With five productions currently underway, the Shaw Festival of Niagara on-the Lake, Ontario, is preparing to unleash five new offerings in July, including plays by Oscar Wilde, John Galsworthy, and two by the festival's namesake.
First to debut will be Galsworthy's Joy, in which Joy, the teenage daughter of separated parents contends with love, anger, jealousy and rejection. Neil Munro directs a cast featuring Severn Thompson (as Joy), Michael Ball, Sharry Flett, Jennifer Phipps and Maralyn Ryan. Joy opens at the Court House Theatre July 8.
Merrill Denison's Brothers in Arms follows on July 9 at the Royal George Theatre. Dennis Garnhum directs this one-act about a Toronto businessman waited for a ride out of a northern Ontario cabin. Norman Browning, Jenny L. Wright, Douglas E. Hughes and Guy Bannerman star.
Shaw Festival staple Fiona Reid stars in Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan, opening July 9 at the Festival Theatre. The exploration of Victoria morals also stars Colombe Demers, Ben Carlson, and Gordon Rand, under Christopher Newton's direction.
Shaw takes his rightful place at the center of the festival on July 10, when two Shavian productions open: Passion, Poison and Petrifaction or, The Fatal Gazogene at the Royal George; and John Bull's Other Island at the Court House. The former is Shaw's 1905 one-act spoof of Victorian melodrama. Gyllian Raby directs a cast including Camille James, D. Garnet Harding, Brigitte Robinson and Todd Waite. The better known John Bull's Other Island stars David Schurmann, Blair Williams, Peter Hutt, and is directed by Jim Mezon. The Shaw Fest began performances April 15 and runs through Nov. 29. Five productions opened in May, including Shaw's Major Barbara (running through Nov. 1); Kaufman and Hart's You Can't Take It With You (Nov. 1); Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not for Burning (Sept. 27); the new Gershwin musical A Foggy Day (Nov. 1); andThe Shop at Sly Corner, by Edward Percy (Nov. 29). Arthur Conan Doyle's drama Waterloo will open on Aug. 21.
For information, call (800) 511-7429
--By Robert Simonson
