Seanna McKenna as Queen Elizabeth I in the Stratford Festival's hit play, 'Mary Stuart"
Photo Credit: cbc

Stratford’s surprise hit: Mary Stuart

The Stratford Festival‘s 61st season is ending on a high note with a surprise hit that’s been filling the seats.

“Mary Stuart” a play about the ill-fated Scottish Queen, imprisoned by her cousin, Elizabeth the Queen of England, was written at the end of the 18th century by German Friedrich Schiller.  Updated by playwright Peter Oswald it was staged in England in 2005. In 2009 the the Broadway production garnered seven Tony Award nominations.  This year’s Stratford, production was consistently sold-out and held-over an unprecedented four times.

In an interview with the Windsor Star newspaper Antoni Cimolino, Artistic Director of the festival and director of ‘Mary Stuart’, says the story resonates today.  “The play is about what price security,” said Cimolino. “It’s about religious fanaticism and political manipulation of religious differences. Every time we turn on the television, we witness the same, whether it’s a shopping mall in Nairobi or a suicide bomber in Pakistan.”

The audience response is great news for southern-Ontario’s cultural jewel.  The festival struggled last year with declining ticket sales, but this year they’ve seen increases in both the Canadian and American audiences, and best of all, an increase in sales to the coveted 16 – 29 year-old demographic.

Cimolino credits the growth to a return to the classics. “Why? Because they show us that some things we are experiencing have been going on for a long time. There are truths that are enduringly true, that separate fashion and fad from what is the enduring truth.”

The festival line-up includes musicals, and this year’s “Fiddler on the Roof” and the musical “Tommy” by Pete Townsend have been crowd pleasers, but Cimolino says the festival has to provide what people can’t see anywhere else.

‘Mary Stuart’ finishes it’s sold-out run October 19th and the festival will close October.27th.

 

 

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