'PHEDRE' Opens At Stratford Shakespeare Festival 8/22

Audiences had the first opportunity to see Seana McKenna and Roberta Maxwell in Timberlake Wertenbaker's new translation of Jean Racine's masterpiece Phèdre on Thursday, August 6, as the play began previews at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's intimate Tom Patterson Theatre.

The production is presented in a co-production with San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater and is directed by A.C.T.'s artistic director Carey Perloff. The script, commissioned by A.C.T., was workshopped here at Stratford in October 2008, in what Ms Perloff describes as "an extraordinary week of work spearheaded by the unparalleled talent and ferocity of Seana
McKenna and Jonathan Goad."

Celebrated playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker is best known for her play Our Country's Good, which won the Olivier Award for best play in 1988, was nominated for a Tony for its 1991 Broadway production and won the New York Drama Critics' Circle award for best new foreign play. She has adapted and translated work by Marivaux, Anouilh, Maeterlinck, Pirandello, Sophocles, Euripides and Preissova.

Phèdre is a classical play whose heartbeat remains astonishingly potent today. It was born out of
a highly formal 17th-century Catholic culture with enormous sexual taboos and clear social
hierarchies, but the sensual heat and beautiful poetry of Ms Wertenbaker's translation will speak
beautifully to a modern audience. The play begins with a terrible secret: the passionate,
uncontrollable love of Phèdre for her stepson, Hippolytus. Over the course of a taut and thrilling
journey, secret upon secret is exposed and the tide of erotic love threatens to overwhelm the
entire societal structure of the court of Theseus.

Ms. Perloff speaks to the joy of working with the acclaimed Stratford acting company: "I am
amazed at the muscularity of Stratford's acting company, who perform major classics in
repertory for eight months in large-scale houses. In particular, Seana McKenna is a remarkable
talent, capable of keeping audiences on The Edge of their seats through Racine's erotic and
complicated tragedy. It is such a joy to see this amazing play in the hands of such remarkable
actors, who are as fearless as they are skilled."

In addition to Ms McKenna in the title role, Ms Maxwell as Oenone, the nurse, and Mr. Goad as
Hippolytus, the production features Sean Arbuckle as Théramène, Dalal Badr as Ismène,
Claire Lautier as Aricie, and Tom McCamus as Theseus.

This year Ms McKenna celebrates 30 years as a professional actor, in more than 100 productions
across Canada and the U.S. She has won three Dora Awards, a Jessie and a Genie, has performed
in 18 seasons at Stratford and has played 20 of Shakespeare's leading ladies, including his wife
in Shakespeare's Will in 2007. Last season she played Andromache in The Trojan Women to
great acclaim, after which she reprised her much lauded Medea at the Manitoba Theatre Centre
and at the Mirvish's Canon Theatre in Toronto.

Ms Maxwell returns to the Festival for her 14th season, having begun her acting career here as an
apprentice to founding artistic director Sir Tyrone Guthrie. Her return this season marks her sixth
decade of involvement with the Festival. She has played leading roles in New York - including
her award-winning Mary Stuart, directed by Des McAnuff, at the New York Shakespeare
Festival's Public Theater, where she also triumphed in Ashes. She has performed across the U.S.
and has appeared in such films as Popeye, Dead Man Walking and Brokeback Mountain.

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is delighted to have Ms Perloff make her Stratford debut with
the direction of this production. A vigorous proponent of unusual classical literature and a
passionate advocate of new work and new theatrical forms, Ms Perloff has been artistic director
of the acclaimed American Conservatory Theater since 1993. She has directed dozens of award winning productions for A.C.T., including the American premières of works by Tom Stoppard,
Harold Pinter and Timberlake Wertenbaker, as well as world premières by Philip Kan Gotanda,
Constance Congden and Mac Wellman.

Phèdre opens officially on August 22 and runs until October 3. To purchase tickets, call the box
office at 1.800.567.1600 or order online by visiting stratfordshakespearefestival.com.

General Director Antoni Cimolino and Artistic Director Des McAnuff have announced that the
2009 season is dedicated to Richard Monette, the Festival's longest-serving artistic director.

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival's 2009 season runs until November 1, featuring Macbeth;
West Side Story; Cyrano de Bergerac; A Midsummer Night's Dream; The Importance of Being
Earnest; Julius Caesar; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Three Sisters;
Bartholomew Fair; Ever Yours, Oscar; Phèdre; The Trespassers; Rice Boy; and Zastrozzi.

Call the box office for ticket sale at (800) 567-1600 or order online by visiting stratfordshakespearefestival.com.

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