The title above comes from a line in The Tempest, spoken by the sorcerer Prospero as he takes leave of his “so potent art” and embarks on a new phase of life.

Theatre itself is a magical art, paradoxically using illusion to tell us truth. Its magic is “rough,” not perfect; while it can lead us to a better understanding, it cannot dictate where we go from there. Yet this need to explore our existence through the mimicry of performance seems hardwired into us, an essential part of being human.

For my last season as Artistic Director, I have chosen to explore aspects of this strangely potent art we call the theatre.

From the amateur theatricals of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the double lives led by Jack and Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest, role-playing is a recurring motif of the season. Iago, in Othello, masks his villainy in the guise of a concerned friend, while Willy Loman, in Death of a Salesman, turns illusion inward, in a desperate effort to convince himself that all is well in his world.

The characters in Guys and Dolls – who include a nightclub performer – are larger-than-life caricatures, yet we feel as if we know them. At the same time, Something Rotten!, revived by popular demand, puts Shakespeare himself on stage as it spins its hilariously fanciful yarn about the creation of the very genre to which it belongs.

Dramatic illusion delivers a surprising narrative twist in The King James Bible Play, while Waiting for Godot questions both our place in the universe and our expectations of drama itself.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday uses eccentric characters worthy of commedia dell’arte to raise a serious question: how can we rediscover the magic within each of us? Meanwhile, The Tao of the World reimagines a classic Restoration comedy for a modern-day world of wealth and privilege – and shows that we all have roles to play in making society work.

Finally, while some adults may look askance at “playacting,” no children do, for it is how they learn to navigate the world. Our explorations begin in childhood, and so it is fitting that our play for young people, The Hobbit, itself takes the form of a quest toward maturity.

I hope you will join us on our own quest this season: a quest for laughter, tears, excitement and inspiration, as we pay affectionate homage to the power of theatre in all our lives.

Antoni Cimolino 
Artistic Director