When Dame Maggie Smith was honored by the Stratford Festival for the four seasons she spent performing at the great repertory theater company, she told the crowd, “Nothing has ever come up to the years I spent at Stratford and that’s the God’s honest truth.”
Jennifer Rider-Shaw as Velma Kelly with members of the company of Chicago. Stratford Festival 2022
From 1970 to 1980 this acting force lived and worked in Stratford, Ontario. Over four seasons she played Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, Rosalind in As You Like It, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Queen Elizabeth in Richard III, Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth.
Smith is one of many actors, especially women, to be nurtured by both the Stratford Festival and this fetching city of the same name. Since its first production of Richard III in 1953 starring acting titans Irene Worth and Alec Guinness, the Stratford Festival is considered one of world’s greatest arts festivals and is the largest classical repertory theater company in North America. Each season brings a dozen or more productions to their state-of-the-art theaters from classics to contemporary dramas and musicals.
Maggie Smith as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, 1976
“The productions are world-class, but one of the most important and meaningful parts for me was the focus on the growth of the artists,” shares Nikki M. James who played Cleopatra opposite Christopher Plummer in Caesar and Cleopatra and was also Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. “There are so many opportunities for young and seasoned actors to hone their skills with classes, coaching and mentoring opportunities. Stratford is unique in the way it supports the whole performer. I learned much during my time there, both on and off the stages.”
When James first performed at Stratford, she was a theater actress in her early twenties who had mostly done musicals. James had just starred as Dorothy in the Wiz, directed by Des McAnuff at the La Jolla Playhouse. At the time, McAnuff was also Stratford’s artistic director. “I had two Broadway shows under my belt and a number of prestigious regional and off-Broadway credits,” shares James who initially turned down the audition for Romeo and Juliet.
Nikki M. James as Cleopatra and Christopher Plummer as Caesar in Caesar and Cleopatra, 2008
“I thought I wasn't a strong enough classical actor to tackle the part. But I got a call from Des encouraging me to dig into the material and give it a shot. I'm so glad I did,” says James. “I had always loved classical text, but the opportunities to professionally perform those types of work had never come my way. Spending almost a full year in Canada working with some of the best theatrical artists in the world was intimidating. It was also one of the most fulfilling times of my artistic life.” Two and a half years after that transforming time at Stratford James starred in The Book of Mormon on Broadway and won a Tony Award.
During her twelve seasons there Jennifer Rider-Shaw continues to be smitten with the festival and city. She first came to Stratford in 2006 when she was in her first year of theater school. “I was utterly blown away seeing a production of Oliver directed by Donna Feore, starring Colm Feore and Blythe Wilson,” recalls Rider-Shaw. “Watching that show made me fall in love with the space itself in the Festival Theatre. It appealed to me because it was so grand but also so intimate. The actors felt so close to the audience, I could see beads of sweat on their faces. Yet the theater seats nearly 2000 people.”
The next year Rider-Shaw saw The Music Man on the Avon stage which left her inspired. “Here were a bunch of young people with similar training to mine, dancing such beautiful choreography by Michael Lichtefeld,” she recalls. “It was the first time I thought that working at a place like Stratford might one day be a possibility for me.” Two years later she landed her first season with the company.
This season Feore directed and choreographed Rider-Shaw as Velma in a riveting production of Chicago on Stratford’s Festival Theatre stage. This Chicago is the first major production in the world to have gotten permission to do original choreography. “By its very nature the Festival stage reinvents any musical that’s put on it,” says Rider-Shaw. “And that was always exciting to me.”
In addition to their unique thrust stages which extend out to the audience on three sides which allows for an intimate experience because no seat is far from the stage, the festival offers actors opportunities and nurturing they don’t get elsewhere. This season Amaka Umeh is the first woman and Black person to play Hamlet at Stratford. Born in Nigeria, Umeh first visited Stratford to audition for the festival’s prestigious Birmingham Conservatory, their paid two-year intensive program where artists train and are nurtured alongside the Festival’s professional repertory company.
Amaka Umeh playing Hamlet in Hamlet at the Stratford Festival, 2022
“Once I finished that nerve-wracking and empowering ordeal [of the audition], pleased with how I presented the pieces I had prepared, I walked alongside the Avon River admiring the swans I saw for the first time in my life. I felt at ease with the bucolic pace of the city, despite having spent most of my life in bustling metropolises,” shares Umeh. “I was buoyed by how much green space there was, in such close proximity to the heart of the city.”
Umeh was genuinely moved by the profound support of the other artists. “What made me fall in love with Stratford were the other young artists who encouraged and supported my presence, most especially, and unsurprisingly, Black women,” says Umeh who was particularly floored by Déjah Dixon-Green and Vanessa Sears. “They opened their residences to me and let me feel safe and relaxed when I had stressful, last-minute callbacks. I have no words for how valuable that kind of care was to me, and I have no doubt it contributed to the success of my work.”
Not only does Stratford offer great productions, the city itself, set on the bucolic banks on the Avon River, is also a standout. The town is littered with one-of-a-kind locally owned boutiques with hand-made crafts like pottery, quilts and candles. And there’s no shortage of top-notch culinary shops and a plethora of restaurants, like Lovage and Braai House, with outdoor patios and breweries.
When Jennifer Birmingham set out to create an exceptional hotel that would be a diamond in a true gem of a city, she was told it would happen when pigs fly. While she compares the herculean effort to her hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro, throughout the nooks and corners of The Bruce Hotel are various sculptures of flying pigs.
Within very close walking distance from Stratford’s Festival Theatre, the Bruce Hotel’s spacious rooms have grand interiors, like chandeliers, and are warm and comforting with French doors leading to outdoor patios. The restaurant uses locally sourced ingredients from farmers and artisans throughout the area with the most decadent cheeses and breads. There’s an afternoon tea and a 24-hour homemade cookie hotline. Day or night the genuine and dedicated staff will bring however many cookies you wish to your room. And with a nod to the festival, costumes used in prior shows adorn the public spaces.
Destination Stratford’s Chocolate Trail is a chocolate lover’s dream. The self-guided tour provides an introduction to the city’s bakers and confectioners. Booklets for purchase contain six vouchers which can be traded for a chocolate treat found on the trail, like the chocolate mocha drink for which Stratford is known. Or head to Bradshaws Stonewall Kitchen to pick up a jar of dark chocolate sea salt caramel sauce. In addition to the chocolate trail there’s also a self-guided Bacon and Ale Trail that offers insight into the region’s the pork and brewing history.
When asked what makes Stratford so special, the talk usually comes back to the people. “Words cannot express what it meant to play the young Egyptian queen opposite the legendary Chris Plummer. He is one of the great giants of the theatrical world,” says James about her costar. “Chris was a master. He also became a dear friend. I treasure each moment, from the first time we sat at a table together to the very last hug I gave him as we parted ways.”
One memory close to her heart was the curtain call on the evening of their first public performance. In the theater, the tradition is that the show’s “star” takes the final bow. “It is a sign of respect. And in our production, Chris was set to take the final bow,” says James.
But to her profound surprise, after Plummer took his bow, he grabbed her hand and walked with her around the lip of the stage. “It was an incredibly generous thing to do, to share his immense spotlight with a young actress,” she recalls. “He did it for every performance we had together, and we walked offstage hand-in-hand. I will never forget it.”
Stratford lies on the banks of the Avon River
Downtown Stratford and City Hall
