Published Spring 2023
Time and effort. A precious pair of allied commodities we trade on a daily basis.
When planning a vacation—be it a mini-break or long stay—the deciding factor for any who feel the combine effects of limited supply and strong demand in their personal economy is a vacation that makes the most of time while requiring the least effort.
Bucket-list travel is big picture and takes big-picture mapping. A visit to the city of Stratford is something altogether different.
Home to the Stratford Festival—North America's largest repertory theatre company—since 1952, Stratford is where theatre enthusiasts go to geek out. The Festival's geek roots date back to its humble beginnings, when a starry-eyed Tom Patterson returned to his hometown in rural Ontario, took a $125 grant from the city council and used it to realize his dreams of starting a Shakespearean festival worthy of local support and global attention.
From its origin, Stratford has been a den for artists, starting with legendary British director Tyrone Guthrie, the Festival's first artistic director. Guthrie made his name directing at London's Old Vic, before solidifying transatlantic fame as a director on Broadway and in other cultural hot spots including the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. A tour de force of artistic genius, Guthrie has been heralded as the "most influential theatre director of modern times..." by The Guardian newspaper and is credited for a revival in traditional theatre, spurred on by his creative and experimental approach to Shakespearean and modern drama. This is someone who pulled the thrust stage out of oblivion—dusty since Shakespeare's days at The Globe. Someone who wanted to see action carried into the audience rather than have it rise away from spectators, as it would with a proscenium arch, the dominant choice of stage during Guthrie's time.
As for where the director build his groundbreaking open stage, well Stratford, of course.
At the time of his arrival, Guthrie was becoming to mid-20th-century theatre what era contemporary François Truffaut was to film when he arrived on the scene with 400 Blows and set the sparking French New Wave ablaze. Or, if we're speaking in terms of social impact, let's say Guthrie's reintroduction of the thrust stage—and its inherent rejection of bourgeois illusionism—mirrored the social impact fashion designer Coco Chanel triggered in her revolt against the corset.
Today, visitors to the town and the Festival will discover Guthrie's artistic playground—the same thriving creative community that he and fellow maverick Patterson helped to flourish decades ago. Audiences will go from being captivated by an actor on stage to spotting them out picking up source material at Fanfare Books, where every visit makes you wonder how you can go back to the charmless void of online behemoth shopping. Expect more sightings at one of the city's multiple coffee shops, where Festival artists like to put on a hoodie and read incognito for a bit. Caffeine and people watching are good at Balzac's (the popular brand's original location), Revel (try the cortado—equal parts espresso and steamed milk—served with a shot of tonic water on the side) or Edison's, located where another maverick, Thomas A. Edison, once lived while employed as a telegraph operator when the city was a railway hub.
Also an inn, Edison's minimalist chic carries over into the rooms upstairs, where visitors can book a stay in Edison's old quarters, and inevitably become fascinated with an illustrated blueprint of the innovator's greatest inventions. Like Edison's, another of the city's boutique inns, The Parlour, also boasts a prime downtown location within walking distance of all four Festival theatres. A downtown landmark since 1871, this historical building retains its original character, notwithstanding modern outfittings to ensure guests' comfort. Spacious two-bedroom suites are perfectly sized for families or friends travelling in a larger group. A little further from the city centre, out-of-towners will find a cozy place to bunk at the Arden Park Hotel. A Best Western property that feels more like the friendly bed and breakfast from Groundhog Day than a chain hotel, the Arden Park is the sort of place where breakfast rings in under $10, the servers remember your coffee or tea preference after your first meal and you remember their names. (It's hard to forget people this nice). Also, you may bump into a Hollywood star in the lobby, in town to catch a show. Star spottings might just be why the dining room here is always buzzing—yes, always.
The Festival has long had ties with film and television. Well before Daniel Radcliffe hit the West End and Broadway, the Stratford Festival was welcoming stars hot off Oscar wins, the likes of Maggie Smith. Among the roles Smith played in her four seasons at Stratford was Virginia Woolf in the world première of Edna O'Brien's Virginia, which moved on to London's West End. Her sharply realistic portrayal of the writer's maddening genius is proof that this triple crown actor is so much more than the dowager countess—and who doesn't love Downton Abbey?
The stomping grounds of theatre legends, Stratford is exactly the rare sort of place where you might wander into a pub—Foster's—for a post-show drink and find a tucked-away corner named after Martha Henry, the Carnegie Mellon alum turned Canadian theatre giant. Henry spent decades at the Festival, sharing her art up until her final days, including playing the part of Prospero in The Tempest, followed by a lead role in Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Three Tall Women—her inimitable final performance. A good spot for a casual pre-show bite or post-show drink, Foster's is just one of the many classic pubs in town. About a five-minute walk over to the main strip, Ontario Street, you will find another, Bentley's. The beloved watering hole of Festival actors, this is where you go to get an autograph/schmooze with the stars of your new favourite play. Now, should you be one of the returning clicks that earned Stanley Tucci's Negroni video viral status, rather than the thrills-forthe-pils type, skip the pub and reserve a spot at The Relic, an intimate cocktail bar that serves up drinks as nectarous as any underground speakeasy in New York, with none of their pretention.
As for food, pre-show dining options in Stratford are plenty. Try pairing your choice of restaurant with the title on your theatre ticket. Going to see Grand Magic or Much Ado About Nothing? Both dramedies are set in Southern Italy and lend themselves beautifully to the Italian fare at Pazzo's. Any one of their Neapolitan-style pizzas and an order of burrata with mixed herb pesto and tomato conserva is perfect to share between two on date night before seeing the stage rom-com Much Ado About Nothing—complete with a will-they-won't-they plot. Or, if you're seeing a matinée of Grand Magic, check out AO Pasta. Modest though this little Italian grocery store may be, it serves up big flavours in the form of simple handmade pastas and straightforward, supremely savoury paninis. A taste of AO's magic would leave the play's great illusionist, Otto Marvuglia, searching for a trapdoor to more ingredients.
Theatregoers with Les Belles-Soeurs on the docket will do well to snag a coveted table at Cafe Bouffon. The stylish atmosphere at this French bistro is as delightful as its $49 prix fixe meal. Be sure to add on the wine pairings to sample juice from Ontario's finest vineyards.
Holding tickets to the quintessential Empire State shows, Rent or the Festival's newly glammed up Richard II? Slip into something more New York with a reservation to Lovage. The kitchen here serves up small plates that flex technique to create one-of-a-kind flavours. Or, opt for Blue Bird, where a seasonal menu serves up Asian-influenced bistro food.
For families staying overnight to take their kids to the intergalactic marvel A Wrinkle in Time, go to Sirkel Foods and Mercer Kitchen for lunch and dinner, in that order—on repeat—for casual, delicious meals.
When compiling your performance and meal schedule, leave time in between for short excursions and some only-in-Stratford type of local activities. Fan of Monty Python travelling with kids? Before you are left incapacitated with side stiches from Monty Python's Spamalot, make your way to the St. Mary's Museum and Archives (less than a 30-minute drive away), where you and the kiddos will get a lesson in local history through stunning archival photography of the town and an interactive children's discovery area. More a cool kid eyeing tickets to the limited-run production of Women of the Fur Trade? We recommend your show dates coincide with the Stratford Summer Music festival (July 20-August 13), because dropping a breadcrumb on your socials about seeing a live quartet at a screening of Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. makes catching The Big Lebowski at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery sound like watching a Jerry Bruckheimer film in Times Square. Or, are you a Shakespeare lover with front-row tickets to King Lear? Go behind the scenes with a tour through the Festival's costume warehouse and archives, where guests are invited into the history of stage productions, a jaunt that may just take you past a crown from Hamlet or a gigantic, frightful winged creature from The Tempest.
Stratford is a theatre town and, as such, experience-based leisure—like backstage tours or production-themed speaking events and workshops—is its thing. For proof, peruse the list of speaker events and immersive workshops offered by the Festival's festival-within-a-festival, the Meighen Forum, particularly its new Themed Weeks. Well worth timing and booking a long stay for, the Forum's Themed Weeks manifest the combined ethos of the Festival and the city, curating events focused on connecting people and immersing visitors in the artists' community that makes Stratford Stratford.
Bibliophiles clutching their tickets to the world première of Frankenstein Revived—a movement piece that introduces an 18-year-old Mary Shelley as she pours the frightfulness of humanity into a genre-defining gothic novel—will rejoice to learn about the Forum's Readers and Writers Week at the end of August. A celebration of storytelling as a craft, the week is curated by renowned Canadian author Margaret Atwood, joined on stage by illustrious literary peers, ready to engage in poignant conversation about their work and the wider world.
Conversations, experiences, connections—that's what a visit to Stratford is all about. There, "the whirligig of time" bears beautiful fruit and the only effort required to savour it is joining the community at the table.
Once upon a time, artists were recruited, a tent was erected, invitations were sent, the town rallied and the world arrived. Today, over 70 years later, the city of Stratford feels like a throwback to a time when maverick artists built communities that fostered creative innovation to define the ages. Sure, save up for a trip to "experience" Gertrude Stein's Paris before you depart this world, but in between now and that trip, visit Stratford—a few times—and become entranced by the small Canadian town that changed the course of modern theatre across the globe.