The Festival Theatre

Stratford had a fascination with William Shakespeare long before the arrival of the Festival in 1953. It was the Canada Company’s Thomas Mercer Jones who rechristened the village known as Appin as Stratford and the Little Thames the Avon after the town and river in England. Subsequently, streets named Shakespeare and Falstaff, as well as wards named Romeo and Hamlet continued this process of honouring the famous playwright.

It was through the efforts of local journalist Tom Patterson that Stratford parlayed its name into an ambitious artistic undertaking. The immediate catalyst for his plan was the closure of the railway repair facilities in town. At the time, over 40% of the local workers were employed in the repair shops or in associated industries. Something had to be done quickly to mitigate the shock of the closure, and Patterson, like a generation of school students, had been influenced by his Grade 11 English teacher, Rose McQueen, who was the first to propose a festival in Stratford. 

The audacity of those who initiated the festival and their willingness to envision a brighter future were embodied in the attractive playhouse with its innovative thrust stage. What seeds might Flowing Futures plant in the minds of citizens young and old?

The River Above the River Below is a vision inspired by the Provocations Ideas Festival. 

Introduction | Shakespearean Gardens  | Orr Dam | Allward Monument | The Tom | Festival Theatre | The Lookout | Healing Waters | Island  | Gallery Pathways | North Shore | TJ Dolan Pathway | Conclusion