Living here in Perth County affords us the opportunity to go to wonderful live theatre – especially when it is one of the four theatres connected with the Stratford Festival. We have the famous Festival Theatre, along with the Avon Theatre, the Tom Patterson Theatre and the Studio Theatre. Each theatre is unique in it’s own way and offers different performances at each venue.
When you come down for a show, try and make time to take in at least one of the behind-the-scenes tours. The tours are $8 per person, or $6 for seniors and students; but please check the schedule on the Stratford Festival website as not every tour is offered every day. Also, because the tours are small and intimate, it would be best if you made reservations for the tour you wish to attend. The tours are all led by enthusiastic volunteers from the “Friends of the Festival”. The tours are usually no more than 1 hour and many are accessible. Please also note that 2 tours are off-site at 350 Douro Street (south of Ontario Street and west of Romeo), 1 tour (the Festival Exhibition) is downtown across from the Avon Theatre, and the last 2 tours are in the gardens or inside of the Festival Theatre.
There are 5 tours to select from:
1. Archives Tours – gives you a chance to learn about the 60 years of the history of the Festival Theatres. You can watch film footage, visit the scenery and props display area – and you can see many of the stage pieces from the previous years' shows. For example, this year, they have a photo op for kids from last year’s production of Charlie Brown – which was a great success, particularly for families. These archives are one of the largest of any performing arts theatres in the world.
2. Festival Theatre Tours – take a walking tour to see and hear from the guides all about the secrets and magic of behind-the-scenes information about current and past productions.
When you come down for a show, try and make time to take in at least one of the behind-the-scenes tours. The tours are $8 per person, or $6 for seniors and students; but please check the schedule on the Stratford Festival website as not every tour is offered every day. Also, because the tours are small and intimate, it would be best if you made reservations for the tour you wish to attend. The tours are all led by enthusiastic volunteers from the “Friends of the Festival”. The tours are usually no more than 1 hour and many are accessible. Please also note that 2 tours are off-site at 350 Douro Street (south of Ontario Street and west of Romeo), 1 tour (the Festival Exhibition) is downtown across from the Avon Theatre, and the last 2 tours are in the gardens or inside of the Festival Theatre.
There are 5 tours to select from:
1. Archives Tours – gives you a chance to learn about the 60 years of the history of the Festival Theatres. You can watch film footage, visit the scenery and props display area – and you can see many of the stage pieces from the previous years' shows. For example, this year, they have a photo op for kids from last year’s production of Charlie Brown – which was a great success, particularly for families. These archives are one of the largest of any performing arts theatres in the world.
2. Festival Theatre Tours – take a walking tour to see and hear from the guides all about the secrets and magic of behind-the-scenes information about current and past productions.
3. Festival Exhibition - This new display is dedicated to 4 Shakespeare masterpieces at the Stratford Festival which includes past and present productions of Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Measure for Measure and The Merchant of Venice. View the displays at your leisure or take a guided tour.
4. Garden Tours - Take a guided tour through the Festival Theatre's beautifully landscaped grounds. Don't forget to bring your camera to take pics of all the beautiful flowers and sculptures throughout the gardens. The Shakespeare sculpture is on the east side of the theatre and the gorgeous Arthur Meighen Gardens is on the southwest side of the theatre.
5. Costume and Props Warehouse Tours – this is my favourite tour as you get to learn some of the secrets about the props and costumes that are made on-site for all of the Festival's theatrical productions, past and present. Dawna and I took this tour last fall and had a blast! You get to see up close how the props are made and look so real. How do they make the embers on the fire appear to glow? What are those cakes and cookies really made of? You will get to see all this and so much more. Here are some pics of just a couple of the production items from a recent production of Camelot:
 Gates to Camelot  King Arthur's Cloak |  Macrame tree trunk  Queen's gown |
Millinery Dept - Hats and Crowns Here are a few more pics of the magic of the Costume and Props Warehouse:
 Wedding dresses from Peter Pan  Costume from The Taming of the Shrew  Example of 1 aisle of furniture props |  Christopher Plummer's coat in The Tempest  Costume from The Gondeliers  Metal fighting horse |
Here is some of the food that has been "specially" made for the shows by very special bakers:
Pork stew with beer, potatoes, appetizers and dessert
 Styrofoam celery and plaster devilled eggs -- yum!  Red foil briquettes with cotton stuffed sausages |  Yellow transparency beer with never-dissolving foam!  1 papier mache potato and 1 rubber potato with rubber fish |
This warehouse is one of the largest costume warehouses in North America and you will be astounded to see what goes in to making these costumes. There are thousands of costumes hanging from the rafters and down the aisles where you walk that you can see and hear how they were made, who wore them and in what show.
DO NOT forget to bring your camera because at the end of the tour, you get to try on some of the costumes from past productions -- and these photos will be priceless! Here are some pics of Dawna trying on a couple of outfits –not sure where she would wear them, but she had a blast going through the costumes.
DO NOT forget to bring your camera because at the end of the tour, you get to try on some of the costumes from past productions -- and these photos will be priceless! Here are some pics of Dawna trying on a couple of outfits –not sure where she would wear them, but she had a blast going through the costumes.
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There have been some very busy prop-builders and costume designers to create illusions for this year’s wide variety of theatre productions.
So next time you plan to go to a show or simply visit Stratford, take an hour and go to one of the great tours – you’ll have lots of fun and get to learn some of the secrets of the theatre!
Cheers,
Heather
So next time you plan to go to a show or simply visit Stratford, take an hour and go to one of the great tours – you’ll have lots of fun and get to learn some of the secrets of the theatre!
Cheers,
Heather
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