One of Canada's biggest cultural destinations is getting ready to welcome audiences once again. The Stratford Festival is set to launch its 2025 season in April, and organizers are optimistic for another strong year.
The Playbill for Stratford's 2025 season features classical and new texts, celebrating harmony and examining the forces that enhance or work against it.
Publicity Director Ann Swerdfager said the season also focuses on love and war.
"Which are, you know, the two things that you strive for harmony out of, so it's represented in the various plays in different ways, and you can enjoy the theme in your own way," she added. "In addition to the plays, we also offer forum events, so you can come and explore various talk topics at those as well, you can see world-class authors and international journalists and our own actors and directors speaking on a variety of topics inspired by that idea of harmony."
Swerdfager said audiences return year after year to Stratford because it is one of Canada's biggest cultural destinations.
"We have over about 800 performances a year, and then a couple 100 events in the forum, and then Stratford also offers Stratford summer music and art galleries, and here for now, theater," she pointed out. "So it's a huge cultural destination."
Swerdfager thinks the musical Annie will be a highlight of the year. Annie opens April 18. She said Annie is a fabulous dance show directed and choreographed by Donna Feore.
"She has brought in a Broadway Dance Music Arranger so that she can create some new, bigger dance numbers for the musical," Swerdfager explained. "So it's going to be Annie, which I know is a huge favourite of so many people, and even better than anyone has ever seen it before. We're really excited about that. And of course, kids and dogs, it's pretty exciting around here!"
Another production already in rehearsals is Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, based on the Steve Martin movie.
"It's been made into a stage musical, and even better than the movie," Swerdfager promised. "It takes you off to the French Riviera. Great set, great songs, great bands, funny, funny plot."
She said rehearsals just began for the Shakespeare classic, Macbeth, directed by Robert Lepage.
"It's going to be set in the biker wars in the 1980s and 90s, really gritty. It's such an integrated design and concept that I just was absolutely blown away," exclaimed Swerdfager. "The first five minutes alone are going to be worth your ticket price."
The Stratford Festival also features the William Shakespeare plays As You Like It, and The Winter's Tale.
Swerdfager said the 2025 season features a new adaptation of Anne of Green Gables, which will appeal to kids and families.
Audiences can also enjoy Sense and Sensibility, The Art of War, Ransacking Troy, Dangerous Liaisons, and Forgiveness.
Hopes are high for the Stratford Festival's 2025 season, as the organization aims for attendance to top half a million people.
As theatres across the globe struggle to recover from the pandemic, Swerdfager is grateful for Stratford's loyal fan base.
"We've been pretty fortunate. We love it if we get half a million people every season, and we came pretty close to that, like, you know, within spitting distance, as they say, last year," she said. "But we still have some gains in attendance that we need to accomplish this season and I think we've got such great shows. People are loving the new brochure. They're loving the titles. They're buying tickets in pretty large numbers at this point. So we are cautiously optimistic for 2025."
Swerdfager said they hope people choose to spend their free time in Canada this year and include a trip to Stratford.
"We really hope that people are deciding to look at Stratford because we don't have a lot of options with the dollar the way it is, and border issues are also becoming a problem. So come to Stratford. We have incredible restaurants. We have really unique shopping," continued Swerdfager. "We have sidewalk cafes, beautiful river boat rides, kayak and canoe rentals, beautiful parks. It's a tremendous getaway. It really is. And then you get to see this world-class theater, too."
Productions and key dates
As You Like It | By William Shakespeare | Directed by Chris Abraham | Runs May 3 to October 24 | Opening May 26
Annie | Book by Thomas Meehan | Music by Charles Strouse | Lyrics by Martin Charnin | Directed and Choreographed by Donna Feore | Runs April 19 to November 2 | Opening May 27
Macbeth | By William Shakespeare | Directed by Robert Lepage | Runs May 10 to November 2 | Opening May 28
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | Book by Jeffrey Lane | Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek | Based on the film by Dale Launer, Stanley Shapiro & Paul Henning | Directed by Tracey Flye | Choreographed by Stephanie Graham | Runs May 3 to October 25 | Opening May 29
The Winter’s Tale | By William Shakespeare | Directed by Antoni Cimolino | Runs May 7 to September 27 | Opening May 30
Anne of Green Gables | A new adaptation by Kat Sandler | Based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery | Directed by Kat Sandler | Runs April 25 to October 25 | Opening May 31
Forgiveness | By Hiro Kanagawa | From the book Forgiveness: A Gift from my Grandparents by Mark Sakamoto | Directed by Stafford Arima | Runs May 23 to September 27 | Opening June 18
Sense and Sensibility | Adapted by Kate Hamill | Based on the novel by Jane Austen | Directed by Daryl Cloran | Runs May 28 to October 25 | Opening June 19
The Art of War | By Yvette Nolan | Directed by Keith Barker | Runs August 1 to September 27 | Opening August 20
Ransacking Troy | By Erin Shields | Directed by Jackie Maxwell | Runs August 6 to September 28 | Opening August 21
Dangerous Liaisons | By Christopher Hampton | Based on the novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos | Directed by Esther Jun | Runs August 6 to October 25 | Opening August 22
The 2025 Meighen Forum
A collection of thought-provoking events at this year’s Meighen Forum will bring together artists, thought leaders and subject matter experts, including Dr. Jen Gunter, Stephen Greenblatt, Patsy Rodenburg, Tegan and Sara Quin, Catherine Hernandez, Emma Donoghue and Adam Gopnik and Jane Urquhart. Workshops, tours, Lobby Talks, Meet the Festival, Peer into the Playbill, the Forum academy, concerts and special performances are offered throughout the season, along with events in our themed weeks:
Pride: June 9-15
Season Deep Dive: June 30-July 6
CBC Ideas: July 7-13
Global Theatre: August 4-10
Readers and Writers: August 18-24
Scholars and Experts: September 15-21