Collection search - Birth of the Stratford Festival

Record information – Brief

1

Birth of the Stratford Festival

Item number (ISN):

49128

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Item number (ISN):

49128

Type of material:

Sound recordings

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

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Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, RADIO: GENERAL FILE

Accession:

1987-0297

Media:

Sound

Part:

1 of 1

Release date:

1953-07-31

Production company:

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Production credit:

announcer/commentator, Thom Benson; assistant to Thom Benson, J. Frank Willis; announcer, Harry Mannis

Description:

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Documentary on the first Stratford Festival in Ontario. This radio program covers: how the idea was born, realized and financed; what the English and Canadian actors think of the idea; how critics and how the opening-night audience viewed the first performance, which was presented the week before. Narrator-commentator Thom Benson gives a general introduction and describes the physical details of the town of Stratford, Ontario. Tom Patterson talks about his dream of having a Shakespeare festival in his hometown and how he went about realizing his dream. Cecil Clark, English assistant director at the Festival, intersperses comments on achieving technical and physical production requirements and the aim of the Festival to develop an indigenous Canadian theatre that will not simply be an offshoot of English theatre. Tyrone Guthrie, internationally-acclaimed stage director, tells why and how he became involved in the Festival and talks about the details of choosing the plays presented for the season and his views on the Festival as a vital phase in the development of Canadian theatre. Tanya Moiseiwitsch, costume and scene designer, talks about the Festival stage and its adaptability. Actress Irene Worth describes her costumes in the plays Richard III and All's Well That Ends Well. Moiseiwitchsch talks about the other costumes she has designed for the two plays and her method of working. She describes and analyses the theatre itself. Alec Guiness describes his experiences in Shakespearean drama, his particular interests in stage roles, his view of the Festival concept, the advantages and disadvantages of working on a new stage such as that at Stratford, why he acts, Shakespeare's poetrt and the rehearsal period at Stratford. Canadian actress Amelia Hall and Canadian actor Robert Christie talk about their delight with the Festival concept, the rising standards of Canadian theatre and the personal strengths of Tyrone Guthrie as a stage director. Conductor Sir Ernest MacMillan, London Times correspondent J.S. Bewst, Toronto Globe and Mail reporter Lotta Dempsey, Canadian author and Peterborough Examiner editor Robertson Davies, London Free Press drama critic Beatrice Taylor, New York Herald Tribune critic Walter Kerr, and B.K. Sandwell, contributing editor of the Financial Post, give positive reactions to the opening night of Richard III. <1h>

Language:

English

Notes:

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1. Initial CBC Radio Archives cataloguing called this STRATFORD SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL.~2. For tape copy made by CBC see idc isn 261014.
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

GENCAT identity number:

GAD 0FD547

Restrictions on consultation:

To be Determined / À déterminer

Reproduction access:

With written permission of Copyright Owner / Avec la permission écrite du détenteur des droits d'auteur

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Date modified:: 2024-07-04