Stephen Ouimette plays the title monarch in the Ontario festival's staging at the Tom Patterson Theatre in Stratford. Previews begin Aug. 6. Assistant director is Stephen Drover.

"In the court of King John, courtiers and families vie for the upper hand as the King finds his hold on the throne threatened by a rival claimant, his nephew," the festival explains. "Sexual politics and constant treachery are the only constants in a world where, as King John discovers, power can be held only through deviousness deal making and compromise."

Santo Loquasto designs, with lighting design by Robert Thomson, and music by Craig Bohmler. Jim Neil is sound designer. Fight director is John Stead.

The cast of King John also features Kyle Blair as an English Messenger, Lally Cadeau as Lady Faulconbridge, Dan Chameroy as a French Herald, Diane D'Aquila as Constance, Peter Donaldson as King Philip of France, David Francis as the Earl of Pembroke, Mac Fyfe as the Mayor, Stephen Gartner as Robert Faulconbridge and Peter of Pomfret, Jonathan Goad as Philip the Bastard, Martha Henry as Queen Eleanor, Bernard Hopkins as Cardinal Pandulph, Dion Johnstone as Lewis, the Dauphin, Ali Alnoor Kara as Prince Henry, Ron Kennell as the Duke of Austria, Keira Loughran as Blanche, Caleb Marshall as Lord Bigot, Tom McMamus as Hubert, Xander Michael as a Priest, Gordon S. Miller as Melun, Andrew Muir as an English Herald and First Executioner, Jamie Robinson as Chatillon, Aidan Shipley as Arthur, Richard Stewart as Second Executioner, Peter van Gestel as James Gurney and Ian White as the Earl of Salisbury.

Also in the cast are Laura Condlln, Lisa Karen Cox, Kieran Gallant, Lawrence King and Michael Spasevski. King John opens Aug. 20 and continues in repertory to Sept. 24. For information, call (800) 567-1600 or visit www.stratfordfestival.ca.

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Cimolino, executive director of the Stratford Festival of Canada, shares responsibility with the artistic director for planning and operation of the Stratford Festival. Cimolino's directing credits at the Stratford Festival include Love's Labour's Lost, Twelfth Night, The Night of the Iguana and Filumena. He was co-director of The Merry Wives of Windsor and assistant director on numerous other productions. He also directed Filumena and Lord Arthur Savile's Crime for radio at CBC's Glenn Gould Studio, A Woman of No Importance at Wayne State University's Hilberry Theatre in Detroit and Twelfth Night at Detroit's Attic Theatre, which garnered him two Best Director Awards from the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News. Cimolino's Stratford Festival acting credits include Romeo, Laertes, Claudio, Flute and the Dauphin.

Cimolino lives in Stratford with his wife, actress Brigit Wilson, and their two children, Gabriele and Sophia.