CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER RETURNS TO STRATFORD
FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER has arrived at the STRATFORD SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL to begin rehearsals for THE TEMPEST. Director Des McAnuff said the legendary actor’s turn as Prospero is not to be missed and will be “of historical importance.”
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, who earned his first OSCAR nomination earlier this year, was just at the southwestern Ontario theatre festival two years ago for his tour de force performance in CAESAR & CLEOPATRA. But he claims that he likely won’t be able to return for several years once THE TEMPEST is done.
“I take a break from everything I do because I don’t want to get in a rut and I don’t want to outstay my welcome,” the two time TONY winner said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Palm Beach, Florida.
“There are huge gaps before each time I went to Stratford. I would leave, like, 10 years before going again. Just lately I’ve been going – since Caesar, I skipped one year and now I’m doing this – but I think I will skip it for a while after this summer is over because I work elsewhere.”
Des McAnuff, the festival’s artistic director who is overseeing THE TEMPEST – which begins previews JUNE 11 and opens JUNE 25 – said that he’s always trying to get CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER to do more theatre there but faces “a lot of competition” from his other offers.
“He’s hot as a pistol…at 80. He’s just coming into his prime. He’s very much in demand and the message I have for theatregoers is: Do not miss this chance to see his Prospero. Do not miss it. This is of historical importance. He’s very likely the greatest actor of his generation and to see him in The Tempest…This is a rare opportunity.”
The Toronto born actor – who earned the ACADEMY AWARD nomination for playing ailing Russian author LEO TOLSTOY in THE LAST STATION – first performed at the STRATFORD festival in 1956 in the title role of HENRY V. Since then, he’s starred in several productions there, including HAMLET, TWELFTH NIGHT, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, ROMEO & JULIET and MACBETH.
He keeps returning because he “believes” in it.
“It’s our main theatre in the country, really – and I’m a Canadian so I think one should support that theatre. It’s also a joy to work there. The eating is good because the cooking school is there…and you can always move on from Stratford to somewhere else.”
Another big lure: Des McAnuff.
“I think he’s terrific for the place. And he dares, you know…? He brings a lot of very fine directors there, which we were not getting before. People were not going out into the world and searching for top directors and he’s done that and he’ll experiment and bring people up that perhaps are unconventional.”
“He’s bringing the theatre into the twenty first century.”
“He’s trying to also improve it technically. A lot needs to be done with the sound and even with the lighting and it needs to be rehauled and he’s very much into that. In fact, he’s given quite a sizable amount of money himself towards it, so he’s a terrifically valuable person to have and I think he’s shaken the whole place up in the right way.”
Des McAnuff got to know CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER through the actor’s daughter AMANDA, a theatre performer whom the director worked with at La Jolla Playhouse on the campus of the University of California in San Diego.
It took them several years to come together on a project, “so now I’m trying to make up for lost time,” said the director.
“He’s such a meticulous artist. He spends months and months in preparation. He’s also a great collaborator and partner for me creatively and he puts a lot into this. He’s quite magnificent.”
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER said that London is all ready showing interest in Stratford’s production of THE TEMPEST and that organizers hope to film it as they did with CAESAR & CLEOPATRA.
“There should be a record of these plays. It’s a shame that the only thing that’s wrong with the theatre is that it’s sort of buried with yesterday’s newspaper, unless it’s recorded.”
