Actors carry on following bomb threat

Stratford performance of The Tempest was halted for an evening

STRATFORD— An “inconceivable” opening-night cancellation of

The Tempest due to a bomb threat at the Stratford Festival ended up creating its own kind of magic in the tight-knit community.

Students gathered in a grassy area, reading lines from The

Tempest off their phones. Actors came together at a hotel to provide support to each other over drinks, with The Tempest star Martha Henry holding the large magic stick of her sorcerer character, Prospero. Theatre company members worked around the clock with authorities and Stratford officials to ensure the situation was under control.

By all accounts, Monday’s threat that scrubbed the 2018 season opener and sparked a criminal investigation was certainly a shocking blow. But in the end it didn’t seem to faze the picturesque community and resilient theatre company, which resumed performances and increased security Tuesday after being assured by authorities that nothing suspicious had been found.

“It’s full steam ahead,” festival artistic director Antoni Cimolino, who is helming The Tempest, said Tuesday in a phone interview.

“Our audiences last night were really understanding and people are calling in for tickets right now ... last night seems like a sad aberration that we hope isn’t repeated.”

Karen Fricker, theatre critic for the Star and assistant professor at Brock University, attended Tuesday night’s performance of The Music Man, and said that security was lighter than expected.

According to Fricker, there were no long queues and a positive atmosphere was evident at the Festival. She noted that bag checks were conducted, and if a theatregoer did not carry a bag, they were able to just walk in.

News crews, however, were not allowed on festival grounds, Fricker said.

Exceptions were made for theatre critics and reviewers.

Stratford police said they received a call Monday evening before the opening of The Tempest that explosives had been placed at the festival.

The threat forced the evacuations of both the Avon and Festival theatres.

Police officers and a canine unit checked both theatres three times but didn’t find anything.

Lucy Peacock, who plays the goddess Juno in The Tempest, said cast members were feeling a mix of shock, rage and confusion.

“It’s the old cliché — the show is going on, the show must go on, it will go on,” Peacock said.