Shaw Festival unveils casting for 2019 season
Strong ensemble cast supports bold casting choices
Old favourites, impressive newcomers and at least one Stratford Festival legend will be on the Shaw Festival’s four stages next season.
While the 2019 season will be missing the star power of Stephen Fry, artistic director Tim Carroll says he could “afford to be bold” with his casting because of the company’s ensemble.
“I have worked all over the world, but I have never been blessed with such a strong group of actors.”
Joining them will be Martha Burns, who has starred in productions of “King Lear,” “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” at Stratford. On TV, she has been in “Due South” with husband Paul Gross. She’ll appear in two productions at Shaw next year, as 17th-century widow Mrs. Bradshaw in Howard Barker’s “Victory” and as “anarchist Mendoza and The Devil” in George Bernard Shaw’s “Man and Superman with Don Juan in Hell,” which will only have 17 performances.
Other casting highlights announced last Thursday will see Tom Rooney and Deborah Hay anchor a new adaptation of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” Andre Sills returning to Shaw to star as Tom in Tennessee Williams “The Glass Menagerie,” and Damien Atkins and Chick Reid in an adaptation of the movie “The Ladykillers.”
C.S. Lewis’s “The Horse and His Boy” — the Shaw’s return to Narnia after “The Magician’s Nephew” this past season — will feature Jay Turvey, Kristi Frank and Matt Nethersole, while the big musical “Brigadoon” gathers George Krissa, Michael Terriault and Mike Nadajewski.
In addition to Burns, “Man and Superman with Don Juan in Hell” will also star Gray Powell and Sara Topham, along with Tom McCamus as “self-made man” Malone.
For Patrick Hamilton’s “Rope,” Kelly Wong and Travis Seetoo star as college students who commit murder and host a party with the hidden body as a centrepiece.
Returning Shaw favourites include Marla McLean and Tara Rosling in Shaw’s “Getting Married,” and Diana Donnelly and Julia Course in Mae West’s
“Sex.” Gabriella Sundar Singh and Peter Fernandes will appear in the lunchtime show “The Russian Play.”
Tickets for the 2019 season go on sale to the general public Dec. 8 at www.shawfest.com or by phone at 1-800-657-1106 ext. 2556.