New shows are coming to the Stratford Festival this week.
On Thursday to Saturday, guests can attend the openings of The Tao of the World (directed by Jovanni Sy), King James Bible Play (directed by Nina Lee Aquino), and Saturday, Sunday, Monday (directed by Antoni Cimolino).
Productions are scheduled to start at 8 p.m. at the Tom Patterson Theatre, Studio Theatre, and Avon Theatre, respectively.
Festival Publicity Director Ann Swerdfager said there are 12 productions this year.
“That recovery from the pandemic has happened slowly, and look where we are.”
Swerdfager said Tao and King James are new Canadian plays, with Saturday, Sunday, Monday an English translation of Italian playwright Eduardo De Fillippo’s 1959 play.
She described Tao as a mash-up of The Way of the World and Crazy, Rich Asians.
“It’s very funny, very sexy, very colourful, there’s lots of music, it’s a really fun time in the theatre.”
Starring Agnes Tong, Heidi Sy Damayo, and Manami Hara, Tao follows Singapore’s wealthy elite planning schemes to bed other people’s partners and to swindle one another out of huge fortunes.
Swerdfager said King James Bible was one of the big hits of the season before it even hit the stage.
“The show was 85 percent sold out.”
The cast includes Deborah Hay, Cyrus Lane, Liz Der, Vivien Endicott-Douglas, Michael Spencer-Davis, and Sara Topham.
Swerdfager notes that Saturday, Sunday, Monday will bring something unique for audiences.
“The play is around the cooking of the Sunday supper and she (Rose Napoli) is making the ragù as a traditional Italian wife would do, and for this show they’re actually cooking the playwright’s own recipe of ragù on the stage.”
The show follows a Neapolitan household thrown into turmoil as a marital rift forms between the house matriarch and her withdrawn husband.
It features Graham Abbey, Rose Napoli, Rod Beattie, and Seana McKenna.
Tickets can be found at the Stratford Festival website.
