao
Rita Quince - Sara-Jeanne Hosie
Theseus, Snug - Derek Kwan
Oberon, Philostrate’s Associate - Cyrus Lane
First Fairy Music - Dominique Leblanc
Egeus - Richard Lee
Demetrius, - Robin Starveling
Tarique Lewis
Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed, Peaseblossom, First Fairy - Angel Lo
Lysander - Davinder Malhi
Helena, Snout, The Votaress - Silvae Mercedes
Puck, Philostrate - Anthony Palermo
Nick Bottom - Rylan Wilkie

This was another great production. We attended the first public performance, and were amazed by the play. It is visually fascinating, the moon almost becomes a character in the play. The use of lighting and projecting on the moon is incredible. The set is almost minimalistic, often empty, a large tree and a large stone at times. The flow in and out of the cast as they transition from court, to words, to fairy and back is wonderfully executed. And the fairies in both courts are excellent. Puck is outstanding. Particularly his interactions with the audience, in the prior to the start or the play announcement, and the post intermission interactions from the stage. The costumes are great. My daughter loved many of the dresses and wanted many of them. 

My kids and I often keep an eye out for the filming taking place at Stratford, and would go back to see this again for the filming without hesitation. I am incredibly thankful my children have discovered a love for theatre, and for the amazing productions at Stratford. As mentioned earlier I am not typically a fan of this play, but this production was so well put together I did greatly enjoy it. And my kids absolutely loved it! It is an excellent production. I highly recommend it, if you have the chance go this season, and if not maybe on Stratford@Home or other streaming in the future!

Note: Photos by David Hou/Stratford Festival or our own.

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Reviews of Other Stratford Productions:
The Tempest - Stratford Festival 2019 
Richard III – 2022
Hamlet – 2022
The Miser – 2022
King Lear – 2023
Grand Magic – 2023
Cymbeline – 2024
Twelfth Night – 2024
As You Like It - 2025  
Annie - 2025 
Goblin Oedipus -  2025 
The Tempest - 2026  
Othello - 2026  
Saturday, Sunday, Monday - 2026 
…

Reviews of Shakespeare Movies:
Cymbeline – 2014

Related Posts:



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