Claire Jullien News

Ever the consummate commentator of society and gender, Oscar Wilde has never been afraid of controversy or potentially offending member of both sexes. Never has this been more evident than in his 1893 A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, which is receiving a glamorous new production at the Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake. 

Curated from deep in the heart of the Shaw Festival's mandate period, Engaged is a hilarious romp through the Scottish countryside where love triangles abound. Written by W.S. Gilbert before his renowned partnership with Arthur Sullivan, Engaged comically comments on the facade of Victorian life, with particular satirical attention on the obsession with wealth. This romantic comedy begins its first engagement at the Royal George Theatre tomorrow, June 15.

A Woman of No Importance, Oscar Wilde's stylish comedy that exposes the cynicism and hypocrisy that underlies high "society", begins previews Sunday, May 29 at the Festival Theatre. This dangerous drama, directed by Eda Holmes, is the fourth major Wilde play to be presented under Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell's tenure - completing Wilde's brilliant, scalpel-like study of the world around him.

The Shaw Festival is known for dusting off old chestnuts and breathing new life into them. Unfortunately, its new production of Moss Hart's LIGHT UP THE SKY is  a chestnut better left in the attic to continue gathering dust.  Compared to his successful plays, like THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER  (with 739 Broadway performances) and YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (838 performances), LIGHT UP THE SKY is a second string comedy that seems stale and dated. It's initial run on Broadway was only a modest success, running 200 performances, and revivals have not fared much better.

The Shaw Festival today announced principal casting and creative team details for its 54th season.

The curtain rises tomorrow on the Shaw Festival's 52nd season when W. Somerset Maugham's glittering satire Our Betters begins previews at the Royal George Theatre. Morris Panych brings his usual directorial panache to this brilliant "take no prisoners" portrait of marriage - where English estates and titled aristocracy are bought with the traditional "I do" and a large American dowry. Longtime collaborators Ken MacDonald and Charlotte Dean design the sets and costumes, respectively.

For the last decade, the Shaw Festival has been introducing contemporary theatre's most illustrious playwrights into the playbill alongside their classical forebears. Like Bernard Shaw himself, these writers delight in questioning assumptions, subverting expectations and creating compelling theatre that unites head and heart. The 2013 season goes even further with the inclusion of plays by Brian Friel, Tom Stoppard, John Murrell and Adam Guettel.

Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, in a dazzling translation by writer/director Richard Eyre, begins previews tonight at the Shaw Festival's Court House Theatre.

Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell previously announced the casting and creative teams for the three plays featured next season on The Shaw's Festival Theatre stage. In making the announcement, Ms. Maxwell noted: 'I am so inspired by the range of talent we've assembled to make up our 2012 Ensemble. This extraordinary group of artists will bring to life the vivid contemporary ideas of each and every playwright whose work we are proudly presenting.'

Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell proudly announced the casting and creative teams for the three plays featured next season on The Shaw's Festival Theatre stage. In making the announcement, Ms. Maxwell noted: 'I am so inspired by the range of talent we've assembled to make up our 2012 Ensemble. This extraordinary group of artists will bring to life the vivid contemporary ideas of each and every playwright whose work we are proudly presenting.'

Ways of the Heart, the final trio in the Shaw Festival's historic presentation of Noel Coward's Tonight at 8:30 collection, opened at the Court House Theatre on Saturday, August 1, 2009.

For its 2009 season, The Shaw takes on a monumental and historic project with full productions of each play in Noel Coward?s famous Tonight at 8:30 collection. The Shaw?s 2009 productions represent the first time all ten short plays have been performed in repertory by a professional company since they were first produced by London?s Phoenix Theatre in 1935-36. The plays will be performed in sets of three, one on each of the Festival?s Niagara-on-the-Lake stages, with the tenth, the rarely produced Star Chamber, being the lunchtime production in the Royal George. And to celebrate this idea for the event that it is, on two separate occasions, we will present all ten in one day ? an event we are appropriately naming ?Mad Dogs and Englishmen?.

Seana McKenna and Scott Wentworth star in Euripides' immortal drama of obsession and revenge.

Seana McKenna and Scott Wentworth star in Euripides' immortal drama of obsession and revenge.

The Manitoba Theatre Centre, in co-production with David Mirvish (Toronto), is pleased to present Medea at the John Hirsch Theatre at the MTC Mainstage from November 20 to December 13.

The Manitoba Theatre Centre, in co-production with David Mirvish (Toronto), is pleased to present Medea at the John Hirsch Theatre at the MTC Mainstage from November 20 to December 13.