sara topham
iPhoto caption: From left: Vivien Endicott-Douglas as Han, Rylan Wilkie as George Abbot (top left), Sara Topham as Cath (top right), Angel Lo as Anna and Liz Der as Roni in 'The King James Bible Play.' Stratford Festival 2026. Photo by David Hou.
REVIEW: The King James Bible Play both finds and fumbles profundity in translation
Corbeil-Coleman’s best-known plays, such as Guarded Girls and Scratch, centre contemporary young women circling grief, inheritance, and intergenerational trauma. It might seem like a surprise, then, that The King James Bible Play opens with five men centuries ago — but it turns out that the intergenerational trauma in this case stretches back about 417 years.
iPhoto caption: The company of 'The Comedy of Errors.' Photo by JVL Photography.
“It’s got to be my favourite [Shakespeare play] at this point,” says Abbey. “I don't understand why it's so rarely done. It’s listed as a ‘problem play,’ and I see that, but I have had such beautiful experiences with it throughout my life… I think it has the ability to unite audience and cast in a deeply human event.”
iPhoto caption: Sara Topham in Hedda Gabler at the Stratford Festival. Photo by David Hou.
Gatekeep, gaslight, girlboss: The delight of female rage in theatre
Personally, I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs — especially when it comes to my girl Hedda. And it seems that at least two Ontario directors share my viewpoint, with Hedda Gabler opening twice in the same month at Stratford and at Coal Mine Theatre in Toronto. What makes her story so appealing?
iPhoto caption: Production shots by David Hou.
Throughout Stratford’s productions of Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, and Hedda Gabler, moments of actorly playfulness jolt us into the here and now.