Jonathan Church will break with tradition when he begins his first season as artistic director of the Stratford Festival next year. Of the 13 artistic directors who’ve led the company over the past 74 seasons, he’ll be only the third not to open his tenure by directing a play by Shakespeare, whose works have long been the repertory company’s bread and butter.
Instead, the responsibility of staging two of the festival’s marquee Shakespeare productions next season will fall on a former Stratford artistic director and a man whose works are well known to Toronto and Stratford audiences.
Des McAnuff, who led the company from 2008 to 2012, will return to direct a new production of “Hamlet.” Set to open on July 13 at the 1,800-seat Festival Theatre, exactly 75 years to the day that the company premiered its first show, McAnuff’s revival will take place in a Cold War-era Europe amid a changing world order. Meanwhile, Chris Abraham, the current artistic director of the Crow’s Theatre in Toronto, will helm a revival of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” It will open at the smaller Tom Patterson Theatre in June and star the Canadian stage and television actor Saul Rubinek.
The productions are two of 13 shows announced Wednesday morning for Stratford’s 2027 season, which includes a trio of musicals, several page-to-stage adaptations and a Noël Coward comedy featuring “Will and Grace” star Eric McCormack.
“The message I want audiences to take away from this season announcement is that there is going to be continuity,” Church said in an interview with the Star. “Many of the things that this organization has thrived on for 74 years are going to remain — including Shakespeare being at the heart of what we do, big musicals being a driver for younger audiences, along with new works and new Canadian works.”
Church’s first project with the company will be directing “Wolf Hall” and “Bring Up the Bodies,” stage adaptations of two bestselling novels by the British writer Hilary Mantel that fictionalize Thomas Cromwell’s rise to power in Tudor England. The paired dramas, which were adapted for the stage by Mike Poulton, will run in repertory at the Avon Theatre, featuring a shared cast and creative team.
“The theatrical kind of bravura of these shows appealed to me when I first saw them in the UK. They’re kind of these glorious events,” said Church. “So, the opportunity to stage a Canadian premiere of this great, theatrical ensemble adventure was something I couldn’t resist.”
Church said audiences shouldn’t read too much into his decision not to direct a Shakespeare play in his inaugural season. Yet, he also didn’t commit to leading a Shakespeare work in 2028. “I hope my strength as a producer is always to cast the best directors and creative teams for each project,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to directing Shakespeare at some point. There are specific texts I’d love to do, but they weren’t necessarily the right thing to do this year.”
Rounding out the Shakespearean offerings next season will be “The Taming of the Shrew,” directed by Krista Jackson at the Tom Patterson Theatre. The revival, slated to open in late August, will be set in the cutthroat world of reality television.
The programming, which begins in April and runs through the end of November, will also feature three musicals, anchored by a new production of Disney’s “Mary Poppins” at the Festival Theatre. It will star Vanessa Sears in the title role, and be led by UK directors Jonathan O’Boyle and Stephen Mear. Running at the same venue will be a remount of the Kander and Ebb musical “Chicago,” which was last seen at Stratford in 2022. Donna Feore, who directed and choreographed that production, will return to lead this remount.
The third musical will be a new Canadian work based on Mordecai Richler’s children’s book series “Jacob Two-Two.” Composed by Stratford sisters Anika and Britta Johnson and featuring a book by David S. Craig, the production will be directed by Theatre Calgary artistic director Stafford Arima. The show will play at the Tom Patterson Theatre, marking the first time a musical has been presented at the venue since it opened in 2022.
“I’m passionate about new Canadian work,” said Church. “We’ve got the most skilled musical theatre artists working with us here in Canada, so I hope new work will be part of what we do during my tenure.”
The second world premiere next season will be “All in the Telling,” a play written and starring Rubinek, and directed by Abraham at Stratford’s smallest venue, the Studio Theatre. The autobiographical play draws on Rubinek’s family history, including his parents’ experiences in the Second World War as Holocaust survivors.
The play is the second of three works that will star Rubinek, 78, who headlines the upcoming lineup and returns to the company he first joined when he was 20. In addition to “All in the Telling” and “The Merchant of Venice,” the Canadian actor will also lead a remount of Mark Leiren-Young’s “Playing Shylock” at the Studio Theatre, a solo show about an actor playing Shakespeare’s Shylock who launches into a spontaneous personal monologue after a production of “The Merchant of Venice” is abruptly cancelled by protesters. Rubinek will reprise his role after previously appearing in “Playing Shylock” at Canadian Stage in Toronto and off-Broadway.
“This is a very complex time to be Jewish, and these three plays offer huge perspective on that,” said Church. “And with Saul at the heart of it, we get to see a great actor at the top of his game do these three projects.”
Stratford’s Studio Theatre lineup will be rounded out by a new revival of Daniel David Moses’ “Almighty Voice and His Wife,” inspired by the true story of the titular Cree resistance fighter and his wife. Yvette Nolan will direct the production, which runs from June through to September.
Notwithstanding “Wolf Hall” and “Bring Up the Bodies,” all the titles announced for the Avon Theatre will be presented consecutively instead of in repertory. After those first two plays conclude their runs in August, the Avon will then see a three-week return engagement of Kat Sandler’s “Anne of Green Gables,” which last played at Stratford in 2025. Later in the fall, the theatre will host the final show of the 2027 season: a new revival of Coward’s “Present Laughter,” directed by Richard Ouzounian (the Star’s former theatre critic) and featuring Canadian television star Eric McCormack, who previously spent five seasons at Stratford between 1985 and 1989.
Church said the decision to present the Avon Theatre lineup out of repertory next season was made, in part, so the festival could accommodate McCormack, who could not stay in Stratford for the whole summer. Another change next year: all shows will start half an hour earlier, with matinee performances beginning at 1:30 p.m. and evening shows starting at 7:30 p.m.
Additional casting for the 2027 season will be announced at a later date, with tickets going on sale beginning Nov. 15.
Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request.
There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again.
You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply.
Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page.
