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The Record 5/17/07: Tom McCamus

THE BUZZ AT STRATFORD
ROBERT REID
STRATFORD (May 17, 2007)

Outgoing artistic director Richard Monette has chosen the theme of the outsider to tie together his last season at the helm of the Stratford Festival.

"Artists by definition are outsiders," Monette observes in a recent interview.

The theme emerged as he put together his 2007 playbill, which includes works he has wanted to present from the beginning of his tenure in 1994.

"Outsiders appear in almost all of the plays we're doing," he says of this year's offerings.

The festival's 55th season opens May 28 at the Festival Theatre with Brian Bedford directing and performing the title role in King Lear.

Monette jokes that he wanted Bedford to do Lear "before he was too old to carry Cordelia.

"Many people see Brian as a comic actor, but he's done lots of work outside of comedy."

Bedford has garnered accolades for many productions he has directed at Stratford. He has also directed many productions in which he has assumed lead roles.

Nonetheless, Monette admits that directing and starring in the title role of King Lear is a tall order.

"We had another director but he dropped out," Monette concedes, which underscores his confidence in Bedford's abilities.

Donna Feore, who did a superb job directing and choreographing last season's hit musical Oliver, is again donning both creative hats in Oklahoma, which opens May 29 at the Festival Theatre.

"It's the granddaddy of the American Broadway musical," Monette says of Richard Rodgers' and Oscar Hammerstein's western musical, co-starring Dan Chameroy and Blythe Wilson.

Considerable buzz is circulating around the festival with the debut of Graham Greene in The Merchant of Venice and in Of Mice and Men -- both of which Greene selected.

"I met Graham last year in a restaurant in Toronto," Monette recalls. "I asked him if he would consider coming to Stratford and he said, 'absolutely.' "

Monette gave the Oscar-nominated actor "several titles" to consider and Greene chose to play Shylock and Lennie Small.

Monette has made inroads into removing the colour barrier from festival casting. While other actors of aboriginal ancestry have performed at Stratford, Greene marks the first time that such a high-profile native actor has appeared in a leading role.

Richard Rose, with whom Greene has worked, will direct The Merchant of Venice, which opens June 1 at the Festival Theatre.

Monette admits that the play, which has proved controversial in recent years, is "thorny," but therein lies its merit.

"It's the thorniness that makes the play great."

Of Mice and Men, which opens June 21 at the Tom Patterson Theatre, is directed by Martha Henry.

"Graham was pleased with the notion of Martha directing," Monette confirms.

Henry reports that Greene is "bringing out all the humour" in John Steinbeck's Depression-era tale about an extraordinary friendship.

Monette directs Tom McCamus and David Snelgrove in An Ideal Husband, which opens Aug. 11 at the Festival Theatre. The set is designed by Cambridge native Michael Gianfrancesco.

"The play is timely because of all the political corruption we read about in the newspapers and see on the evening news," Monette explains.

The Great Depression is the setting for another American classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, which opens May 30 at the Avon Theatre.

Susan Schulman directs the stage adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a white lawyer (played by Peter Donaldson) who defends a black man falsely charged with raping a white woman.

"It's already proving popular with ticket buyers," Monette notes.

Michael Lichtefeld directs Cynthia Dale in the festival's second musical, My One and Only. Written and composed by George and Ira Gershwin, the musical opens May 31 at the Avon Theatre.

"I wanted to find something for Cynthia in my last season."

Monette directs the early Shakespearean farce The Comedy of Errors, which opens June 2 at the Avon Theatre.

"It's a romp with a heart."

He was inspired to direct the play during a sabbatical when he ascertained parallels between the play and ancient Turkey. This set, too, is designed by Gianfrancesco.

David Latham directs Philip Akin in the title of Othello, which opens June 2 at the Tom Patterson Theatre.

"In my last season, I wanted to present an Othello who was Canadian," Monette asserts, "because I thought it would signal our evolution as a company."

After a season's absence, University of Waterloo graduate Jonathan Goad returns to the festival to play the scheming Iago.

Diana Leblanc directs a sterling cast in Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance, which opens Aug. 9 at the Tom Patterson Theatre.

The production was to reunite William Hutt with Martha Henry. But the senior actor pulled out for medical reasons and has been replaced by David Fox, who along with Henry joins James Blendick, Patricia Collins, Michelle Giroux and Fiona Reid.

"What I like about his writing," Monette says of Albee, "is his language. He writes plays of language."

Lucy Peacock reprises her role in the one-woman show The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead.

Directed by Geordie Johnson, the show opens May 31 at the Studio Theatre. Again, Gianfrancesco designed the set.

"It was such a hit last season," Monette says of the reprise. "It's almost sold out already."

Seana McKenna nails down the other one-woman show, playing Anne Hathaway in Canadian playwright Vern Thiessen's Shakespeare's Will.

The production, which opens July 7 at the Studio Theatre, is directed by veteran director Miles Potter, who happens to McKenna's husband.

"Seana wanted to do it and who am I to turn down the actor I view as Canada's Meryl Streep?" Monette smiles.

He has wanted to stage The Odyssey, a modern retelling of Homer's tale by Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, since being appointed artistic director. But he had to wait until he found the right director -- Peter Hinton.

Hinton is no stranger to the Studio Theatre, where the production opens Aug. 8.

"It's a familiar story told with wonderful, fabulous, fantastic words," Monette enthuses.

Mladen Kiselov makes his festival debut directing Lucy Peacock and Goad, among others including Nora McLellan, in Pentecost.

David Edgar's retelling of the Tower of Babel opens Aug. 10 at the Studio Theatre.

"It's another play I've wanted to do for 15 years," Monette says. "We couldn't do it here without the Studio Theatre."

© The Record

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