Oct. 26--The Stratford Festival has announced casting for its 2016 season, marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.
Artistic director Antoni Cimolino opens the Festival Theatre productions with "Macbeth" starring Ian Lake, last seen at Stratford as Mortimer in 2013's "Mary Stuart." The production will also feature Krystin Pellerin as Lady Macbeth and Scott Wentworth as Banquo. "As You Like It" will feature Petrina Bromley in her Stratford debut as Rosalind, along with Cyrus Lane as Orlando and Sean McKenna, in her 25th season with the festival, as Jaques. Moliere's "The Hypochondriac" will star comic duo Stephen Ouimette as Argan and Brigit Wilson as Toinette, last paired in Cimolino's 2015 production of "The Alchemist."
"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" opens the season in the Avon Theatre and features Sara Farb as Lucy, Ruby Joy as Susan, Andr頍orin as Edmund and Gareth Potter as Peter. Tom McCamus, who recently portrayed Leo in the film "Room," will play Aslan and the Professor. Yanna McIntosh will play the White Witch.
In the Tom Patterson Theatre, frequent onstage couple at Stratford Joseph Ziegler and Lucy Peacock will reunite as Joe and Kate Keller in "All My Sons." "Breath of Kings," a world premiere two-part adaptation of the Henriad history cycle by long-time Stratford performer Graham Abbey, will feature Abbey as Henry IV, along with return actors Araya Mengesha as Henry V, Tom Rooney as Richard II and Geraint Wyn Davies as Falstaff and Fluellen. A new translation of Ibsen's "John Gabriel Borkman" will star Scott Wentworth in the title role and will feature Seana McKenna and Lucy Peacock as twin sisters Ella Rentheim and Gunhild Borkman. Wentworth directed this season's "The Adventures of Pericles."
In the Studio Theatre, Maev Beaty will play Sorrel in Hannah Moscovitch's new play "Bunny." Gareth Potter returns for his 13th season to take on the role of Aeneas in Olivier Kemeid's translation of "The Aeneid."
Casting for "A Chorus Line," "Shakespeare in Love" and "A Little Night Music" will be announced at a later date.
