60 Years Later

1 Program cover from the first season 2 Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip with Calvin Rand in the balcony of the Festival Theatre in 1973 (the box that would thereafter be known as “The Queen's Box”)

2 Construction on the Festival Theatre

THE FIRST 60 YEARS: SNAPSHOTS OF SHAW HISTORY THROUGH OUR THEATRES

2 The original Festival Theatre curtain. Photo by Robert C. Ragsdale

1 1962 BEGINNING IN THE COURT HOUSE

Would the town council agree to the Court House being used as a temporary theatre? Well, yes, at least for 1962, but with no promises for future seasons (if there were any). Rarely, however, have actors, directors and designers (not to mention audiences) had to cope with such an inadequate performance space. The theatre was to be located in the Assembly Room…which was approached in 1962 through the main entrance to the building on Queen Street. On the right as the audience entered was the Lord Mayor’s office;’ on the left was the town jail, used, as Calvin Rand [co-founder of the Festival] recalls “for drunks and other disturbers of the peace.” The Assembly Room itself had a flat floor, with a small platform stage, and the only wing space was a small room on either side, formerly used as judges’ chambers…Rudimentary lighting was installed for the first season, blackouts were fixed to the windows, and stacking chairs were borrowed for seats. The kitchen and part of the lobby were used as dressing rooms, separated from the audience at intermission only by a curtain.

Fourteen months after the sod turning, on June 12, 1973, the opening day of the theatre, new sod was still being laid. But the 800 guests who snacked on liver paté, crabmeat canapés, stuffed mushroom caps, breaded shrimps, Swedish meatballs, and breaded drumsticks—washed down by local champagne—were oblivious to the last-minute hustle and bustle outside and inside the theatre.

The opening play was Shaw’s You Never Can Tell, but the star and the centre of attention was the theatre, not the play. Among the accolades was Clive Barnes’s description of it in The New York Times as “the loveliest in North America,” but the most eloquent tribute to what [architect] Ron Thom had achieved came from the Toronto Star:

Beautifully proportioned and superbly detailed, the new Festival Theatre gives its lucky audiences room to admire, room to wander and, most important, room to think. It is an environment which leaves a dimension for the intellect, for words, ideas and reflections.

Many famous people came to the Shaw Festival in the inaugural season of the Festival Theatre. Ontario Premier William Davis officially opened the theatre on June 12; Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau escorted Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on June 20; and Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh attended a special performance of You Never Can Tell on June 28.

2 1973 OPENING THE FESTIVAL THEATRE

All text courtesy of L.W. Conolly from his book, The Shaw Festival: The First Fifty Years. Oxford University Press, 2011.

3 1980 PURCHASING THE ROYAL GEORGE THEATRE

The theatre was eventually put on the open market, when the Festival (as the asking price dropped) again became interested. By April 1980 an agreement had been reached, one that cost the Festival about $185,000, including $12,000 for essential safety-related renovations. Renovations had to wait, but they occurred at regular intervals during the 1980s, as funds were raised. New seats were installed in 1982…renovations for improved seating and for the reinstatement of the theatre balcony and structural repairs, [were] all ready for the 1984 season. Renovations in 1985 updated sound and lighting systems and in 1988 a small orchestra pit and permanent proscenium arch…were installed. Following additional renovations to the interior of the theatre, designed by Cameron Porteous [Head of Design], the transition of the Royal George Theatre into a miniature Edwardian opera house was celebrated on May 26, 1990, at the opening performance of J.B. Priestley’s When We are Married.

4 Production Centre after completion. Photo by Ben Rahn

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4 2002–2004 BUILDING THE DONALD AND ELAINE TRIGGS PRODUCTION CENTRE

Immediately after the close of the 2002 season work had begun on a large building project, the biggest since the 1972–73 construction of the Festival Theatre. The objective…was to refurbish the Festival Theatre and to build a new Production Centre. Areas of the theatre to be renovated included the lobby, shop, and box office, and the Production Centre was to be built at the south end of the theatre…[and] provided much-needed rehearsal spaces (three), a green room…administrative offices, an Academy suite, a recording studio and music rehearsal rooms and an audience reception lounge.

4 Production Centre under construction. Photo by Paddy Parr