Festival Theatre

August 7 – October 25 |

Opens August 22

Classic

LONDON ASSURANCE

By Dion Boucicault

Directed by Antoni Cimolino

“LOVE! WHY, THE VERY WORD IS A BREATHING SATIRE UPON MAN'S REASON…”

Sir Harcourt Courtly, an over-the-hill London fop, arrives at Oak Hall to claim his wealthy and scandalously young bride. But Courtly's plan for a get-rich-quick weekend in the country is scuttled by the arrival of his dissolute son, Charles, disguised as "Augustus Hamilton" and the witty Lady Gay Spanker. Celebrated as one of the great British stage comedies, London Assurance is a brilliant precursor to the works of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw.

MEIGHEN FORUM EVENTS

CAST & CREATIVE

2024: Sir Harcourt Courtly in London Assurance. 18th season. Stratford (selected): Otto Marvuglia (Grand Magic), Elyot Chase, Sir Toby Belch, Sir Peter Teazle, Falstaff, Fluellen, Claudius, Möbius, Cook (Mother Courage), Antony, Duke Vincentio, Leicester, Cymbeline, Malachi Stack, King Arthur, Stephano, Dylan Thomas, Julius Caesar, Bottom, Polonius, Henry Higgins, Henry V, Bassanio, Tom Fashion, D'Artagnan, Richmond, Edward IV, Hortensio, Antipholus of Syracuse, Pericles. Elsewhere: N.Y.C.: King Lear (Lincoln Center); Poetic License; Do Not Go Gentle; Women Beware Women (Red Bull); Canadian Stage's Liv Stein, The Elephant Man; Shaw Festival, five seasons; Prospero, Richard III, Cyrano (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Love's Labour's Lost (RSC); Hamlet, Henry VIII (Chichester); An Enemy of the People (Lyric Hammersmith, London); two seasons, Theatr Clwyd's artistic associate (Welsh national Company). Film/TV: The Scottish Play, ReGenesis, Murdoch Mysteries, 24, Slings and Arrows, Black Harbour, Airwolf, Forever Knight, American Psycho II, Hypercube, One of the Hollywood Ten, Conspiracy of Fear.

2024: Sebastian in Twelfth Night, Paris in Romeo and Juliet and Charles Courtly in London Assurance. Third season. Stratford: Claudio (Much Ado About Nothing), Albany (King Lear), Laertes (Hamlet). Elsewhere: The Royale (Citadel Theatre); Being Here: The Refugee Project, Taking Shakespeare, Spring Awakening (Belfry Theatre); As You Like It (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) Beauty and the Beast (Arts Club Theatre); Miss Understood (PuSh Festival); The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Shakespeare in Love, Much Ado About Nothing, The Winter's Tale (Bard on the Beach); Mamma Mia! (WCT); HAIR (Mayfield Theatre); As You Like It (Citadel Theatre/MTC). Film/TV: Supernatural, Batwoman, The Flash (CW); Colony (USA); The Magicians (SyFy); Narcoleap (CBC/Telus). Training: The Canadian College of Performing Arts. Awards: Sterling Awards (The Royale), Leo Awards (Narcoleap). Online: @austineckert.

Birmingham Conservatory, 1999

2024: Feste in Twelfth Night and Lady Gay Spanker in London Assurance. Seventh season. Stratford (selected): Katerina, Taming of the Shrew; Marina and Thaisa, Pericles; Emilia, Othello; Beatrice, Much Ado About Nothing. Shaw Festival (selected): Madame Arcati, Blithe Spirit; Roxane, Cyrano de Bergerac; God, Everybody; Grushinskaya, Grand Hotel; Sally Bowles, Cabaret; Eliza Doolittle, My Fair Lady; Billie Dawn, Born Yesterday. Elsewhere: Fall On Your Knees (World Première/Canadian Tour); As You Like It, The School for Lies (Chicago Shakespeare); Caroline, or Change (Musical Stage); Lear (Groundling); Mary Poppins (Grand Theatre); A Doll's House, Part 2 (RMTC/Mirvish); London Road (Canadian Stage). Film/ Television: Catherine Cardinal in Cardinal (CTV); Good Sam; Five Days at Memorial; Murdoch Mysteries; Acts of Crime; Four in the Morning; Saving Hope; Remedy; The Anniversary.

Birmingham Conservatory, 2024

2024: Grace Harkaway in London Assurance, appears in Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet. Second season. Stratford: Les Belles-Soeurs and King Lear. Elsewhere: Nina in Lucky by Marie Barlizo (rEvolver); Hermia in A (Musical) Midsummer Night's Dream (Driftwood Theatre); Lucky in FEARLESS by David Yee (fu-GEN Theatre); Olivia in Twelfth Night (Theatre Erindale). Film/TV: Eli Roth's Be Mine, 13: The Musical, Titans season 4, Daughter Dearest, ReGenesis. Audio/Voiceover: Anne of Green Gables. Playwriting: twice blessed (fu-GEN Theatre). Training: Birmingham Conservatory; Theatre & Drama Studies with Sheridan College; University of Toronto (MA). Online: www.marissaorjalo.com @MarissaOrjalo.

2024: Fabian in Twelfth Night, Montague in Romeo and Juliet, Adolphus Spanker in London Assurance. 12th season. Stratford: Richard II, Love's Labour's Lost, Hamlet, The Miser, The Front Page, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Paradise Lost, Timon of Athens, The Changeling, Shakespeare in Love, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Aeneid, Taming of the Shrew, Possible Worlds, The Beaux' Stratagem, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard III, Julius Caesar, Bartholomew Fair, Shakespeare's Universe. Elsewhere: Dock Spider (Magnus Theatre); The 4th Graders Present An Unnamed Love Suicide (Tiny Room); Jerusalem (OTM/Company Theatre); Silence, Art (Grand Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Western Canada Theatre); Hound of the Baskervilles, Robin Hood (Globe Theatre); Pitmen Painters, Boeing Boeing (Theatre Aquarius); Vigil, Lawrence and Holloman (Prairie Theatre Exchange); Having Hope at Home (Neptune); Twelfth Night, The Tempest (Hartford Stage); The Lonely Diner (Blyth Festival); Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth (NAC).

(he/him) Birmingham Conservatory, 2015/16

2024: Antonio in Twelfth Night, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet and Richard Dazzle in London Assurance. Seventh season. Stratford Festival credits include: Richard II, Grand Magic, Love's Labour's Lost, Richard III, The Miser, The Tempest, Coriolanus, Napoli Milionaria!, Twelfth Night, A School for Scandal, Tartuffe, Macbeth, All My Sons, Bunny. Elsewhere: The Three Musketeers (RMTC); february: a love story (Globus Theatre); Two Noble Kinsmen and Cymbeline (Shakespeare BASH'd); Towards Youth: a play on Radical Hope (Crow's Theatre); Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare in High Park); Tartuffe (Canadian Stage); Coriolanus (Dartmouth, New Hampshire). Emilio trained under the direction of Martha Henry and Stephen Ouimette in the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre. Thank you for supporting live theatre. Instagram: @emiliovieira.

(he/him)

2024: Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night, Cool in London Assurance and appears in Romeo and Juliet. Ninth season. Stratford: Cornwall in King Lear, Balthasar in Much Ado…, Parolles in All's Well…, Reverend Hale in The Crucible, Professor Bhaer in Little Women, Lucullus in Timon…, Wessex in Shakespeare in Love, Karl Gustav in Christina, The Girl King, White Knight in Alice Through the Looking-Glass. Elsewhere: La Bête (Talk is Free); Lion in Winter (Grand); East of Berlin, The December Man, Shakespeare's Dog (ATP); Am I Not King? (Zone 41); Enron (Theatre Calgary); Beyond the Farm Show (Blyth); The Story (Common Boots); Macbeth, Mother Courage (Caravan Farm); A Doll's House (Globe). Film/TV: Murdoch Mysteries, Wilfrid, Charity, Blue Smoke, The Secret of the Nutcracker, See This Movie. Training: National Theatre School. Awards: John Hirsch Award; Betty Award for Vincent in Brixton; Dora, Montreal Critics' Circle and Evie Award nominations. Instagram: @wilkierylan.

2024: Capulet in Romeo and Juliet and Mark Meddle in London Assurance. 25th season.

(she/her) Birmingham Conservatory, 2024

2024: Pert in London Assurance, appears in Twelfth Night and understudy in Romeo and Juliet. Third season. Stratford: Grand Magic, Love's Labour's Lost, The Miser, Hamlet. Elsewhere: Schoolhouse, Macbeth, The Ruins, Frankenstein, In This Light, As You Like It, Iliad by Fire (Two Planks); A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It (Shakespeare BASH'd); As You Like It, King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare by the Sea). Film/TV: Compulsus, King & Pawn (BellTV). Recordings: Ophelia, Sending Love (Spotify, Apple Music) Composer: WOLF, Flimsy (Hurricane Productions); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare BASH'd). Awards: Merritt Award for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role (Schoolhouse). Training: Dalhousie University. Online: @hilary_adamss.Et cetera: This season is dedicated to Gordon Bowlby, who took me to my first Stratford show where I fell in love with Theatre…I made it Grandad!

2024: Juliana in Hedda Gabler and appears in London Assurance. Third season. Stratford: Les Belles-Soeurs, Wedding Band, Death and the King's Horseman, Hamlet. Elsewhere: Fatima in The Container (SummerWorks); Petra in Petra (Theatre Direct); UK: Woman in Death and the King's Horseman, Chorus in Medea (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Miseyi in The Beatification of Area Boy (The West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds); Jack in The Man in the Moon, Balthasar/Friar Frances in Much Ado About Nothing (The Everymans' Theatre, Liverpool). Film/TV: Clarice, The Expanse, Coroner, Damien, Lucky Day, 'Da Kink in my Hair. Radio/Recordings (BBC Radio, UK): Miseyi in The Beatification of Area Boy; First Girl in Blood Wedding; Alaba in Memories of a Distant Past; Woman in Death and the King's Horseman. Training: Academy of Live and Recorded Arts London, UK. Online: @bolaaiyeolaowens imdb.com/name/nm2416924.

2024: Captain in Twelfth Night, Max Harkaway in London Assurance and appears in Romeo and Juliet. 16th season. Stratford: Richard II, Grand Magic, Richard III, The Miser, Merry Wives of Windsor, The Front Page, Coriolanus, Napoli Milionaria!, The Changeling, Macbeth, As You Like It, Pericles, King Lear, Titus Andronicus, The Tempest, Caesar and Cleopatra. Elsewhere: Shakuntala (Premiere Dance Theatre); The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God (Mirvish); Twelfth Night, Donut City (Canadian Stage); Pusha Man, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Passe Muraille); Top Gun the Musical (Factory Theatre/ NYC); Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare in Action); Founding Member of Obsidian Theatre Company. Film/TV/Video Games: Sex/Life, Frankie Drake, Diggstown, The Coroner, Assassin's Creed: Origins, Killjoys, Watch Dogs 2, Saving Hope, Murdoch Mysteries, Nikita, Owning Mahowny, The Incredible Hulk, Nurse.Fighter.Boy. Training: MFA, York University. Awards: Tyrone Guthrie Award. Dora nominations: Twilight Café, The America Play.

2024: Mrs. Elvsted in Hedda Gabler and appears in London Assurance. Third season. Stratford: Lula Green in Wedding Band, Yvette Longpré in Les Belles-Soeurs, Death and the King's Horseman. Training: Acting Conservatory, York University, 2012 (BFA); Factory Theatre Mechanicals. Awards: 9-time Winner of Toronto Queen of Carnival. Online: @joellacrichton. Et cetera: Thank you to the Stratford Festival. For Solomon.

2024: Maria in Twelfth Night and appears in London Assurance. 13th season. Stratford (selected): Lady Scroop (Richard II), Sian Ap Dafydd (1939), Mollie Malloy (The Front Page), Sin (Paradise Lost), Dr. Livesey (Treasure Island), Miss Prism (The Importance of Being Earnest), Lady Anne (Richard III), Electra (Electra, The Flies), Sibyl (Private Lives) and Lady Macduff (Macbeth). Elsewhere (selected): The Antipodes, Marjorie Prime (Coal Mine); Mustard, The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs, Communion, The Fall, Humble Boy (Tarragon); Domesticated, A Whistle in the Dark, Marion Bridge (Company Theatre); Age of Arousal, The Penelopiad (Nightwood); Terminus (Outside the March/Centaur/Belfry). Film/TV: Priscilla, Anne with an E, Titans, Ginny & Georgia. Awards: Two Dora Awards with four nominations, a Toronto Critics' Award and a Jerry.

2024: Escalus in Romeo and Juliet and appears in Twelfth Night and London Assurance. Fourth season. Stratford: Gordon in Rent, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Elsewhere: The Louder We Get (Theatre Calgary); Killing Time (Mixtape Projects); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Driftwood Theatre); Once (Theatre St. John's); Written in Blood (Talk is Free Theatre). Film/TV: Partum, recurring principal on Locke & Key, Red Iron Road. Training: BFA, Toronto Metropolitan University. Et cetera: Nick wishes special thanks and love to his partner Sara, and family Sean, John & Jen. He is thrilled to return to the Festival this year.

Birmingham Conservatory, 2024

2024: Peter in Romeo and Juliet and appears in Twelfth Night and London Assurance. Second season. Stratford: Harry Percy in Richard II, Waiter in Grand Magic and understudy in Love's Labour's Lost. Elsewhere: A Few Good Men, Twelve Angry Men, The Miracle Worker, The Birds and the Bees, Death of a Salesman, Brighton Beach Memoirs (Drayton); The Cider House Rules reading (Talk is Free); Suitcases/Provenance workshop (Canadian Stage). Film/TV: Jump, Darling (opposite Cloris Leachman), In The Dark, Murdoch Mysteries, Man Seeking Woman, Heroes Reborn, Bitten, Reign. Radio/Recordings: Strange Loops (audiobook). Training: The Randolph College for the Performing Arts. Online: Instagram: @tomsdup. Et cetera: Thomas dedicates this season to his teachers past and present.

(she/her)

2024: Appears in Romeo and Juliet, London Assurance, and understudy in Twelfth Night. Second season.

Birmingham Conservatory, 2017/18

2024: Valentine in Twelfth Night, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and appears in London Assurance. Seventh season. Stratford: Duke of Burgundy in King Lear, Jeremy in Hamlet-911, The Boy in Three Tall Women, Sir Henry Guildford in Henry VIII, Eribo, A Bully in The Neverending Story, Harold in An Ideal Husband, appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird and understudied in Julius Caesar and Much Ado About Nothing. Elsewhere: Atreyu in The Neverending Story (National Arts Centre). Film/TV: Guest star on What We Do in the Shadows season four finale (FX), Reign (CW) and Murder U (Discovery ID). Training: BFA, University of Windsor; Birmingham Conservatory. Instagram: @iles4miles.

2024: Priest in Twelfth Night, Balthasar, Friar John in Romeo and Juliet and appears in London Assurance. 10th season.

Birmingham Conservatory 2020/21

2024: Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and appears in Twelfth Night and London Assurance. Fifth season. Stratford: Shrimp Man in Wedding Band, Much Ado About Nothing, Lord in All's Well That Ends Well, Little Women, Demetrius, Quince, Mustardseed in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Valentine in Two Gentlemen of Verona (Birmingham Conservatory). Elsewhere: Paul Bratter in Barefoot in the Park, Paul Verral in Born Yesterday (Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre); Henry Baskerville in Hound of the Baskervilles (Royal Canadian Theatre Co.); Young Sherlock in Sherlock Holmes (Chemainus Theatre Festival). Film/TV: Fragile Seeds (feature), The Flash, Far Cry 4, Monkey Up, Cascadia, Ollie and Emma. Training: Birmingham Conservatory, LAMDA (Masters with Distinction, Classical Acting). Et cetera: Thanks to my family and the cast and crew. Jonathan dedicates this season to his late father Gregory Mason.

2024: Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, appears in Twelfth Night and London Assurance. Sixth season. Stratford: Much Ado About Nothing, HMS Pinafore, The Sound of Music, The Mikado, The Gondoliers. Shaw: Mack & Mabel, Tristan, Floyd Collins, The Constant Wife, Happy End, The Coronation Voyage, She Loves Me, Easy Virtue. Elsewhere: Into the Woods [New Zealand], The Other Place, Sweeney Todd [Toronto & UK - Dora Award], Sunday in the Park with George (Talk Is Free Theatre); London Road, Passion, The House of Martin Guerre (Canadian Stage Company); Anything That Moves (Tarragon Theatre - Dora Award); Falsettos (Musical Stage Company); Annie, The Drowsy Chaperone (Drayton Entertainment); Side by Side by Sondheim (Grand Theatre); A Streetcar Named Desire (Atlantic Theatre Festival); The Glass Menagerie (Prairie Theatre Exchange); My Fair Lady (Neptune Theatre, Centaur Theatre, PTE, ATP). Et cetera: Glynis lives with her husband, Mike Nadajewski, and their son in Stratford.

(she/her)

2024: Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet and appears in Twelfth Night and London Assurance. Fourth season. Stratford: Julia Augustine in Wedding Band, understudy in Les Belles-Soeurs, Chorus in Hamlet-911, understudy in Every Little Nookie, Angela in Here's What It Takes (workshop), Swing in Little Shop of Horrors. Elsewhere (selected): Princess Buttercup in Jack and the Beanstalk: The Panto, Lorraine in All Shook Up (Drayton Festival); Soul Sistas (Mayfield); Mamma Mia! (Theatre Aquarius/WCT); Chiffon in Little Shop of Horrors (Thousand Islands Playhouse). Film/TV: In The Dark, Take Note, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, The Hot Zone: Anthrax, The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again, People of Earth, Surviving Evil. Training: St. Lawrence College Musical Theatre. Online: @Toni_Rudd.

(she/her)

2024: Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Olivia in Twelfth Night and understudy in London Assurance. Fourth season. Stratford: Little Shop of Horrors, Billy Elliot, Why We Tell the Story, Up Close and Musical. Elsewhere: New York, New York (Broadway); Alice in Wonderland (Bad Hats/Soulpepper); Queen Goneril, King Lear (Soulpepper); Is God Is (Obsidian/CanStage/Necessary Angel); Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz (YPT); An Octoroon, Grand Hotel, The Magician's Nephew, Holiday Inn (Shaw Festival); Passing Strange, Caroline or Change (Musical Stage Co/Obsidian); Kinky Boots (Mirvish). Film: Sappy Holiday, 14 Love Letters, Suits, Sex/Life, Y: The Last Man. Voice Acting: My Little Pony, The Downloaded. Awards: Multiple Dora Award and TTCA Award wins, BroadwayWorld Award, Critic's Pick Award. Online: Instagram: @Vanessa_Sears. Et cetera: Vanessa is an educator, an emerging director, and Vice Chair of the CGA board. Love to Richard and the whole team.

2024: Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet and Constable Solomon Isaacs in London Assurance. 28th season. A Tony and Olivier Award nominee, Scott has worked on and off Broadway, in London's West End and in theatres across the US and Canada. Stratford credits include Macbeth, Iago, Shylock, the title role in John Gabriel Borkman, Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof and James Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night. His directing credits here include both parts of Henry IV, Pericles, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar and All's Well That Ends Well. Film and TV work includes Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead, Law & Order and Orphan Black. Fans may remember him as Kermit in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. Last season he played King Lear for Shakespeare BASH'd, and Henry in the first American production of The Lehman Trilogy.

(he/him)

2024: Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival. Director of London Assurance. 37th season. Stratford: Directing credits include Grand Magic; Richard III; The Miser; Birds of a Kind; The Merry Wives of Windsor; The Tempest; Napoli Milionaria!; The School for Scandal; Macbeth; The Hypochondriac; Hamlet; The Alchemist; King Lear; The Beaux' Stratagem; Mary Stuart; The Merchant of Venice; Cymbeline; The Grapes of Wrath; Bartholomew Fair; Coriolanus; As You Like It, featuring original music by Barenaked Ladies; King John; Love's Labour's Lost, with Brian Bedford; Twelfth Night, with William Hutt; The Night of the Iguana; and Filumena, with Richard Monette. A crowning achievement of his tenure as Artistic Director is the building of the new Tom Patterson Theatre, which opened in 2022, winning a number of architectural awards. He was also instrumental in establishing the Festival's Endowment Foundation, which now stands in excess of $90 million, as well as in the renovation of the Avon Theatre and the creation of the Studio Theatre. Elsewhere: The Canadian première of ENRON (Theatre Calgary); Twelfth Night (Attic Theatre, Detroit); A Woman of No Importance (Hilberry Theater, Detroit). A champion of the arts and culture, Mr. Cimolino served as the Founding Chair of Culture Days, a nation-wide celebration of arts and culture in Canada. He has initiated collaborations with several prestigious theatre companies, including Montreal's Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Ottawa's National Arts Centre, New York's Lincoln Center and City Center, San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater and Chicago Shakespeare Theater.