Productions recorded at The Shaw Festival

Many of the excellent audio book titles produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation have been recorded at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. So we thought it would be interesting to provide you with some background information about the Festival.
“The Shaw Festival is the only theatre in the world that specializes exclusively in the plays of Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries (1856-1950) – plays about the beginning of the modern world. Presented in three distinctive theatres in the historic town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, The Shaw's work engages the imagination, illuminates the past, and inspires debate about the future.

HISTORY OF THE SHAW FESTIVAL

Why Shaw? In his book Not Bloody Likely, Doherty explains that Shaw "was the only outstanding playwright in English, with the obvious exception of Shakespeare, who produced a sufficient number of plays to support a festival." But he also acknowledges a more deeply rooted reason – that Shaw was not only a great playwright, but also a great prophet of the twentieth century.
From its humble beginnings in the town's historic Court House, the Festival's operations grew and the limitations of the Court House necessitated expansion to a larger venue. After a fundraising campaign spearheaded by Calvin Rand, one of the original board members, construction began on the new Festival Theatre in 1972, and it opened the following year. In 1980 the Shaw Festival acquired the Royal George Theatre and began the present tradition of operating three theatres, each with its own kind of plays.
The core of the present company came together in 1980, when Christopher Newton arrived as the new Artistic Director. Since then he has developed a distinctive artistic personality for the Festival, based in part on his commitment to a permanent Acting Ensemble and on his belief in the vitality of The Shaw's mandate.
Since these beginnings, the Shaw Festival has grown to be one of the largest repertory companies in North America. Our longest-serving artistic directors have been Paxton Whitehead (1967-1977) and Christopher Newton (1980-2002). Jackie Maxwell takes over as Artistic Director for the 2003 season.”
If you would like more information about the Festival, we recommend that you visit their website at www.shawfest.com


Text in quotes © 2003 The Shaw Festival

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