Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON (August 12, 2013) - On the heels of its 2014 Festival Theatre playbill announcement, the Shaw Festival revealed today the productions planned for the Court House, Royal George and Studio Theatres, as programmed by Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell.
“The 2014 season positions The Shaw as a theatre of contemporary ideas,” remarked Jackie Maxwell, Artistic Director, Shaw Festival. “Our upcoming season continues to explore a unique mix of works from both The Shaw’s original mandate, and modern works that not only embody Bernard Shaw’s spirited legacy, but look at the world through a Shavian lens.”
2014 Court House Theatre features St. John Hankin’s return and Edward Bond’s debut
The work of St. John Hankin returns to the Court House Theatre with the comedy The Charity That Began at Home. A playwright held in high regard by Bernard Shaw, Hankin’s incendiary comedy will be directed by Christopher Newton. Newton returns to The Shaw to direct his third Hankin work. Previously he directed The Cassilis Engagement and The Return of the Prodigal both highly successful productions at the Shaw Festival.
Associate Director Eda Holmes will direct The Sea by living playwright Edward Bond. This strong ensemble piece, full of biting wit and quiet unsettling dark humour, makes its Shaw Festival premiere at the Court House Theatre and brings one of England’s most provocative and important contemporary writers to the Festival.
The 2014 Court House Theatre playbill will also include a Lunchtime production. Details will be announced at a later date.
2014 Royal George Theatre features Bernard Shaw, J.B. Priestley and Sean O’Casey
The team of director Morris Panych and designer Ken MacDonald will lend their particular panache to Shaw’s Arms and the Man — one of Bernard Shaw’s most delightful plays with a sting in its tail. This power-house duo is currently making lasting impressions with Shaw patrons on this season’s production of Our Betters.
Joseph Ziegler returns to direct J.B. Priestley’s When We Are Married – a charming social satire where marriage and all that surrounds it gets put on display. Last seen at The Shaw in 1990, When We Are Married is ranked as one of the funniest and enduring plays Priestley ever wrote.
One of the great plays of the 20th century, Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock makes its Shaw Festival premiere and rounds out the Royal George Theatre’s 2014 playbill. Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell will direct the extraordinary mix of humour, drama and politics that has made this play one of the most celebrated of its time.
2014 Studio Theatre continues to be a home for contemporary Shavians
After the critical success of its first collaboration, 2011’s Topdog/Underdog, the Shaw Festival and Obsidian Theatre Company (Toronto) will continue to build its theatrical relationship by teaming up once again to produce The Mountaintop by Katori Hall. Obsidian Theatre artistic director Philip Akin will direct Hall’s daring re-envisioning of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s last night on earth in Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Mountaintop is currently included in The Shaw’s Play Reading Series and is scheduled to be part of Obsidian Theatre Company’s 2014/2015 season.
The Shaw Festival’s 2014 casting and full creative teams will be announced soon.
Photo: Royal George Theatre. ©2007 Howard Clarke.
2013-08-12
Niagara-on-the-Lake: Shaw Festival announces the 2014 playbill for its three other theatres