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Home , Don Harron, Douglas Campbell (actor), Stratford Festival, Thrust stage, Tyrone Guthrie

*44/ 10 Guthrie, the and Canadian Teatre Liza Gifen

soon afer. His frst and most important task was to crea- te a company: he located actors in , and Otawa with the help of Rupert Caplan, then a young thea- he Stratford Festival is today the tre professional just back from New York (and later one of pre-eminent repertory com- CBC%s major radio-drama producers), but found that most pany in North America. Te quality of the professional actors he met were unsuitable for Tof its work, from the classics to musicals and radio work. Tis proved to be a signifcant discovery for new plays, is acknowledged around the world Guthrie. It may at frst seem unrelated to his later work at – and was from the start. Te Stratford Festi- Stratford, but it is in fact key to what would soon become val, from unlikely beginnings, became a touch a distinctive part of the Canadian festival. As he explained, paper for and a founding part of a new type of U.S. and British-trained stage actors of the time declaimed theatre, as well as a keystone of the Canadian – across the divide between actor and audience imposed by theatre ecology more generally. the proscenium stage; it was extremely difcult to ‘untrain% When visited Stratford in them and then guide them towards a new subtle, nuanced July 1952 at the behest of journalist Tom style of acting necessary for the radio or – as he also later Paterson, he was one of the most signifcant wished – on stage. It was simpler to take on talented ama- directors working in the international theatre. teurs, without preconceptions, and this Guthrie did, in efect His previous work ranged from early begin- running a radio-acting school in Montreal that created a very nings at the Oxford Playhouse, to experience diferent style of performer from those across the Atlantic. as broadcaster and producer at the BBC, to Guthrie is clear in his notes on his radio work of the time being a core director for the Scotish Natio- that the impressions of a radio play «are more intimate than nal Players, directing opera in New York and those of the stage», because both the writing and acting are plays at the Old Vic in , . But directed at an audience close to the radio receiver and not Guthrie, in fact, also knew well, and at the audience of a typical contemporary theatre, who are his theatre work had been deeply infuenced distanced from the action by the proscenium arch and or- by his time there. chestra pit (Fink, 1981). Consequently, rather than his Bri- Guthrie%s frst visit was to produce and direct tish theatre infuences guiding his Canadian experiences, it the Romance of Canada documentary drama seems clear that his Canadian radio experiences deeply in- series for the CN Radio Department in 1931. fuenced his British theatre work and, ultimately, his frustra- In the depth of the Great Depression, the tion with British and the style of acting that their company wanted to sell its Radio Department architecture imposed. (the only continent-wide Canadian radio Tis desire for a new intimacy between stage and house was network) to the federal government. As an en- only reinforced by his more well-known practical experien- couragement, the Director of the Radio De- ces with temporary thrust stages. A rain-disrupted al fesco partment, Austin Weir, came up with the idea performance of at Elsinore in 1937 was not a pro- of a weekly series of new Canadian historical blem for him, but actually a major step forward in the de- plays, to be called the Romance of Canada and velopment of this thinking. Te storm led to an impromptu to be writen by Merrill Denison. Guthrie was and radical re-staging of the play that had found great suc- invited to take part and took over production cess on the Old Vic proscenium stage. Tat night, *44/ 11 [the audience] sat, densely packed, round three sides of a small As a result of our boom [wrote Paterson], clear space on the ballroom foor, on which most of the action pas- bread and buter come fairly easily (althou- sed, with the steps and litle stage for occasional scenes. Te efect gh expensive) and we, as a nation, are casting aimed at was [to have] the audience in the most informal and the closest possible contact with the actors. (Guthrie 1937: 246) around to fnd what it is we are missing.

Guthrie realized then the fundamental principle of all his I think we have found it. When a ballet comes to Toronto, it is impossible to obtain seats afer about future thinking: «intimacy between the actors and the two days of ticket sales; the players is the frst essential» (ibidem). Tis nascent thrust played to its largest crowd in its history last month stage concept was elaborated in his production of Ane Sa- in Toronto (an average of 11,500 per night); Mrs tyre of the Trie Estaitis in the Church of Scotland%s General Mavor Moore%s production of Spring Taw played to Assembly Hall at the second Edinburgh Festival in 1948: nearly 100,000 people in a fve-week run just con- Guthrie, the Stratford Festival and Canadian cluded (Tom Pat erson to Tyrone Guthrie 1952). Te Moderator%s chair and the table before it, in the centre of the hall, were enclosed under a platform atainable from each of three When Guthrie made the journey to southwe- sides by steps. Behind and above on the fourth side, a gallery was at- stern , he was rapidly convinced of tained by two fights of stairs. Te space under the gallery could be the fact that the social, logistical and econo- closed or exposed at will by drawing curtains. (Guthrie 1959: 309). mic infrastructure was in place to make a fe- stival viable. He would write in 1954 Te desire to create a permanent thrust stage was not to be satisfed in the U.K., however: a post-war country in However carefully the Festival might have been or- the process of rebuilding its ruined cities and replaying its ganized, however brilliant the performances might wartime borrowings from its major ally, America, was not have been, it would have availed nothing if there had not been a public hungry and eager for the kind thinking frst and foremost of building new theatres in for- of fare that was ofered. (Guthrie 1954b: 53) ms untried for 400 years. Instead, it took him back to the country where his thinking on audience/actor connection In an essay on the start of the Festival that has was frst seeded: Canada. ofen been quoted, Guthrie wrote the noto- Guthrie was frst approached by Tom Paterson, of Stra- rious phrase, «Canada is a very dull place to tford, Ontario, in 1952 about founding a Canadian theatre live», which has sometimes been fung at the festival. Paterson was blunt about his own lack of knowle- director to denounce him as having a colonia- dge of and that of fellow Stratfordites. He wrote list agenda. In fact, this phrase was carefully in a leter to Guthrie, contextualized by Guthrie, who went on, to say that Canadian are equipped with money, as far as the actual production is concerned, I think I probably know as much about the theatre as anyone else [in Stratford] – leisure, and an awareness of ‘culture% for whi- which is nothing. (Tom Paterson to Tyrone Guthrie 1952) ch there is therefore a large demand, but still a very small supply and describes the coun- and it seems likely that it was this very innocence that at- try as “at the present moment, […] a ‘sellers% T market% for culture: the demand is greater

tracted the director. As Paterson continued, as a group with eatre no preconceptions of how to stage plays professionally, than the supply” (Guthrie 1954b: 53). Tis combination of factors provided Guthrie with we are therefore are more than willing to give you a completely the right blank canvas – Stratford – on which free hand […]. Tere is absolutely nothing to start with so that to start his work. And what he proposed was whoever does produce the festival will have no traditions to over- extraordinary. come. […] we do sincerely want to ofer you the chance at a “fresh Te frst tent seating plan of 1953 give a sen- advance”. (Ibidem) se of the most important and revolutionary Moreover, Paterson did have enough awareness of the aspect of the stage: the changed relationship current situation to be convinced that, at this stage, there between audience and actors. His Edinburgh was enough of a public audience for the arts in Ontario to Festival experience had taught him: make such a festival worthwhile. One of the most pleasing efects of the perfor- mance was the physical relation of the audience to

*44/ 12 the stage. Te audience did not look at the actors front area of the auditorium and entrances at the back and against a background of pictorial and illusory sce- sides of the stage created fuid, fast paterns of movement nery. Seated around three sides of the stage, they based on diagonals as actors entered, crossed and exited focused on the actors in the brightly lit acting area, but the background was of the dimly lit rows of pe- from multiple directions, as can be seen from the prompt ople similarly focused on the actors. All the time, books for Richard III and the inaugural season%s other pro- but unemphatically and by inference, each mem- duction, All#s Well Tat Ends Well. ber of the audience was being ceaselessly remin- ded that he was not lost in an illusion, was not at the court of King Humanitie in sixteenth century Scotland, but was in fact a member of a large au- dience, taking part, “assisting,” as the French very properly express it, in a performance, a participa- tion in a ritual. (Guthrie 1954a: 331)

Te impact of the confguration was confr- med on the Festival stage in 1953: the com- munion-like efect of actor/audience inte- raction was widely remarked on, reinforcing the fact

that Shakespearean plays gain enormously in im- Plan of auditorium of the Stratford Festival Teatre, 1953; pact by relating actors to audience as nearly as pos- copyright the Stratford Festival, sible […] [Equally signifcantly] the actors were so courtesy of the Stratford Festival Archives near their audience that they could speak really low and still be heard; so near their audience that small en shades of expression, subtle efects, could make f their point. An audience large enough to make adequate productions pay their way can only be as near as this to the actors if the amphitheatre plan be adopted. (Guthrie 1954a: 147) Liza Gi Liza Te lessons of 1931%s radio work had blosso- med into a new theatre architecture, then un- paralleled anywhere else in the world. Tis transformation of theatre space would profoundly change acting styles – creating a new and unique language of performance combining technique and naturalism that marks Stratford performances to this day. From reading contemporary reviews of the inaugural production, Richard III, we know that the revolutionary connection between actor and audience was immediately created as , as Richard, surveyed the au- ditorium, one leg dangling over the balcony, directly addressing the audience while stab- bing the ledge with a dagger. A lone actor on a bare stage, speaking sofly, held an audience of 2,200. Te intimacy also allowed Guinness to tease out the comic elements in the role while Prompt books from Richard III and All"s Well Tat Ends Well, evading caricature. 1953; courtesy of the Stratford Festival Archives Other elements of the new confguration also transformed the staging of plays: the in- Tis allowed for speed in performance – an efect enhanced troduction of “voms” or vomitoria from the further by the thrust stage necessitating the abandonment *44/ 13 of illusionistic backdrop décor. As every prop piece needed if any theatres in a position to employ specia- to be taken on and of stage in full view of the audience list crafspeople on a permanent basis, begin- during the performance, less was more in Festival stage ners in the feld had had no opportunity to ap- design – and an almost bare stage allowed scenes to run prentice with experts. As a result, Ray Difen more swifly into each other without the need for time for was brought in from the U.K. to head up the set changes. Te earliest prompt books – which look very Wardrobe department alongside Jacqueline simple compared to today%s versions, as a language of stage Cundall, head of props. With this skills infra- management was developing, and lighting and sound were structure in place, relatively uncomplicated – clearly show that greater fexibi- lity in movement and grouping was possible on this stage [….] Cundall is established in a workshop at Stra- than on a proscenium stage. For instance, actors could be tford, with a staf mostly recruited from the School Guthrie, the Stratford Festival and Canadian placed in a more natural conversational arrangement than of Art in Toronto and the Universities in Toronto and Montreal […]. (Guthrie 1954b: 15) the more or less side-by-side blocking forced on actors by the proscenium structure. On the thrust stage, surroun- Many of whom would continue to work for ded on three sides by the audience, actors are less likely to the Festival for years ahead and go on to tea- mask each other when facing each other and so can address ch the next generation of crafspeople across each other in a more “natural” manner. At the same time, Canada. circular movement was encouraged by the confguration: Guthrie considered seriously the question of then, as now, actors moved around the basically bare stage, non-Canadian participants in the Festival. In turning to change the angles at which they appeared to dif- 1954 he mused: ferent sections of the audience. Over the years, the 1953 stage would undergo various chan- [H]ow much should the Festival Company rely on ges and adjustments. As Guthrie wrote at the time imported assistance? Last year, out of a company of eighty, there were four imported actors: numeri- I do not think that we have found the complete solution. I think the cally, a tiny proportion, but they carried a great deal principle is right and that details of what we have done will be ref- of the weight. Tere was also an imported director ned and improved on, that we were practicing something which all and designer, and the technical departments were the practitioners felt had to be done. We just happened to be fortu- headed by people from the British stage. nate and a litle persistent in geting the opportunity. (Kitchin 1960: In my opinion, such outside assistance should gra- 198). dually be relied on less and less. At the same time, simply because in the past there has been so litle With the stage in place, a company had to be built around opportunity for indigenous talent to develop, so very litle opportunity not merely to learn techni- it. Tis would be one of the most mythologized and mi- que, but to compare standards and to learn how to sremembered elements of the Stratford Festival story. Te criticize one%s own and other people%s work […] legend is that a range of British actors were brought across – for these reasons it will be necessary to rely on to grace the new Canadian stage with their presence with a certain amount of importation at the top. At pre- a scatering of Canadians to make up the numbers. In fact, sent there are several Canadian actors who could T only a tiny number of British actors were involved in the frst play leading roles with credit by any standard […]. But there are not, in my view, any actors working eatre season; the rest of the cast were Canadian and included such in Canada whose mere names on the bills provi- names as William Hut, , , des for the public some guarantee of success [….]. and Douglas Rain. Guthrie was clear from the Tis is, again, simply because in Canada at present start that a uniquely Canadian festival was what he had in one does not have the chance to acquire that sort mind. From his initial discussions with the town%s Festival of status and prestige. In even so short a time as fve Commitee members onwards, he stated that years, this may be diferent. […] Gradually, in a few years, it will be possible to do without the importation of artists from abroad, but the project must be demonstrably a Canadian one, carried out not I greatly hope the process will not be speeded up merely by Canadian initiative, and also with Canadian fnance, but by chauvinistic pressure. I hope rather, that a Fe- by Canadian actors. But we also agreed that this need not preclude stival will develop which is perceptibly, but indef- the Commitee from seeking the assistance of a limited number of nably, Canadian; which is able to manage without people from Britain and elsewhere. (Guthrie 1954b: 7) assistance but which, nevertheless, considers that Tis was also true for backstage work: because of the lack some outsiders, not from Britain exclusively, give of opportunities to learn theatre crafs in Canada, with few richness and colour and variety to a company whi- *44/ 14 ch has no need to fear that its Canadian-ness is so enterprise was consuming his days. First, he introduced thin and weak as to be ruined by a litle dilution. the topic of the Irish theatre%s distinctiveness in the form (Guthrie 1954a: 30) of the Abbey Teatre and consequently its national impor- tance for Ireland: What was this ‘Canadian-ness% to consist of in artistic terms? Guthrie never claimed to have Te Abbey was enabled to establish itself [...] because there was an answer to that. His objective was to create a building of the right type and size, which enabled the company art – but also to create a living laboratory in to evolve a distinctive style of acting and production, and to play which something new could emerge outside to full houses while yet drawing on quite a limited section of the of his own career. public Scotland. (Guthrie 1953: 13)

To command the service of the most serious and For Guthrie, the physical theatre and the distinctiveness talented of the Canadian actors for a few weeks of the actual stage form the actor and consequently create in the summer is about the most useful thing that the potential for the development of a distinct acting style Stratford can do for them, for itself and for the Ca- that makes the uniqueness of a national theatre. So when nadian public. It is important that there should be Tyrone Guthrie was writing this intro to the history of the some occasion when these people can be brought Scotish National Players, it was signifcant that he stated: together and work to some common end that is a litle more signifcant than each individual%s own Our main achievement, as I see it, was that we provided a valuable career […]. (Guthrie 1954a: 30) training ground for talent: the best in Scotland, and one of the best in Britain, and, more important, that we were one of the links in By working together and creating together, so- the chain that will ultimately result in some form of indigenous mething greater than the sum of its parts – so- drama in Scotland. (Guthrie 1953: 13) mething ‘new% – would be created and this, he believed, would be signifcant for the country. When Guthrie is speaking of ‘indigenous drama%, he is not en

f referring simply to the writing of play texts as constituting I think it is only out of this that there will evolve a national theatre – more importantly to him, he is refer- a distinctive style of Canadian theatre. People may ring to the distinctive staging and playing of a nation that go on writing realistic comedies of Canadian life; will, in time, lead to a canon of its own. It is this that is key but these, I believe, will remain mere copies of a na-

Liza Gi Liza turalistic theatre which is essentially the product of to him in 1953 as he began rehearsals for Richard III and nineteenth century culture in Europe, and is alrea- All#s Well Tat Ends Well: the distinct performance style dy bygone. Any distinctive national style, whether comes before the ‘national% plays and informs their subse- of acting, producing, writing or criticizing plays quent creation. Canadian artists, he stated, will be founded on the study of the classics. It will only be, in my view, by evolving a distinctively Ca- if they are to thrive, must express what the Canadian climate, the nadian comment on the classics that any satisfactory Canadian soil and their fellow Canadians have made of them. It is native dramatic style will be achieved. Such com- vital for their health as artists; and it is no less vital for the health of ment will occur not only in criticism but in perfor- the community that those with artistic talents should contribute mance, since all performance is a comment upon, as to its life, instead of taking the frst opportunity to escape to places well as a recreation of, the work performed. (Guthrie where their gifs are welcomed, understood, respected and even 1954b: 28) [my emphasis] rewarded with money […] It is important […] that Canadians should be able to express their own environment, not only for the For Guthrie, a Canadian theatre – and the artists themselves, not only for the community now, but for posterity. key role of the Stratford Festival – lay in the And I think that something of Canada can be expressed even in terms development of a new ‘style% of performance, of classical drama, the roots of which can be far removed in time and pace. Tese works can, I think, be interpreted into a Canadian idiom, rather than an immediate leap into creating given a Canadian style. (Guthrie 1954a: 171-172) new texts. It seems to be signifcant that in 1953, in the midst of preparations for the start Before the frst season began, it was not initially clear that of Stratford, Guthrie was also writing an in- there would be a second. It was only afer opening and the troduction to history of the Scotish National sale of 97% of tickets over the weeks that it became evident Players, for whom he had directed in 1926- that the Stratford Festival was a sustainable phenomenon. 1929. His memories of his early career, at this Afer the initial playbill of Richard III and All#s Well Tat time, draw together some signifcant themes Ends Well, the number of plays presented – and performan- in one place at the same time, as the Canadian ces – increased year by year. *44/ 15 Guthrie, the Stratford Festival and Canadian

Maggie Smith as Masha, as Olga and Marti Maraden as Irina in Te Tree Sisters (1976), Alec Guiness as Richard III in Richard III, Stratford Festival Photographer Robert C Ragsdale, copyright the 1953, photographer Peter Smith, copyright the Stratford Festival, Stratford Festival, Courtesy of the Stratford Festival Courtesy of the Stratford Festival Archives. Archives.

In 1954 (and again in 1955), Shakespeare was joined on Expansion into more experimental and com- the program by Sophocles in a groundbreaking production missioned works in the late 1960s led to the created as an experiment in staging of ancient texts using opening of the Tird Stage (later the Tom masks and Greek practice; by 1956, Molière had become Paterson Teatre) in 1971 – frst as an in-the- a standard author; by 1960, musicals and new Canadian round theatre. plays had been included in the repertoire. T Phyllis Mailing as Ariadne in Patria II: Requiem

for the Party Girl, 1972; Photographer Robert C eatre Ragsdale, copyright the Stratford Festival, Courtesy of the Stratford Festival Archives

For instance, the staging of Gilbert and Sul- livan%s HMS Pinafore at the start of the 1960s necessitated the use of a proscenium – and as Oedipus in Oedipus Te King, 1955 the Avon Teatre became a key location, for photographer Peter Smith, copyright the Stratford Festival, both nineteenth-century plays such as those of Courtesy of the Stratford Festival Archives Chechov (i.e. Hirsch%s legendary 1976 Tree Si- sters and later as a long thrust stage, which even- Tese changes necessitated an expansion of the stage time tually evolved into a key space for production available – and it also meant that other stages were needed. of Shakespearean and classical texts, such as the exquisite Love#s Labour#s Lost of 1983. *44/ 16

Shelagh McLeod as Moth and as Don Armado in Love"s Labour"s Lost, 1983. Photograph by Robert C. Ragsdale, copyright the Stratford Festival, Courtesy of the Stratford Festival Archives

Te most recent creation of a new theatre to accommodate the evolving repertoire (until the 2020 launch of the rebuilt Tom Paterson Teatre) was in 2002, when the Studio Te- atre was opened as a venue for the staging of experimental works and new Canadian plays, this time with a small thrust stage, designed to en act as a smaller version of the Festival Stage. f

Jakob Ehman as Eitan in Birds of a Kind, 2019; photography by David Hou, copyright the Stratford Festival, Courtesy of the

Liza Gi Liza Stratford Festival Archives

Te expansion of the Festival had not only artistic rami- fcations but economic ones for the town itself. Tyrone Guthrie was a man of the theatre and, as such, practical. He was aware that the highest artistic standards were going to be crucial for Stratford%s success but also that the right hard logistics were necessary for the success of the enter- prise built on a festival model. As a consequence, he was clear about the need to create an environment that would support it.

A Festival should ofer, as Salzburg, Edinburgh and Stratford, En- Maeve Beaty as Katherine in Te Last Wife, 2015; gland, do, opportunities to absorb great works of art in an appro- Photographer: David Hou copyright the Stratford priate atmosphere, with other people of similar taste bent on the Festival, Courtesy of the Stratford Festival Archives same errand. For this reason, small, countrifed towns, where life is comparatively calm, make the best Festival cities. Salzburg is in this Tis stage has been a crucible for experimen- respect beter than Edinburgh, where too much is going on and a ts by playwrights from Peter Hinton to Kate hectic atmosphere is generated. For this reason, London or New York Henning whose Stratford- commissioned or Pitsburgh or Toronto can never be suitable Festival Cities. Tey are too big, too busy. No Festival can ever hope to be the central event Queenmaker Trilogy has been one of the of even one day, let alone the peak of the year. (Guthrie 1954b: 32) most successful series of Canadian plays of the past decade and Wajdi Mouawad. One of the things that had atracted him to the city was its specifc physical environment: one that Maclean#s magazine *44/ 17 described in 1953 as having a park system unique in North [F]undamentally, the idea behind the program- America. Te parks had been cared for the city from the early me of music was one of making the Festival 1900s, but had been threatened with destruction early in the more of a “resting point” than it had been hi- therto. Dr Guthrie wanted to make Canadians century when the Canadian Pacifc Railway (which at one more “Festival minded,” to persuade them to stage employed half the workforce of the city, which was alre- stay and browse around Stratford, absorbing the ady known as a railway town because of its engine manufactu- atmosphere, instead of rushing down to see a ring) asked for permission to lay two railway tracks through play and then rushing home again immediately them and along the side of the Avon River. Te failure of that aferwards. Tere would always, of course, be plan let the city retain a green space and bucolic situation that the “special excursion” by train or by bus […] but a Festival demands a more specialized type could eventually become an available and beautiful seting of audience if it is to fulfl itself completely. One for the Festival tent (and later, theatre), giving the Festival of its major delights should be the discussion, at Guthrie, the Stratford Festival and Canadian much of its unique character (and infnite publicity material). some neighbouring café, of the evening%s perfor- Other elements were, however, initially less ideal. In a town mance, with simultaneous speculation on the hitherto based on engine and furniture manufacturing, key delights in store on subsequent evenings. Tis elements of tourism infrastructure were as yet undeveloped. is impossible with the “there and back” method of Festival going. It was thought that a frst class As a result, nowhere near enough hotel rooms or restaurants Music Festival, running concurrently with the existed in the city to deal with the infux of patrons in the ini- plays might help to induce people to stay over tial days of the Festival, making it necessary for the basement and sample both. (Neel 1955: 95) of a church to be called into use by local women%s groups to serve meals and townspeople opening their homes to guests Te result of all these developments was that the (and ofen actors) in search of a place to sleep. Adopting the Stratford Festival met with signifcant success Festival model meant that it was imperative from the start from the start and took on a greater meaning that the city – both administratively and on a personal level than simple artistic or monetary success. – supported the enterprise. And the city did, in these ways and more, with enormous gusto. From improvised beginnin- Te success of the frst Festival was greater, in my gs quickly sprang a thriving bed and breakfast sector which opinion, than could have been achieved anywhere else in the world. It was regarded as a National Event; still exists today and (eventually) a range of places to eat and the Governor General atended both plays and was at drink – which, incidentally also helped lead to the end of Per- pains to emphasize that the occasion was signifcant; th County (and Stratford%s) existence as a “dry” or temperan- in terms of newspaper coverage, it was given far more ce location in 1959. space in the American press than any Canadian event But now that the visitors were in the town, once they had ea- if its kind had ever before received; in the Canadian ten, walked and enjoyed the sights of the small town, it was press it was far more fully covered than for example, the Edinburgh Festival by the press in Great Britain. quickly realized that more was needed to keep them in town (Guthrie 1954b: 26) for the next performance. Tis would become increasingly important over the years as the number of plays on the play- Such a model would also, of course, beneft the bill expanded, from two in the frst year to three in 1954 and local community far more fnancially – for good T four in 1956. As a result, other performances were program-

or ill. Guthrie was alive to the dangers that lur- eatre med to ‘fll in% the time potentially lef in their schedule. Tese ked along this path. ‘fll-in% performances were not well atended, Boyd Neel later commenting that In connection with Stratford, there are just two things I dread. First, that the Festival may be abused by prof- these concerts sufered somewhat from being the poor relation of the teers. Even last year there was a tendency for bed and Festival […] they had litle publicity, and were swamped by the food breakfast to cost substantially more at the end of the of glamour which […] descended on the plays. (Neel 1955) Festival than at its start. Second, a refnement of the same thing, that there will be an outbreak of Ye Olde. Tose who did atend sometimes found themselves in the I heard a rumour that two ladies had bought land and proposed to erect an imitation of Anne Hathaway%s situation of listening to a very young Glenn Gould playing in cotage in which they would brew Daintye Teas. competition with the rain on the tent roof or of being in an (Guthrie 1954b: 32-33) audience outnumbered by the musicians on stage. Financial- ly, the concerts were not a success. But, as Neel explained: But he knew that the Festival had been initially evolved in Tom Paterson%s mind not simply as *44/ 18 an artistic endeavour but to save the town eco- Commitee of Stratford, or any other Festival, to aim at quality and not nomically, as its two main manufacturing sectors quantity in their tourists; to concentrate on keeping their program at disappeared. Te idea of the Stratford Festival the very highest level of artistic integrity. Tis is, in all conscience, dif- fcult on solely artistic grounds. Te difculty is more than doubled had been supported by the city from the start, when those responsible have a duty to the community, which, habi- from an economic point of view: in fact, one of tuated to judge by quantitive rather than qualitative standards, will the key players in establishing support was the inevitably press for concessions […]. (Guthrie 1954b: 33) local Chamber of Commerce. By 1954, the city of Stratford was marketing itself as «where indu- It is indeed a dilemma – and the same one that faces the Stra- stry and the arts combine». tford Festival today. But this is only one of the striking continu- ities that link its earliest days under Guthrie, across the interve- ning decades, to the present season. Te relation between city and theatre remain close and entangled. Te musical festival aimed at encouraging visitors to remain between multiple performances and deepen their enjoyment is continued in the Forum events that allow patrons to deepen their under- standing of the issues around the playbill and enter into di- scussions with thinkers, artists and their fellow theatre-goers. Even the work of allowing Canadian artists and crafspeople to learn from the best, bring that to their work on the Stratford stage and then pass their learning on to the next generation is perpetuated in the Birmingham Conservatory. Likewise, the City of Stratford publicity materials c1953-4, courtesy of Festival Lab acts as the same kind of crucible that Guthrie ho- Stratford Festival Archives ped would «evolve a distinctive style of Canadian theatre» –

en with a sense of perpetual experiment that will take the Festival f into its eighth decade.

Bibliography Liza Gi Liza Fink, H., Beyond Naturalism: Tyrone Guthrie’s Radio Theatre and The Stage Production of Shakespeare, «Theatre Research in Canada / Recherches théâtrales Au Canada », vol. 2, n. 1, 1981. Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/TRIC/article/view/7519 (last accessed 10/10/2019). Guthrie, T., Hamlet at Elsinore, «London Mercury», n. 213, July 1937. Guthrie, T., “Introduction”, Scottish National Theatre Venture Its Birth, History, Work, and Influence, 1921-1948, , Scottish National Players, Glasgow 1953: 1-20. Guthrie, T., “A Long View of the Stratford Festival”, Twice Have the Trumpets Sounded, Clarke Irwin, Toronto 1954a. Guthrie, T., “First at Stratford, Ontario”, Renown A significant number of the first Board were major at Stratford A Record of the Shakespeare Festival in Canada, Clarke, local businessmen and bankers and included the Unwin & Company Ltd., Toronto, 1954b. head of the Chamber of Commerce; to this day, Guthrie, T. A Life in the Theatre, McGraw-Hill, New York 1959. under current bylaws, the Mayor of the City be- Kitchin, L., Mid-Century Drama, Faber & Faber, London 1960. comes automatically an ex-officio board member. Langham, M., “Introduction: Twelve Years at Stratford”, The Stratford Guthrie felt – as many did – that from the start the Scene 1958-1968, Clarke, Irwin & Company Limited, Toronto/ town%s economy and the theatre were inextricably 1968: 6-12. linked – and that this was the nature of festivals as Letter from Tom Patterson to Tyrone Guthrie (1952), Stratford Archives. opposed to theatres alone. Neel, B., “Music at the Festival”, Thrice The Brindled Cat Has Mew#d: A Record of the Stratford Shakespearean Festival in Canada, Clarke, It%s a dilemma. Festivals bring Tourists, Tourists bring Irwin, Toronto 1955: 93-110. Vultures. Te best plan, I respectfully suggest is for the