"David first came to the Festival in our 1991 season to do Ibsen's Enemy of the People," stated artistic director Richard Monette. "I am very pleased that someone of David's caliber was able to replace William Hutt at such short notice and I look forward to personally welcoming him back to the Festival." Fox last appeared at the Stratford Festival in the 2001 season, when he played the title role in The Trials of Ezra Pound.

A veteran of stage and screen, Fox won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for his role in the 1999 production of Michael Healey's The Drawer Boy at Theatre Passe Muraille. He has just completed the run of Scorched at the Tarragon Theatre, which is transferring to the National Arts Centre this week.

On television, Fox played the title role in Shakespeare's King Lear and for five seasons he played teacher Clive Pettibone on "Road to Avonlea."

Fox will join fellow cast members James Blendick, Patricia Collins, Michelle Giroux, Martha Henry and Fiona Reid when rehearsals for A Delicate Balance begin on May 29. The production will be directed by Diana Leblanc and will run from July 29-Sept. 23 at the Tom Patterson Theatre.

Hutt, a Canadian theatre legend who had announced his retirement in recent years, pulled out the production citing health concerns. He is 86.

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