The Stratford Festival is an internationally acclaimed drama festival. It offers a program of classical and modern plays and musical productions. The festival has grown appreciably since the inaugural season of 1953 that lasted only 6 weeks and offered 42 performances. The season now often runs 31 weeks with more than 700 performances.Stratford Shakespearean Festival : First Season 1953
Canadian Encyclopedia
[The National Film Board of Canada released "The Stratford Adventure" in 1954, a documentary film about the founding of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. It was named Film of the Year at the Canadian Film Awards and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Click HERE to see this wonderful film.]
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival was the brainchild of journalist Tom Patterson who proposed the Festival to the Stratford , Ontario, City Council.
Tom Patterson spearheaded the creation of the Stratford Festival of Canada
Mr. Patterson was a journalist with no theatrical credentials when he became smitten with the idea of casting the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon as the savior of Stratford, Ontario. A small town on the wane, it boasted its own River Avon, but was vanishing along with its earlier livelihood, servicing locomotives.
What Mr. Patterson lacked in knowledge about staging plays, he more than made up with sheer persistence. He persuaded the mayor and town council of Stratford to invest $30,000 in his notion. And he got the attention of luminaries like Tyrone Guthrie, the actor and director, and Alec Guinness, the actor, who were intrigued enough to lend their support in its early days
British theatrical director Tyrone Guthrie was invited to launch the first season. Guthrie enlisted the services of actors Alec Guinness and Irene Worth - who starred in the opening productions of Richard III and All's Well That Ends Well - theatre designer Tanya Moiseiwitsch, who designed the festival's thrust stage, and production manager Cecil Clark.New York Times, February 25, 2005
Biographies from the 1953 playbill :
Tyrone Guthrie
Alec Guinness
Irene Worth
Festival Theatre
For the first four seasons, the Festival Theatre consisted of a concrete foundation over which was erected a large tent.
Festival Theatre, 1953 - 1956
The permanent Festival Theatre which opened in 1957 was featured on the post card released by Canada Post in 1972:
Stratford Festival : 1953 - 2014
The Stratford Festival history is beyond the scope of this posting. Readers can find much information at the Stratford Festival website. The following articles may be of interest:
Slogan Cancellations
Slogan cancellations promoting the Stratford Festival were in use at the Stratford post office in 1954, 1955, 1956, and 1958. (
Slogan Postmarks of Canada, Coutts, 2007)
Stratford, April 21, 1955
SHAKESPEAREAN
FESTIVAL
JUNE 27 - AUGUST 27
1955
Inkjet Slogans : 40th Season 1992
The Stoney Creek, Kitchener, and London Mail Processing Plants used an ink jet slogan cancellation commemorating the 40th Season of the Stratford Festival.
L8E 2R0 (Stoney Creek), July 20, 1992
Saisons 40 Seasons
STRATFORD FESTIVAL
Stratford Festival Meter
1962
January 31, 1962
1970
February 24, 1970
The Millennium Stamp
1. Millennium Collection Album
The Stratford Festival stamp was one of 68 Millennium stamps first issued in a hardbound book, Canada Post The Millennium Collection : Expressions of a People, on September 15, 1999. The stamps were printed two to a page.
1. Millennium Collection Album
The Stratford Festival stamp was one of 68 Millennium stamps first issued in a hardbound book, Canada Post The Millennium Collection : Expressions of a People, on September 15, 1999. The stamps were printed two to a page.
The Neptune Theatre and Stratford Theatre stamps were printed on the same page.
2. Millennium Collection Souvenir Sheet
Canada Post Corporation re-issued the Millennium stamps in panes of 4 stamps issued over a three month period from December 17, 1999 to March 17, 2000. The souvenir sheet with the Shakespeare Festival stamp was released on February 17, 2000.
1. Wikipedia : Canada Post Millennium Stamps
(This site describes the stamps and provides links to article dealing with each subject.)
2. Postal History Corner articles:
4. Tom Longboat
5. Inuit Shaman
6. Healing From Within
7. Hudson's Bay Company
8. Bell Canada Enterprises
9. Neptune Theatre
10. Stratford Festival
Canada Post Corporation re-issued the Millennium stamps in panes of 4 stamps issued over a three month period from December 17, 1999 to March 17, 2000. The souvenir sheet with the Shakespeare Festival stamp was released on February 17, 2000.
The Stratford Festival millennium stamp shows actor William Hutt as Prospero from the Tempest, a role which Hutt played four times in his 39 seasons at Stratford.
William Hutt
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Millennium Stamp Collection
1. Wikipedia : Canada Post Millennium Stamps
(This site describes the stamps and provides links to article dealing with each subject.)
2. Postal History Corner articles:
5. Inuit Shaman
6. Healing From Within
7. Hudson's Bay Company
8. Bell Canada Enterprises
9. Neptune Theatre
10. Stratford Festival