Brian Dennehy in Goodman Theatre's production of Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett
With the first shows of its current season only just up and running, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival is already looking ahead to next year and beyond.
Artistic director Des McAnuff announced a 2011 season featuring many happy returns and bold new directions Tuesday. Tony winners Brian Dennehy and Brian Bedford will return to the fold next season, while the festival will also feature its first play by Harold Pinter and acclaimed actress Seana McKenna as its first female Richard III.
McAnuff also announced that the Festival has commissioned a brand-new musical from the Tony-winning team that created The Drowsy Chaperone to premiere in a season further down the line.
In Stratford's 2011 season, Dennehy will play Sir Toby Belch in a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, directed by McAnuff. Stephen Ouimette will play Belch's partner-in-crime Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Dennehy will also co-star with Ouimette in a production of Pinter's The Homecoming helmed by Jennifer Tarver, who directed Dennehy to great acclaim two years ago in a double bill of Krapp's Last Tape and Hughie.
In 2011's other big first, McKenna will take the lead role in Richard III under the direction of Miles Potter. While Stratford has cast company members in opposite-sex roles before, from Pat Galloway playing Lorenzo in Lorenzaccio to William Hutt and Brian Bedford's turns as Lady Bracknell, an actress has never before performed a major male Shakespearean role at the festival. "[McKenna]is one of our greatest players and with this performance she will continue to further our united cause for non-traditional casting," said McAnuff.
Straight from starring in his own production of The Importance of Being Earnest on Broadway, Bedford will be back in Stratford to direct acclaimed actor Ben Carlson as Alceste in Moliere's The Misanthrope.
Also announced yesterday was Stratford's commission of a brand new musical from Bob Martin, Don McKellar, Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, the Tony-winning team behind The Drowsy Chaperone.
"I have often said I would love to see new Canadian musicals developed at Stratford," McAnuff said. "I think it's deliciously ironic that members of this group lampooned us here at Stratford so successfully with the hilarious series Slings and Arrows, and I'm excited to see what will come of this new partnership."
Other highlights from the 2011 season: Tony-winning director Frank Galati ( The Grapes of Wrath, Ragtime) will direct Geraint Wyn Davies as Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor in the Festival Theatre and general director Antoni Cimolino will direct Galati's adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath at the Avon Theatre.
On the musical front, Chicago director Gary Griffin will direct Camelot at the Festival Theatre, while McAnuff will tackle Jesus Christ Superstar in the Avon Theatre starring Paul Nolan as Jesus and Chilina Kennedy as Mary Magdalene.