Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, November 26, 2012...Unsurpassed in presenting works from within the Festival’s original mandate period, the talented Shaw Festival acting Ensemble this season takes on the characters and worlds of Oscar Wilde, W. Somerset Maugham, Elizabeth von Arnim via Matthew Barber, Susan Glaspell and Eugene O’Neill.
Lady Windermere’s Fan
Previews – May 9 Opens – June 8 Closes – October 19
Festival Theatre
Oscar Wilde
Last seen as the independent and compassionate cousin Jessica in A Man and Some Women, Marla McLean returns as the naïve and conventional Lady Windermere. She leads a brilliant cast through the twists and turns of Wilde’s world of society gossip and marital intrigue.
Martin Happer spent last season defending his physical and emotional self against the tirades of his jealous wife in The Millionairess. This season, he defends his wife’s honour as the devoted and highly moral Lord Windermere.
Destroyed last season by the obsessive love of a woman as the tragic Eilert Loevborg in Hedda Gabler, Gray Powell returns as the charismatic Lord Darlington.
Tara Rosling appeared, quite literally, from the sky turning a family’s seemingly tranquil existence on its head in last season’s Misalliance. This time she wreaks havoc and distrust in London society as the mysterious Mrs. Erlynne.
Lady Windermere’s Fan also features the talents of Kyle Blair as Mr. Cecil Graham, Corrine Koslo as The Duchess of Berwick, Patrick McManus as Mr. Dumby and Jim Mezon as Lord Augustus Lorton.
Our Betters
Previews – April 3 Opens – May 11 Closes – October 27
Royal George Theatre
W. Somerset Maugham
She was the gentle Thea Elvsted in Hedda Gabler last season, and now Claire Jullien is poised to take the upper hand as American social climber Lady Pearl Grayston in the Downtown Abbey-esque Our Betters.
She delighted audiences as the obsessed fan Daphne Stillington in Present Laughter and was the “star boarder” in Come Back, Little Sheba. Now Julia Course returns as Bessie, the younger sister to Lady Pearl and an unwitting contestant in an ambitious game of marrying up in society.
Catherine McGregor has played many memorable characters at The Shaw including Mrs. Tarleton in last season’s Misalliance, and the ideal wife Lady Chiltern in An Ideal Husband. This season she adds the melancholy Princess Della Cercola to her repertoire.
He swept Hypatia Tarleton off her feet in Misalliance last season, but Wade Bogert-O’Brien must really turn on the charm as Fleming Harvey if he hopes to win back his ex-fiancé Bessie from the temptation of marrying for an English title and estate.
This Shaw Festival premiere and the third Maugham work to appear at the Festival, also features Laurie Paton, as the Duchesse De Surennes, Neil Barclay as Thornton Clay, Lorne Kennedy as Arthur Fenwick and Ben Sanders as Lord Bleane. The Shaw is pleased to introduced newcomer Charlie Gallant as gigolo Tony Paxton.
Enchanted April
Previews – June 25 Opens – July 13 Closes – October 26
Festival Theatre
Matthew Barber,
from the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim
After her past portrayals of strong yet flawed women like Hedda Gabler and Maggie the Cat in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Moya O’Connell returns this season as Lotty Wilton, a repressed optimist who escapes her dour existence in Hampstead for the restorative beauty of Northern Italy. Accompanying Lotty are Tara Rosling as dutiful housewife Rose Arnott, and Marla McLean as the socialite Lady Caroline Bramble.
Donna Belleville, last seen as Annie in Drama at Inish – A Comedy and as Older Liz in the critical hit When The Rain Stops Falling, returns to play the imperious widow Mrs. Graves.
Sharry Flett as Costanza, Patrick Galligan as Frederick Arnott, Kevin McGarry as Antony Wilding and Jeff Meadows as Mellersh Wilton are also featured in this luminous adaptation.
Trifles
Previews – May 29 Opens – June 8 Closes – October 12
Court House Theatre
Two one-act plays by Susan Glaspell and Eugene O’Neill
Sponsored by Vintage Hotels
Two rarely-seen mysteries about marriage by “the playwrights who first brought modern drama to America” are featured in this season’s Lunchtime show with Benedict Campbell and Graeme Somerville in leading roles.
Accompanying them are Kaylee Harwood, Julain Molnar and Josh Young all making their Shaw Festival debuts this season.
2013 season ticket on-sale dates to note:
•Members’ Special Priority Booking Period: extended to December 14, 2012
Telephone, in-person, online, fax and mail orders are currently being accepted
•General Public: January 12, 2013
Fax, mail and online beginning January 9
By phone and in-person beginning January 12
· Early booking prices in effect until January 31, 2013.
Illustration: Lady Windermere’s Fan. ©2012 Shaw Festival.
2012-11-26
Niagara-on-the-Lake: Casting announced for four more plays at the 2013 Shaw Festival