Stratford Festival unveils 2025 season, including the return of Robert Lepage
iPhoto caption: Lucy Peacock as Lady Macbeth and Tom McCamus as Macbeth in Macbeth. Photo by Ted Belton.
The Stratford Festival has unveiled its highly anticipated 2025 season.
As usual, the festival will feature a carefully curated blend of classic plays, blockbuster musicals, and new works by Canadian artists. The season will additionally see the return of acclaimed director Robert Lepage, who is set to helm Macbeth at the Avon Theatre.
As well, the season features two exciting commissions: a new adaptation of Anne of Green Gables by Kat Sandler, and Ransacking Troy, an adaptation of The Odyssey and The Iliad, by Erin Shields.
In a press release, artistic director Antoni Cimolino attributed his programming choices to the drama and magic of the gods.
“As I was putting together the 2025 season, I began with a few wonderful plays, and one in particular that I have always wanted to direct, Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale,” said Cimolino. “Central to the resolution of this story is the god Apollo, who helps bring harmony to a family ripped apart by passionate conflict.
“Apollo is the God of healing, of music and the arts, of truth and the protection of the young,” he continued. “What a wonderful figure to have at the centre of the season, I thought: a god of harmony, a state we yearn for in this world.”
Tickets for the 2025 season will go on sale to Stratford Festival members on November 10 and to members of the general public on December 16.
Here’s what to expect from the Stratford Festival in 2025:
Festival Theatre
As You Like It
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Chris Abraham
Following on the success of past shows such as Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew, Abraham will add his spin to Shakespeare’s most famous pastoral.
Annie
Book, music, and lyrics by Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse, and Martin Charnin
Directed and choreographed by Donna Feore
Music directed by Laura Burton
Feore returns to the Festival Theatre with a classic family musical filled with memorable tunes like “Tomorrow,” “It’s the Hard Knock Life,” and “Maybe.”
Sense and Sensibility
Written by Kate Hamill
Directed by Daryl Cloran
Helmed by Citadel Theatre artistic director Cloran, Hamill’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic promises to be a hit with die-hard literature fans as well as newcomers to Austen’s work.
Dangerous Liaisons
Written by Christopher Hampton
From the novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos
Directed by Esther Jun
Written in 1985 and adapted for film in 1988, Dangerous Liaisons was last produced at the Stratford Festival in 2010.
Avon Theatre
Macbeth
Written by William Shakespeare
Created in collaboration with Ex Machina
Directed by Robert Lepage
Lepage returns to the Stratford Festival with a fresh take on Shakespeare’s spookiest tragedy. According to a press release from the festival, the production will be set in the milieu of Quebec’s biker gangs.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Book, music, and lyrics by Jeffrey Lane and David Yazbek
Directed by Bobby Garcia
Choreographed by Stephanie Graham
Music directed by Franklin Brasz
On the heels of this year’s glitzy La Cage aux Folles, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels follows a conman who woos his way to riches on the French Riviera.
Anne of Green Gables
A new adaptation by Kat Sandler
Based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Directed by Kat Sandler
Commissioned by the Stratford Festival
Anne of Green Gables will see Sandler’s trademark wit and charm come to life on the stage of the Avon Theatre, with a new take on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s timeless heroine and the surrounding village of Avonlea.
Tom Patterson Theatre
The Winter’s Tale
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Antoni Cimolino
Cimolino will direct one of his favourite Shakespeare plays — whether or not he’s pursued by a bear remains to be seen.
Forgiveness
Written by Hiro Kanagawa
Adapted from “Forgiveness: A Gift From My Grandparents” by Mark Sakamoto
Directed by Stafford Arima
Adapted from Sakamoto’s bestselling memoir, Forgiveness tells the story of Sakamoto’s grandparents during the Second World War. Theatre Calgary artistic director Arima will helm the production.
Ransacking Troy
Written by Erin Shields
Directed by Jackie Maxwell
Choreographed by Esie Mensah
Commissioned by the Stratford Festival
Following on the successes of plays like Paradise Lost and Queen Goneril, Shields returns to the Stratford Festival with a re-telling of The Iliad and The Odyssey. Maxwell, who directs, was also at the helm of Paradise Lost in 2018, as well as The Changeling in 2017.
Studio Theatre
The Art of War
Written by Yvette Nolan
Directed by Keith Barker
The Art of War, set during World War Two, examines the role of artists in war and peace. Barker is director of the Stratford Festival’s Foerster Bernstein New Play Development program, and will be recognizable to Stratford Festival audiences from his performance as Louis Riel in Women of the Fur Trade in 2023.
You can learn more about the Stratford Festival here.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling is Intermission's former senior editor and the theatre reporter for the Globe and Mail. She likes British playwright Sarah Kane, most songs by Taylor Swift, and her cats, Fig and June. She was a 2024 fellow at the National Critics Institute in Waterford, CT.
LEARN MOREComments
Leave a Comment
iPhoto caption: Photo by Aisling Murphy.
In the darkest months of Yukon winter, it’s all about the Sun Room
I’m here for a week in January as a guest of Nakai Theatre, a hub for theatrical experimentation and outside-the-box programming in Canada’s westernmost territory.
Armchairs, tattoos, and an online theatre magazine
When I started at Intermission, my world was limited to the confines of an armchair. Arts journalism was a high it felt dangerously fruitless to chase. The life stretched ahead of me was amorphous and frightening, a chasm filled with hand sanitizer and immigration concerns. It was worth crying over a spilled kombucha and scrubbing at the stain.
iPhoto caption: Liz Appel headshot courtesy of Liz Appel.
Five questions with Wights playwright Liz Appel
Intermission spoke with Appel over email for a brief Q&A about Wights, now playing at Crow’s Theatre until February 9.
Call for applications: Publishing and editorial assistant
Intermission Magazine is seeking a dynamic and collaborative individual to join our team.
iPhoto caption: What Writing Can Do: The 2025 Musical Theatre Critics Lab
Announcing What Writing Can Do: The 2025 Musical Theatre Critics Lab
What Writing Can Do is timed to coincide with the Grand and Theatre Aquarius’ co-production of Waitress, which will serve as a jumping-off point for discussions throughout the Lab.
iPhoto caption: A Christmas Story production still by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: A Christmas Story feels fresh at Theatre Aquarius
If you want to catch A Christmas Story before it closes, good luck — the show is close to sold out, and with the talent on that stage, it’s not hard to see why.
I’ve been pretty much addicted to Stratford since y retirement, seeing most everything every year (absent COVID, of course). I must say, though, that the lineup for next year is very disappointing. I’ll probably find a couple days to see some things, but not with much enthusuasm. It will give me a good chance to check out some other things. Annie? Come on! I’ll see it, but only because of the magic of Donna Feore. Other than that, I reached puberty many decades ago. Macbeth as a Quebec motorcycle gang? You’re kidding, right? And nothing much else seems to deserve comment, except that The Art of War sounds interesting.
Amen…and amen.
When can I book group tickets (approx. 53 people) for Annie in 2025 in order to get best date and tickets and thank you. Tom Wilson