Later
Coriolanus
This four-starred review criticizes the copious amount of costumes and accessories but commends the characterization of the actors. Jeffrey Renn, who played Tullus Aufidius, for example, is “filled with punk energy.” Tom McCamus as Coriolanus is “evil, cold, almost psychotic.” Kate Taylor notes that this play is seldom performed due to the abundance of roaring crowd scenes and political scheming but the director, Richard Rose, “gambles and wins.” Rose not only chooses an uncommon play to direct, but places it in a contemporary setting. Some contemporary elements are overdone, such as Tullus’ black nail polish, but the overall contemporary characters and setting are “genius.”
Timon of Athens and King Lear
First picture: Believing in the play and performance is Stephen Oumette’s key to success. This review expounds on his mission to Stratford Archives to discover how the play “Timon of Athens” was presented in 1991. He discovered the lack of passion and sets out to change that for his personal production. The article ends with the proposal of “King John” directed by Antoni Cimolino. He did not update the play but instead, his main goal was to put aside differences: “There was Catholic and Protestant zealotry, people were writing down whether you went to church or not, and there was hatred among the Welsh, the Scots and the English.” His play sets out to demolish these differences.
Henry VIII
Second Picture: Ray Conlogue gave a very positive review of Stratford's 1986 production of Henry VIII. He is especially taken by director Brian Rintoul’s choice in staging, as well as the “spectacular” costumes which only added to powerful performances from the veteran cast. He was less impressed by the set design, but overall deemed that the “actable and potentially popular play” was successful.
Henry V
Third Picture: Although this play was good the critic did not appreciate the director’s decision to have Henry V played out like a documentary. The critic calls it “gimmicky” and “pretentious”. They display pre-recorded scenes on a backdrop and have a character onstage with a video camera.
Romeo and Juliet
Liam Lacey had mixed feelings toward the 1992 production of Romeo and Juliet. While he praised Colm Feore’s “ribald and witty” Mercutio and enjoyed Megan Porter Follows performance as Juliet, he was distinctly unimpressed with Antoni Cimolino’s Romeo, and described Lorne Kennedy’s Tybalt as “a walking snarl”. He did admire the play’s 1920s staging and set design, which was “smoothly inventive throughout”.
Merchant of Venice and King Lear
Director Marte-Maraden took the anti-semitic play “Merchant of Venice” and turned it into a drama. John Bemrose’s review claims that the frank expression of anti-Semitism, along with the actors' performances were extraordinary. Even though the play was controversial, Bemrose states that Maraden “has created a vision of grave, bitter beauty.” Maraden decided to characterize the actors in her own way compared to past representations. For example, the role of Shylock has always been a raging evil character, but Maraden makes him subtler, creating him as “deeply disturbing.” The attached review inspects Richard Monettes “King Lear.” While the music emits a more romantic sensation instead of tragedy, John Benbrose believes that actors were great and offered many scenes of “gripping excellence.”
A Midsummer Night's Dream
First Picture: This critic compared going to see this play to going to the circus. In this production the critic notes that the overuse of comedy overshadows the language. In this production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream they tried too hard to connect with a young audience. Which the critic says hindered the true effect of the play. The critic was not impressed with this particular aspect of the play nor with the acrobatic, circus-like aspect of the set and choreography.
Much Ado About Nothing
Second Picture: The critic enjoyed this production of Much Ado About Nothing but was not expecting a middle-aged troupe. Although it did seem to work quite well with the portrayal of the characters. The critic states that this represents Stratford’s lack of younger actors and this could eventually cause problems.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Third picture: William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost is a play rich with wit and which also celebrates language. In this production the critic chose this aspect as their focus. They say that the language used in this play, and in many other of Shakespeare’s works, can be difficult to understand. Although this production managed to communicate the language with clarity while maintaining the wit.
The Merchant of Venice
Fourth picture: The Merchant of Venice is generally difficult to stage because of its anti-Semitism. According to this critic this production was no different. The critic comments on the difficulties that a modern audience has with this play due to the rift between the Jews and the Christians. This production made this quite clear with its costume design. The critic notes that they took a historical approach with these costumes in order to make the distinction clear between the Jews and the Christians. The one thing the critic thought was particularly careless of the director was the decision to swap anti-semitic jokes for anti-islamic jokes.
Twelfth Night
In 1994, The Ottawa Citizen’s theatre critic Grace Kennedy reviewed a production of Twelfth Night that was performed not by the Stratford Festival actors, but by Stratford’s second graders. Their teacher Lois Burdett decided to introduce the youngsters to Shakespeare and implement the play into their other subjects over the course of the year. Kennedy praises Burdett’s program, which also involves support from many of Canada’s theatre superstars including the current cast of Stratford’s professional production, as well as her then upcoming book series of Shakespeare plays rewritten for children.