Artistic Director Tim Carroll Announces The Shaw Festival's 2019 Season

Artistic Director Tim Carroll and the Shaw Festival proudly announce the 2019 Festival season playbill.

"I've reached back for some Shaw Festival favourites and looked forward for some spectacular new surprises," says Artistic Director Tim Carroll. "Love it or hate it, we have something to delight - or provoke - everyone!"

The 2019 Shaw Festival playbill:

FESTIVAL THEATRE

The Horse and His Boy
By C.S. Lewis
Adapted for the stage by Anna Chatterton
Directed by Christine Brubaker

The Shaw Festival returns to Narnia with the world premiere of The Horse and His Boy. Two runaway children - Shasta, who escapes a life of servitude, and Aravis, who flees an unwanted marriage - quickly find themselves at the centre of a battle with the fate of Narnia at stake. This classic hero journey will include pre-show workshops where families can become part of the magic they see on stage.

Lerner and Loewe's
Brigadoon
Book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner; music by Frederick Loewe
Original dances created by Agnes De Mille
Directed by Glynis Leyshon

Two American tourists happen upon Brigadoon, a Scottish town that appears for one day every 100 years. When one of the visitors becomes infatuated with a young woman from the mythical town, he finds himself asking what he'd give up for love. This musical is packed with much-loved songs by Lerner and Loewe, the musical team who created My Fair Lady.

The Ladykillers
By Graham Linehan
>From the motion picture screenplay by William Rose
By special arrangement with StudioCanal and Fiery Angel, London
Directed by Tim Carroll

An elderly woman stumbles onto the discovery that her new lodgers are a gang of criminals plotting a nefarious heist. Soon she is the only thing standing between these inept crooks and their chances of getting away with it. A deliciously macabre dark comedy about the difficulty of murdering one little old lady.

Man and Superman with Don Juan in Hell
By Bernard Shaw
Directed by Kimberley Rampersad
Special Event

Bernard Shaw's signature wit and social commentary are seen nowhere more clearly than in his epic five-hour masterpiece of ideas, philosophy and brilliant wordplay. John Tanner believes marriage is a trap into which he will never fall. Ann Whitefield would never make him do anything he doesn't want. So why is he so scared?

With only 17 performances, Man and Superman with Don Juan in Hell is a limited engagement special event that includes a luncheon interlude featuring farm-to-table menus from Niagara's finest chefs, paired with regional wines.

ROYAL GEORGE THEATRE

Rope
By Patrick Hamilton
Directed by Jani Lauzon

Two friends commit murder and host a party for the victim's friends with his hidden body as the centerpiece ... just to see if they can pull it off. Rope is a clever, psychological thriller that will have audiences wondering every minute: "Will they get away with it?"

Getting Married
By Bernard Shaw
Directed by Tanja Jacobs

A motley collection of relatives convene for a family wedding and end up wondering if they would be better off if marriage didn't exist. With its colourful and warring couples, Shaw's blissful deconstruction of the institution of marriage sparkles with verbal fireworks.

The Russian Play
By Hannah Moscovitch
Directed by Diana Donnelly
Lunchtime One-Act

Acclaimed Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch's funny and touching tale of a flower girl and her love for a gravedigger. A bittersweet ode to the dangers of love.

Cyrano de Bergerac
By Edmond Rostand
Translated and adapted for the stage by Kate Hennig
Directed by Chris Abraham

Cyrano de Bergerac is not only a brilliant swordsman and talented musician: he has a gift for words, too. And yet, for all his panache, he feels unworthy of love. Why? Because of his unfeasibly large nose. Unable to profess his feelings to his lady love, Cyrano helps another man to woo her. The Shaw Festival's Associate Artistic Director Kate Hennig adapts one of the most poetic and romantic plays ever written.

Jackie Maxwell Studio Theatre

The Glass Menagerie
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by László Bérczes

In his autobiographical masterpiece, Tennessee Williams - 'Tom' - recalls life with his overpowering mother and her obsessive search for a suitor for his painfully shy sister Laura. A poetic and moving exploration of love and longing.

Sex
By Mae West
Directed by Peter Hinton

Set in a Montreal brothel, this sassy and passion-filled melodrama centres on Margy, a lady of the night searching for a better life through an advantageous marriage. Mae West's blunt confrontation of gender politics was deemed too controversial when first released - the production's premiere saw her charged with obscenity and sentenced to 10 days in prison.

Victory
By Howard Barker
Directed by Tim Carroll

Warning: Victory is deliberately offensive: not for the squeamish.
After Charles II's Restoration, the men who killed his father are being killed and their bodies put on display. The widow of one of these men is determined to give him a proper burial, but the price for doing so might be her dignity or worse. Language is wielded as a weapon in this 1985 classic, recently chosen as one of the National Theatre's Great Plays of the 20th Century.

MULTIPLE LOCATIONS

Mahabharata: Beginnings
Written and directed by Ravi Jain
Developed in partnership with Why Not Theatre, Toronto

The 2019 season features a series of experimental performances as Ravi Jain adapts the classic Sanskrit poem of ancient India. Mahabharata: Beginnings forges the way for the full presentation of this epic South Asian masterpiece during the 2020 season. Developed in partnership with Why Not Theatre, these performances are exclusive to Friends of The Shaw.

This is one of the 200 exceptional projects funded through the Canada Council for the Arts' New Chapter initiative. With this $35M initiative, the Council supports the creation and sharing of the arts in communities across Canada.

Secret Theatre
Secret Theatre returns for a third season of surprising and engaging artistic experiences.

CHRISTMAS AT THE SHAW

Irving Berlin's
Holiday Inn
Based on the film from Universal Pictures
Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin; book by Gordon Greenberg and Chad Hodge
Directed by Kate Hennig

Building on the sell-out success of A Christmas Carol, the Shaw Festival adds a musical to its 2019 seasonal offerings with Irving Berlin's beloved classic Holiday Inn at the Festival Theatre. This toe-tapping delight follows Jim Hardy as he leaves showbiz behind for life on a farm, but soon discovers he isn't quite the farmer he hoped he'd be. Jim's outlook begins to change when he falls for a local woman named Linda. Together with a group of his Broadway buddies, they transform his farmhouse into an inn featuring stunning performances that ring in every holiday with song, dance and celebration. But what happens when there's competition for Linda's affection?

A Christmas Carol
By Charles Dickens
Adapted for the stage and originally directed by Tim Carroll
Directed by Molly Atkinson

Nestled in the heart of the ultimate Christmas village, the charming holiday favourite A Christmas Carol returns to the Shaw Festival's Royal George Theatre.

Tickets for the 2019 season will be available through the Box Office at 1-800-511-SHAW (7429) and online at www.shawfest.com. The Shaw Festival's 2019 season goes on sale to Friends of The Shaw beginning November 3 and the public on December 8. Patrons wishing to get front-of-the-line access to tickets can visit www.shawfest.com or call 1-800-657-1106 x 2556 to become Friends of The Shaw.

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