Stratford Tom Patterson Theatre | ?m | 1s | Stratford Festival | Hariri Pontarini

[AlbertC]

Stratford Festival announces 2022 season, including Tom Patterson Theatre opening​

Nov 23, 2021

After a mostly-outdoor season this year, the Stratford Festival has announced its 2022 lineup, which consists of 10 productions in four theatres, including the grand opening of its Tom Patterson Theatre. The $72 million venue was to have opened in the spring of 2020, but was delayed because of the pandemic.

“We celebrate a new beginning,” said the festival’s artistic director, Antoni Cimolino, in a press release today.

“The plays in the 2022 season contain not only new beginnings but the difficult moral and ethical decisions a new journey entails. What is the best way to start again? How can we avoid the traps of the past? In an imperfect world, what is good?”

A Cimolino-directed production of Richard III opens the theatre. It will be paired with All’s Well That Ends Well, directed by Scott Wentworth. The festival launched with these two works back in 1953.

Rounding out the Tom Patterson programming is Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka’s Death And The King’s Horseman, directed by Tawiah M’Carthy (Obaaberima).

The Festival Theatre includes two high-profile productions: Hamlet, directed by Peter Pasyk, and Chicago, directed by Donna Feore. The latter marks the first major new production of the musical to be seen outside of New York City or London, England in 30 years.

Stratford Festival announces 2022 season, including Tom Patterson Theatre opening - NOW Toronto

10-show season includes two of the plays that opened the fest in 1953, a new version of Chicago and four new Canadian plays

nowtoronto.com

 

[interchange42]

I got a chance to tour through the theatre on ribbon-cutting day last week.

It's gorgeous.

Official opening day is June 4, but in the meantime, here are the exteriors…

…here's the ribbon cutting by four kids with roles in Richard III;

42

 

[interchange42]

…and the interiors:

There are four main rooms plus loads of interior circulation space, including two bar areas, and a third spot in the member's lounge.

Each of the bars is made from a different type of marble, and the hightop tables in each space have the same marble:

That last one's the member's lounge, here's its bar:

I didn't get a good pic of the ticket counter, so, oh well, but lobby areas also include this mural on the theatre's history;

this temporary display of Richard III's robe, chain-of-office, org, rob, and sceptre from the opening production in the original Tom Patterson Theatre in 1953 (being put on again as the opening production in the new one, hence the child actors at the ribbon-cutting);

The multi-purpose Lazaridis Hall with its (protected) grand piano;

The Dinner Rooney Workshop, mostly used as rehearsal space;

and finally, let's get a look at the theatre itself, backstage first, then below-stage in the trap room…

…and now the intimate thrust stage space itself:

42

 

[Towered]

Some classic 60's modernist vibes there. Totally stunning.

 

[junctionist]

Hariri Pontarini get so many things right, from the creative use of volume, space, colour, and geometry to the sublime finishes. I don't think anyone else in Ontario would even attempt a purple stone bar, let alone pull it off so elegantly.

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

I try to get my Mother to tour around the exterior over the past Easter Weekend. But she was more interested in the collection of swans on the adjacent lake... /sigh

...at least what I saw briefly of it looked pretty amazing at the time.

 

[longfortheoldview]

I wish the Front of House staff uniforms were more befitting of the space.

 

[innsertnamehere]

What an absolutely world class facility. What a gift to the arts in this province. 11/10

 

[interchange42]

And now the theatre has netted Hariri Pontarini another (and much deserved) GG Award. From their announcement, weird formatting and all:

​ ​ Tom Patterson Theatre Receives 2022 Governor General's Medal in Architecture ​ ​

​ ​ Hariri Pontarini Architects is the recipient of a 2022 Governor General's Medal in Architecture for the Tom Patterson Theatre. Given every two years, the award recognizes individuals "that have distinguished themselves as visionary Canadian architects. They have designed spaces where communities are forged, memories are enshrined and identity is created in built form" said the RAIC and Canada Council. ​ ​ “The jury lauded this exceptional cultural building located by the water. They noted an excellent integration with the site and promenade. The nature of materials, organic forms and textures promotes sensory perception and contributes to the appreciation of the arts. The elegant assembly creates a calm and inspiring atmosphere inside and outside the enclosure.” –2022 Governor General's Medals in Architecture Jury ​ ​ “The Tom Patterson Theatre provides actors, directors and designers not only with the most perfect canvas but every instrument their imaginations might call upon to make a masterpiece. This unique elongated thrust stage is surrounded by an auditorium that is beautifully functional for audiences. The theatre is in turn enveloped by public spaces which create outstanding opportunities for events and joyful interaction. And the welcoming open facade is irresistibly nestled in a garden along the Avon River. We thank Siamak Hariri and his team for this gift which will benefit theatre artists and audiences for generations to come.” – Antoni Cimolino, Artistic Director of Stratford Festival ​ ​ “Receiving this award is a testament to the unwavering dedication of countless individuals who worked tirelessly to realize this project. The design is a celebration of the Festival’s connection to its city and its community, strengthening bonds and expanding possibilities at this beloved cultural institution.” – Siamak Hariri, founding partner of Hariri Pontarini Architects ​

The pics make me want to see it at night (and I want to see a show there, of course…)

42

 

[interchange42]

…and now the New York Times has weighed in:

The Times’s Theater Critic Reviews Stratford’s New Theater (Published 2022)

The Stratford Festival in Ontario opened a glamorous new theater last month that prioritizes the theater itself, not just what surrounds it.

www.nytimes.com

42

 

[Northern Light]

…and now the New York Times has weighed in:

The Times’s Theater Critic Reviews Stratford’s New Theater (Published 2022)

The Stratford Festival in Ontario opened a glamorous new theater last month that prioritizes the theater itself, not just what surrounds it.

www.nytimes.com

42

I'll bring forward just a couple of key bits where he discusses the new building:

"I admired the sensuous materiality of the undulating brass-and-glass facade, the riverine expanse of white oak floor, the roughness of the pale brick girdling the auditorium. I noted the whiz-bang electronic screens as well as the sparkling and seemingly infinite bathrooms."

"But those you can get anywhere. What makes the Patterson the best new theater I’ve seen in years is the clear prioritization of the theater itself, which sits like a treasured heirloom in a custom case. The silence and the dark are part of that, creating a plush space that is paradoxically full of emptiness, exerting a pressure of expectation as you sit in one of its 600 rust-colored seats. Watching a play there, you are always watching your fellow audience members as well, who sit across the thrust watching you. Because the seating is relatively compressed, you feel them, too."

The silence in particular gets some extended discussion with the theatre and its air handling units designed to lower ambient noise to at or below 10 decibels which is roughly akin to a recording studio.

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

I'll bring forward just a couple of key bits where he discusses the new building:

"I admired the sensuous materiality of the undulating brass-and-glass facade, the riverine expanse of white oak floor, the roughness of the pale brick girdling the auditorium. I noted the whiz-bang electronic screens as well as the sparkling and seemingly infinite bathrooms."

"But those you can get anywhere. What makes the Patterson the best new theater I’ve seen in years is the clear prioritization of the theater itself, which sits like a treasured heirloom in a custom case. The silence and the dark are part of that, creating a plush space that is paradoxically full of emptiness, exerting a pressure of expectation as you sit in one of its 600 rust-colored seats. Watching a play there, you are always watching your fellow audience members as well, who sit across the thrust watching you. Because the seating is relatively compressed, you feel them, too."

The silence in particular gets some extended discussion with the theatre and its air handling units designed to lower ambient noise to at or below 10 decibels which is roughly akin to a recording studio.

Thanks for posting the critical highlights...NYT's paywall is obnoxious at times. >.<

 

[Northern Light]

Thanks for posting the critical highlights...NYT's paywall is obnoxious at times. >.<

You're welcome.

But just an FYI, the NYT allows 1 free article a month via google. If you delete your cookies after reading an article, you can go back for more.

Just search the article title and click-through.

 

[emphurent]

Light display synced to Pink Floyd in promotion of an incoming show, photos taken tonight

Additional (source)

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

A saucerful of secrets...?