by Keith Tomasek, Sept. 11, 2017

The Stratford Festival just announced it is extending the 2017 season with more performances of “Guys and Dolls,” “The Madwoman of Chaillot,”
“The Breathing Hole” and “The Virgin Trial.”

“The Virgin Trial” and “The Breathing Hole”, both new works from Canadian playwrights, have been playing to sold out houses.

“The Virgin Trial,” by Kate Hennig, is the follow up to Hennig’s “The Last Wife” which received critical acclaim at Stratford, Toronto’s Soulpepper and Houston’s Main Street Theater, just to name a few.

This “riveting” play (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) focuses on the girl who would become Queen Elizabeth I, played by Bahia Watson, her relationship with her half-sister Mary (Sara Farb), and her troubling bond with the much older Thomas Seymour (Brad Hodder).

Yanna McIntosha and Bahia Watson in The Virgin Trial
photo: Cylla von Tiedemann.

“The Breathing Hole,” by Colleen Murphy, is being hailed as an important piece of climate-change theatre. “There are plenty of plays that tell of climate change,” said Robert Cushman in the National Post. “This may be the first to find a way of showing it.”

The play’s key character, a mythic polar bear presented as a life-size puppet operated by actor Bruce Hunter, is winning high praise, with the Karen Fricker in the Toronto Star calling his “one of the most affecting performances at the Stratford Festival this season.”

Bruce Hunter as the Daniela Masellis-designed Angu’juaq and Jani Lauzon as Huumittuq in The Breathing Hole.
photo Cylla von Tiedemann.

Both the “Virgin Trial” and “The Breathing Hole” are appearing in Stratford’s studio theatre. Read Natalie Dewan’s story about the wonderful work going on there in: “Small But Mighty: Stratford’s Studio Theatre 2017.”

The Breathing Hole:
See all the reviews
Friday, September 29, at 8 p.m.
Sunday, October 1, at 2 p.m.
Friday, October 6, at 8 p.m.

Guys and Dolls:
See all the reviews
Tuesday, October 24, at 2 p.m.
Wednesday, November 1, at 2 p.m.
Thursday, November 2, at 2 p.m.
Saturday, November 4, at 2 p.m.
Sunday, November 5, at 2 p.m.

The Madwoman of Chaillot:
See all the reviews
Tuesday, September 12, at 8 p.m.
Saturday, September 16, at 2 p.m.
Sunday, September 24, at 8 p.m.
Tuesday, September 26, at 8 p.m.
Thursday, September 28, at 2 p.m.
Friday, September 29, at 8 p.m.
Sunday, October 1, at 2 p.m.

The Virgin Trial:
See all the reviews
Thursday, September 14, at 2 p.m.
Friday, September 15, at 2 p.m.
Wednesday, September 27, at 8 p.m.
Friday, September 29 at 2 p.m.
Saturday, September 30, at 2 p.m.
Thursday, October 5, at 2 p.m.
Saturday, October 7, at 2 p.m.
Sunday, October 8, at 2 p.m.

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