The Little World
In other unhappy news, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival is finally making headlines all over (even in New York). Unfortunately, it’s for turmoil in the Artistic Directorship.
Let me just say that I was skeptical of the whole idea of a triumvirate from the beginning; organizations need a single voice at the top, and absent a single Artistic Director the General Director, Antoni Cimolino, would have wound up playing that role, which would have inevitably stuck in the craw of any member of the triumvirate who found him- or herself overruled. I really don’t know anything about Don Shipley, but I’m very saddened that the Festival is losing Marti Maraden. She’s a lovely lady and a fine director. And, not to put too fine a point on it, but Stratford could use a woman in the house for a change. So hopefully at a minimum she’ll continue to be a frequent presence at the Festival as a director.
Since you mentioned Canadian television a little while ago, Noah, I’m guessing you’re aware of “Slings & Arrows”? I assume it’s roughly based on Stratford, although I’d be willing to bet no professional artistic director ever changes up the blocking of a play on opening night to get a pompous actor to give a vulnerable Macbeth performance.
What’s eerie is that the photo of those two guys in your article… is it just me or do they have a vague resemblance to the main character of Slings and his dead mentor?
— Chris Floyd · Mar 17, 02:35 AM · #
Oh, yes; I’ve practically memorized the three seasons of “Slings” – it’s some of my favorite television. And yes, it’s based on Stratford. Understandably, folks in Stratford are ambivalent about the series: on the one hand, satire is a species of flattery; on the other hand, the portrait painted of certain people at Stratford is not exactly flattering in the details.
I admit, I don’t see the resemblance between Antoni Cimolino and Paul Gross (the actor who played Geoffrey Tennant), nor between Des McAnuff and Stephen Ouimette (the actor who played Oliver Wells). But then, I also don’t see much resemblance in terms of character between Richard Smith-Jones and Antoni Cimolino, and that didn’t stop me from enjoying the show immensely.
— Noah Millman · Mar 17, 02:45 PM · #