The Shaw Festival 2017 playbill is out.

Shaw Festival’s 2017 season is the company’s 56th and the first led by Artistic Director Designate Tim Carroll.

The lineup of 11 plays includes two of Bernard Shaw’s most admired works; an edgy new American comedy set on a slave-owner’s plantation; two Canadian political pieces; the North American premiere of a gothic-cum-feminist horror story; an uproarious musical comedy about the English upper classes; and four more plays that continue the Shaw Festival’s mission to provoke social exploration.

5 Canadian Directors

5 Canadian directors are on the Shaw Festival 2017 playbill: Eric Coates, Ashlie Corcoran, Christine Brubaker, Krista Jackson and Kevin Bennett.

Eda Holmes, Philip Akin and Peter Hinton are all returning.

Shaw Festival Artistic Director Tim Carroll will direct both Bernard Shaw productions.

Commenting on the Shaw Festival 2017 playbill Caroll said “I don’t want to leave audiences mildly amused or indifferent; I want us to be at the centre of the conversation. I took this job because of the combination of an intensely dedicated ensemble and a passionate, engaged audience who are ready to take risks. I can’t wait to see how our audience responds.”

Writing in The Globe and Mail J. Kelly Nestruck noted that despite Caroll’s sated objectives the first season “is intriguing, but not a radical shift – a prudent balance of continuity and change.
The change portion involves more contemporary North American theatre.”

The 2017 Shaw Festival season:

FESTIVAL THEATRE

Me and My Girl
Book and Lyrics by L. Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber
Book revised by Stephen Fry, with contributions by Mike Ockrent
Music by Noel Gay
Directed by Ashlie Corcoran

Saint Joan
By Bernard Shaw
Directed by Tim Carroll

Dracula
By Bram Stoker
Adapted for the stage by Liz Lochhead
Directed by Eda Holmes

COURT HOUSE THEATRE

1837: The Farmers’ Revolt
A play by Rick Salutin and Theatre Passe Muraille
Directed by Philip Akin

Androcles and the Lion
By Bernard Shaw
Directed by Tim Carroll

Wilde Tales (Lunchtime One-Act)
Stories for Children by Oscar Wilde
Adapted for the stage by Kate Hennig
Directed by Christine Brubaker

ROYAL GEORGE THEATRE

The Madness of George III
By Alan Bennett
Directed by Kevin Bennett

Dancing at Lughnasa
By Brian Friel
Directed by Krista Jackson

An Octoroon
By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Peter Hinton

STUDIO THEATRE

Middletown
By Will Eno
Director TBA

1979
By Michael Healey
Directed by Eric Coates
In co-production with the Great Canadian Theatre Company

Tickets to the Shaw Festival’s 2017 season will go on sale to Shaw Members beginning Saturday, November 5, 2016 and to the public on Saturday, December 3, 2016.

Podcasts.
Click below to listen to insightful conversations with
Krista Jackson
Jim Mezon