He’s fearless on the battlefield – but in the pitfall-laden world of politics, he’s doomed by his contempt for the common people. See Robert Lepage's breathtaking production that explores the age-old tensions that still tear at the heart of democracy.

By William Shakespeare
Directed for the Stag...

Henry, tracing his descent from Edward III, has claimed the French crown. Assured by the Archbishop of Canterbury that right is on his side, and needled by the Dauphin’s insolence, he prepares for war. Two incidents momentarily dampen the sense of anticipation: a plot against the king’s life i...

The greater the honour, the deeper the shame.

In British-occupied Nigeria, the king is dead, and it is the duty of his horseman, Elesin (Anthony Santiago), to accompany him into the afterlife. While lustily enjoying the pleasures of this world, Elesin proudly anticipates his transition to the n...

IN THE SCRIPT OF HISTORY, WHO GETS A SPEAKING ROLE?

In Kenya in 1952, Mercy, a restaurant proprietor, is hired to cater the impending visit of Princess Elizabeth, soon to be Queen. In 2015, another story unfolds in London, England, where a young Kenyan-born Canadian, Tia, is working as an intern...

Cold shoulder? There's a cure for that.

When Helen (Jessica B. Hill) cures the King of France (Ben Carlson) of an ailment that has confounded every other doctor, he grants her lifetime wish: the marital hand of the aristocratic courtier Bertram (Jordin Hall). However, Bertram proves a reluctant ...

Shakespeare's great comedy of dreaming and desire has it all - spellbound lovers, quarrelling fairies, tradesmen who love amateur theatricals. This is both a deep dive into the realms of the subconscious and a hilarious tribute to the power of the imagination.

The most fundamental techniques of ...

An inspiring journey from page to stage.
Anticipating a visit by King George VI, an English teacher at a church-run residential school in Northern Ontario enlists her students in a production of All's Well That Ends Well. But her rigid ideas of how Shakespeare should be performed are challenged ...

WHEN PASSION MEETS POISON.
Undeterred by the differences in their backgrounds and life experiences, Othello and Desdemona defy prejudice to be united in marriage. But deadly malice lurks where the newlyweds least expect it, as the one man Othello trusts the most resolves to destroy their happine...

His succession plan will slay you.

Charismatic, cunning and utterly ruthless, Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Colm Feore) is the very embodiment of lethal ambition as he maneuvers and murders his way to the throne of England. But once he reaches the top, the only way is down and in Richard's growin...

The story follows Beatrice and Benedick, two quick-witted and sarcastic individuals who are happily single, but whose friends believe they would make a great romantic match. Set in the Early Modern world, an era of ever-changing attitudes towards marriage and power, the play presents a society at...

This radically reimagined version of Shakespeare's romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet invites you into an up-to-the-minute world of sound and music, a world in which the entrenched hostilities of an older generation are challenged by the passions of young people who only want to love.

R+J is acc...

A storm at sea brings love into the life of Pericles, Prince of Tyre; another snatches it away. This magical production of Shakespeare's epic tale follows a fairy-tale hero on a miraculous journey as fate guides the wandering hero to one of literature's most poignant reunions. Evan Buliung gives ...

Courtship or conquest? The breaking down of a defiant spirit - or a breakthrough that liberates a heart deprived of love? Will you ever see a battle of wills that's fiercer or funnier - or more hotly controversial?

By William Shakespeare
Directed for the Stage by Chris Abraham
Directed for Film ...

MISTRESSES OF MISCHIEF.
Pursuing two respectably married women at the same time, a would-be seducer fails to anticipate that his targets will, quite literally, compare notes. Nor has he reckoned on the mischievous spirit in which the wives will use their wits and wiles to teach him the error of ...

Reason and judgement prove no match for the tsunami of mutual passion engulfing Mark Antony, one of the three joint rulers of the Roman republic, and Cleopatra, the seductive queen of Egypt. Surrendering everything to their desires, they open the floodgates to a civil conflict that will shake the...

From the Stratford Festival's 2023 season, Alice Childress's powerful play Wedding Band, an emotional and revealing portrayal of interracial love, set in South Carolina in the shadow of the First World War and the 1918 flu epidemic. As Julia, a Black seamstress, and Herman, a white baker, face th...

The celebrated wit of George Bernard Shaw makes sparkling comedy of political drama as veteran strategist Julius Caesar becomes mentor to the enchanting teenage queen of Roman-occupied Egypt. From her first timid encounter with Caesar under a desert moon, Cleopatra grows in strength to become a d...

The ultimate royal family crisis.

Prince Hamlet (Amaka Umeh)'s father is dead, poisoned by his uncle (Graham Abbey) who has usurped the throne and married his mother, the Queen (Maev Beaty). When the dead King's ghost appears, commanding his son to revenge his foul and most unnatural murder, Ham...

Church and state collide when England's king defies papal authority by seeking to divorce his wife, Katherine of Aragon. The consequences will be epochal for the country - and calamitous for the king's adviser, Cardinal Wolsey, who has been playing a dangerous game of his own.

Passion, political...

When the rule of a hedonistic and mecurial king is questioned, rebellion, assassination and excommunication ensue, culminating in the chilling attempt to commit an atrocity against a child, whose mother's anguished grief cannot atone for her blinkered ambitions for her son. With commanding perfor...