The St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival is back for 2023!! It’s Shakespeare’s Birthday, and we can't think of a better way to celebrate than by announcing our season for 2023!!
We're presenting four fun-filled shows with all the pop and fizz of champagne bubbles to compliment a warm summer evening.
The Festival is bringing A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Importance of Being Earnest to our outdoor stage; both will run alternately from July 8 - August 5.We are also so happy to host once again our friends, Guild Festival Theatre, with their award-winning production of Alice in Wonderland, and Company of Fools' madcap Hamlet.
We're delighted to present all these timeless classics in one of Canada's most picturesque waterfront amphitheatres.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is the most performed and popular of all Shakespeare's plays and an excellent introduction to the playwright for all ages. This beloved comedy captivates in a magical tale of two pairs of young lovers, the king and queen of the woodland fairies, and the mischievous sprite Puck, who sprinkles romance and uproarious, free-for-all havoc over everyone.
The creative ideas of Richard Sheridan Willis’s acclaimed Toronto production will blend with the design elements of award-winning designer Shannon Lea Doyle along with music and sound by Emmy-winning composer Rob Bertola. It promises to be a delightful and dreamy production featuring an all-new cast to the Festival.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Richard Sheridan Willis July 8 - August 5 Saturday Matinees 1pm. Saturday Evenings 6 pm
Opening/Closing Nights Saturday July 8th /August 5th - 7 pm
Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest sparkles with all the wit and effervescence of its famous author. It is one of the cleverest comedies ever written. Wilde's hilarious work introduces us to Jack and Algernon, charming bachelors living a double life aided by a fictional alter ego called "Earnest." The two fall truly in love with a pair of proper young women. Jack is in love with Gwendolen. Algernon is in love with Cecily. Gwendolen and Cecily are each in love with "Earnest".
Double lives and double standards abound, and plot-twisting mayhem ensues. Directed by Kerry Ann Doherty, this quintessential comedy of manners features some of the funniest lines ever written.
The Importance of Being Earnest directed by Kerry Ann Doherty
July 12 - August 5 Saturday Matinees 1pm. Saturday Evenings 6 pm
Toronto's Guild Festival Theatre returns! Alice in Wonderland, adapted by David Savoy, is their award-winning production remounted for 2023 and will surely delight the child in everyone. This fast-paced production brings Wonderland to life in a swirl of sound, colour, and imagination. It will leave everyone with a smile on their face and curiosity in their hearts! After a sold-out run in 2021, seven Dora nominations and two wins, GFT's fantastic show for all the family comes to Prescott's riverside amphitheatre.
(The show runs 90 mins with no intermission)
Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tyler Seguin August 8 - 12
Returning home to attend her father’s funeral, Hamlet discovers that another ceremony has already taken place: her mother's marriage to her uncle. That’s right, her dead father’s brother. When Hamlet is visited by her father’s ghost demanding that she avenge his murder, Hamlet begins to wonder – has she gone mad or everyone around her?
Join the Fools as they race into the depths of the human experience and have a few laughs along the way. Whether you’re a Shakespeare nerd or this is your first foray with the Bard since high school, their foolish take on Hamlet has something for everyone.
(The show runs 90 mins with no intermission)
Hamlet, directed by Nicholas Leno August 16
Introducing our 2023 acting company. All our actors are new to the Festival. All
are exceptionally talented and we look forward to our audiences seeing them on the Kinsmen Amphitheatre stage. Philip Pace currently lives in Brockville, where he teaches classical text, among other materials, in the Music Theatre Performance Program at St. Lawrence College. He has appeared at many theatres, including the Stratford Festival. Joy Tanner is part Native American of the Seneca Nation. She recently appeared as a regular in Netflix’s Locke & Key. She has many TV and film appearances to her name but is best known to Canadian audiences for her role as Nora McDonald Venturi in four seasons of the sitcom Life with Derek. Van Abrahamsis from South Africa and is an actor, an opera singer with the Canadian Opera Company and a vocal coach at the Shaw Festival. He has also appeared on Broadway. Cara Rebecca has just appeared in the critically acclaimed Fall On Your Knees in Toronto, Waterloo, Halifax and at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. She is a graduate of the National Theatre School. Hannah Wayne-Philips has worked with Shakespeare in the Ruff and Canadian Stage in High Park in Toronto, where she played Regan in King Lear and Maria in Twelfth Night. RhysPhillips has newly arrived from England. His acting skills are complimented by his skills in dancing the Scottish Dance, Street Dance, Ballroom; Tango, Waltz, Cha Cha, Charleston, Jive, Merengue, and Salsa. Breanna Maloney is an actor, writer and theatremaker of Irish and Nicaraguan descent. She is a co-founder of Skipping Stones Theatre. A graduate of East 15 Acting School, and the University of Windsor, her training has led her to various places, including London, UK, Stratford, Ontario and Moscow. Isaiah Kolunzic has recently returned from Chicago, where he attended the famous School at Steppenwolf. He was also part of Queen's Ball: A Bridgerton Experience, an immersive theatre experience, which took place at the Netflix studios in Toronto. Rebecca Beith returns to the Festival as our stage manager after being assistant stage manager in 2019 on Cyrano and The Winter's Tale. Kerry Ann Doherty was a member of the Shaw Festival Ensemble for the 2022 season and was the Director/Choreographer of the new musical Nobody's Children (Book and Lyrics by Lezlie Wade, Music by Scott Christian) for Yellow Door Theatre Projects. She is also the Founder (along with Thom Marriott) and Artistic Director of Theatre Six and the Founder and past Artistic Director of The Little Lion Theatre Company in London, England. Kerry Ann has appeared in many productions at the Festival. We're delighted to welcome her back as director of The Importance of Being Earnest and Movement Director of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
