Stratford Shakespeare Festival

[Hoosier Red]

Okay I got back from this last night and have been waiting anxiously to tell people how great this festival is.

My wife(big Shakespeare fan) saw a play there about a month ago and wanted to go back. For her birthday we went up and spent 3 days and 3 nights in Stratford Ontario and saw three plays.

There are 4 theatres and a great mix of Shakespeare and non-Shakespeare productions. All the shows I saw were top notch and really interesting.

Just wondering if anyone else has seen this or if I am new to the phenomenon.

[WMR]

Do they serve "period food"?

(I'm thinking about the Renaissance Festival for some reason)

[vaticanplum]

Okay I got back from this last night and have been waiting anxiously to tell people how great this festival is.

My wife(big Shakespeare fan) saw a play there about a month ago and wanted to go back. For her birthday we went up and spent 3 days and 3 nights in Stratford Ontario and saw three plays.

There are 4 theatres and a great mix of Shakespeare and non-Shakespeare productions. All the shows I saw were top notch and really interesting.

Just wondering if anyone else has seen this or if I am new to the phenomenon.

What did you see?

I've never been...have been to a few summer Shakespeare-based festivals, including my favorite in Ashland, Oregon (just a joy, even though their Hamlet put me to sleep), but Stratford is very well known and I would love to hear more specifics of your time there and what you saw.

[cincinnati chili]

My dad took my brother and me in 2 different summers, while we were in our teens. We spent a few days there and stayed at B&B's

At the time, we kinda thought our dad was a big dork, but looking back, it was very good to be exposed to some great work.

The acting as top notch. It's like going to summer stock, with world class actors.

A highlight was a one man show of 'The Grand Inquisitor.' The Non-Shakespeare stuff, like Chekov, was as good as the Shakespeare stuff.

We drove down to Toronto for a Jays game after our weekend. It was the first year of Skydome and the place was packed every game.

[Hoosier Red]

Saw "A Comedy of Errors",
"An Ideal Husband"(Oscar Wilde)
and "King Lear"

And no, no period food.
Actually Stratford is home to the Canadian Culinary institute or something of that vain. So the food is excellent.

[Roy Tucker]

It's been going on for 50+ years, IIRC.

Went once in the 70's with the future ex-Mrs. Tucker and her HS class, once in the 80's with an old flame, and in 2001 as a chaperone for my son's English class that went up there for 2 days. HS kids think they'll hate it, but many of them came away loving it all.

I can't speak highly enough of the quality of the event and the productions. If you like theatre and/or Shakespeare (as I do), it is really something. Top notch.

[Hoosier Red]

After seeing "Comedy of Errors", I think every high school freshman(or at least the boys) should be required to read it. Might get them more interested in Shakespeare as opposed to having to read "Romeo and Juliet" or "Hamlet".