THE SHAW CHARLEY'S AUNT - Shaw Festival Theatre
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W
CHARLEY’S AUNT
202 1 Ensemble
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Tim Carroll EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Tim Jennings ASSOCIATE
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Kimberley Rampersad DIRECTORS Philip Akin • Molly Atkinson •
Tim Carroll • Craig Hall • Kate Hennig • Eda Holmes • Kimberley Rampersad MUSIC
D I R EC T O R S / C O M P OS E R S / S O U N D D E S I G N E R S Ryan deSouza • John Gzowski • John
Lott • Paul Sportelli • Claudio Vena CHOREOGRAPHY / MOVEMENT / PUPPETRY / FIGHT
DIRECTION Julio Fuentes • Alexandra Montagnese • Allison Plamondon • John Stead
DIALECT CONSULTANT Alicia Richardson DESIGNERS Judith Bowden • Rachel Forbes
• Gillian Gallow • Michael Gianfrancesco • Christine Lohre • Hanne Loosen • Ken
MacKenzie • Joyce Padua • Ming Wong LIGHTING DESIGNERS Nick Andison • Louise
Guinand • Mikael Kangas • Kevin Lamotte
• Michelle Ramsay P R O J E C T I O N D E S I G N E R
Cameron Davis STAGE MANAGEMENT Beatrice
Campbell • Katie Fitz-Gerald • Ashley Ireland
• Amy Jewell • Diane Konkin • Meredith
M ac don a ld • L e i g h Mc Cly mont • A n n ie
McWhinnie • Théa Pel • Ken James Stewart •
Allan Teichman • Dora Tomassi M U S I C I A N S
David Atkinson • Andy Ballantyne • Erica
Beston • Sasha Boychouk • Alex Grant • Tom
Jestadt • Nancy Kershaw • Jason Logue •
Ross MacIntyre • Shawn Moody • Christine
Passmore • Anna Redekop • Tom Skublics
• Rob Somer ville THE ENSEMBLE Kaleb
GBS, BY MAX
Alexander • David Alan Anderson • Damien
BEERBOHM.
Atkins • Neil Barclay • Kristopher Bowman
• Andrew Broderick • Fiona Byrne • Jason
Cadieux • Julia Course • James Daly • Peter
Fernandes • Kristi Frank • Patrick Galligan
• Katherine Gauthier • Alexis Gordon •
Martin Happer • Claire Jullien • Andrew
Lawrie • Julie Lumsden • Marie Mahabal •
Tom McCamus • Kevin McLachlan • Marla
McLean • Peter Millard • Michelle Mohammed • Alexandra Montagnese • Nafeesa
Monroe • Mike Nadajewski • Mike Petersen • Drew Plummer • Chick Reid • Ric Reid
• Kiera Sangster • Travis Seetoo • Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane • Donna Soares • Graeme
Somerville • Johnathan Sousa • Gabriella Sundar Singh • Sanjay Talwar • Jonathan
Tan • Jacqueline Thair • Shauna Thompson • Jay Turvey • Kelly Wong • Jenny L.
Wright
IN MEMORIAMZoe Caldwell • dawn e. crysler • Richard Farrell • Ann Ferencz • Mary
Haney • Martha Mann • Jennifer Phipps • David Schurmann • Bob Vernon • Colin
D. Watson
welcome to a season unlike any yet seen at The Shaw. That’s not surprising, is it? This year and a bit has been unlike anything any of us have lived through before. The frustration, for anyone who works in the field of live performance, has at times been overwhelming. But if one looks for a silver lining, it isn’t hard to find: I think I will never again hear anyone say that live theatre is dying, or an unnecessary luxury. The sparkling eyes of the audiences who came to our concert series last fall tell a different story. Even with masks on, there could be no mistaking the smiles on their faces. Human connection will never be a luxury. However we gather this year (and of course our priority will be keeping everyone safe), let’s take a moment to look at each other, to smile with our eyes, and to feel grateful for the chance to experience something together. We can’t make it on our own. tim carroll, artistic director FESTIVAL THEATRE THE DEVIL’S DISCIPLE • SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE R AVEN’S CURSE ROYAL GEORGE THEATRE CHARLEY’S AUNT • FLUSH JACKIE MAXWELL STUDIO THEATRE DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS • TROUBLE IN MIND HOLIDAY SEASON A CHRISTMAS CAROL • HOLIDAY INN
The Shaw wishes to acknowledge and honour the land upon SPECIAL THANKS
which we gather as the historic and traditional territory of
Rachel O’Brien’s internship in
First Nations peoples. In particular, we recognize and thank
Music Direction was made pos-
the Neutral Nation, the Mississauga and the Haudenosaunee
sible through an investment by the
for their stewardship of these lands over millennia. We also
George Cedric Metcalf Charitable
wish to thank all of the First Nations peoples in Canada, and
Foundation and the support of the
the Indigenous peoples of the United States, for their ongoing Shaw Guild. Julie Lumsden, Kevin
and important roles in the caretaking of the lands beneath McLachlan, Drew Plummer and
our feet, wherever we travel on Turtle Island. Shauna Thompson are supported
by the R BC Foundation and the
RBC Emerging Artists Project. The
2021 Christopher Newton Intern
2021 Boards is Olivia Sinclair-Brisbane, gener-
ously supported by Marilyn and
Charles Baillie.
SHAW FESTIVAL THEATRE, CANADA The Shaw Festival Archives are
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Peter E.S. Jewett, Chair • Ian M.H.
and maintained by the staff of the
Joseph, Vice Chair • Timothy R. Price, Vice Chair • Kevin J. Pat-
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terson, Treasurer • Colleen Johnston, Secretary • Tim Carroll,
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fessional artists who are members
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Baillie • Charles E. Balbach • Barbara Besse & Ronald D. Besse Federation of Musicians of the Unit-
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We acknowledge the support of the
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FACE COVERINGS are required by all patrons, in conjunction with regional requirements and internal
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Kelly Wong and Jacqueline Thair backstage (Brigadoon, 2019). Photo by Peter Andrew Lusztyk.
Client: SHAW FESTIVAL Publication: 2021 House Programme Insertion Date: 2021 Size: 4.875 in in x 3.875 in
Contact: BRUCE@KEYGORDON.COM - Key Gordon CommunicationsTHE BMO STAGE, JULY 9 TO JULY 31
ROYAL GEORGE THEATRE, AUGUST 8 TO OCTOBER 10
TIM CARROLL TIM JENNINGS
Artistic Director Executive Director
MIKE NADAJEWSKI,
PETER FERNANDES and ANDREW LAWRIE in
CHARLEY’S
AUNT
by BRANDON THOMAS
with NEIL BARCLAY, PATRICK GALLIGAN,
ALEXIS GORDON, CLAIRE JULLIEN, MARLA McLEAN,
RIC REID and GABRIELLA SUNDAR SINGH
Directed by TIM CARROLL
Designed by CHRISTINE LOHRE
Lighting designed by LOUISE GUINAND
The videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited.
CHARLEY’S AUNT is THE BMO STAGE Christopher Newton
Intern Olivia Sinclair-
generously sponsored by is sponsored by Brisbane is generously
Mary E. Hill supported by Marilyn
and Charles Baillie.
FRONT COVER: PHOTO BY KEY GORDON.PATRICK GALLIGAN AS COLONEL SIR FRANCIS CHESNEY, PETER FERNANDES AS JACK CHESNEY, ALEXIS GORDON
AS AMY SPETTIGUE, MARLA McLEAN AS KITTY VERDUN AND ANDREW LAWRIE AS CHARLEY WYKEHAM. BELOW:
MIKE NADAJEWSKI AS LORD FANCOURT BABBERLEY.
THE BMO STAGE
is sponsored by
CHARLEY’S AUNT
is generously
sponsored by
Mary E. Hill
Christopher Newton
Intern Olivia Sinclair-
Brisbane is generously
supported by Marilyn
and Charles Baillie.The Cast IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Jack Chesney PETER FERNANDES
Brassett NEIL BARCLAY
Charley Wykeham ANDREW LAWRIE
Lord Fancourt Babberley MIKE NADAJEWSKI
Kitty Verdun MARLA McLEAN
Amy Spettigue ALEXIS GORDON
Colonel Sir Francis Chesney PATRICK GALLIGAN
Stephen Spettigue RIC REID
Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez CLAIRE JULLIEN
Ela Delahay GABRIELLA SUNDAR SINGH
Walking Covers KALEB ALEXANDER
OLIVIA SINCLAIR-BRISBANE
The play takes place during Commemoration Week, Oxford, 1892.
act i: Jack Chesney’s rooms in College. Morning.
intermission
act ii: Garden outside Jack Chesney’s rooms. Afternoon.
intermission
act iii: Drawing room at Spettigue’s house. Evening.
Stage Manager DIANE KONKIN
Assistant Stage Manager ASHLEY IRELAND
Production Stage Manager MEREDITH MACDONALD
Assistant Designer BEYATA HACKBORN
Assistant Lighting Designer NICK ANDISON
Voice and Dialect Coach JEFFREY SIMLETT
Special thanks to Sharry Flett and Alexis Milligan.
Additional costumes by Jennifer Wonnacott of Kipper Tailoring.
UNDERSTUDIES
KALEB ALEXANDER, Jack Chesney, Brassett, Charley Wykeham; NEIL BARCLAY, Stephen Spettigue;
PETER FERNANDES, Lord Fancourt Babberley; RIC REID, Colonel Sir Francis Chesney; OLIVIA
SINCLAIR-BRISBANE, Kitty Verdun, Amy Spettigue, Ela Delahay; DONNA SOARES, Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez
Running time is approximately 2 hours and 35 minutes
including two intermissionsMARLA McLEAN AS KITTY VERDUN, MIKE NADAJEWSKI AS LORD FANCOURT BABBERLEY AND ALEXIS GORDON AS AMY SPETTIGUE . RIC REID AS STEPHEN SPETTIGUE, ANDREW LAWRIE AS CHARLEY WYKEHAM AND PETER FERNANDES AS JACK CHESNEY. OPPOSITE: CLAIRE JULLIEN AS DONNA LUCIA D’ALVADOREZ.
Director’s Notes
by Tim Carroll
This is my second time directing Charley’s Aunt. I haven’t done many plays more than once.
Not many directors do, apart from a couple of the big Shakespeares. But, for any directors
reading this, I can really recommend the experience. It’s like coming back to a great novel
one read in one’s youth. The piece may not have changed, but you have.
I first did this play in 1994, when I was not even thirty years old. At the time, I looked
about twelve, so it was strange to be directing actors thirty years older than me. They tended
to look at me as though they thought
it was Bring Your Child to Work Day.
That, I suppose, is one advantage of get-
ting old and grey: people assume you
know what you’re doing. In rehearsal
I do my best to correct that notion as
soon as possible.
It’s a mark of a great play when
reading it is completely unlike watch-
ing it. Chekhov has this quality: on the
page, you don’t realize how many reac-
tions each line might be provoking, or
how significant a stage direction can be.
Then you watch it in the theatre, and it’s
the reaction that breaks your heart, or
the entrance of that person at just that
moment that makes you want to hide
your eyes. Charley’s Aunt is like that.
When you read it, it seems so simple.
When you try to stage it, you realize
that those old theatre pros knew what
they were doing. Every new event or
revelation is perfectly timed to take
our protagonists from a perfectly rea-
sonable starting point into the heart
of confusion and chaos.
Like all farces, Charley’s Aunt hap-
pens in no real time or place. Its setting
is Oxford, and its time is 1892, but it
is no Oxford that ever existed, and its
period is only helpful in that it imposes
certain social rules which intensify the problems to be solved. Otherwise, it is a fairy-tale
place, created only for the duration of the play, melting into nothing as soon as the curtain
falls. And yet, within that artificial world, the people are recognizable and their desires
and fears all too human. It’s a delightfully daft confection, but it’s also a kind and humane
play. The sort of play that is worth doing twice.
The music in this production is a selection from Rossini’s String Sonatas.CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: MIKE NADAJEWSKI AS BABBERLEY, ANDREW LAWRIE AS CHARLEY WYKEHAM AND ALEXIS GORDON AS AMY SPETTIGUE; PATRICK GALLIGAN AS SIR FRANCIS, MIKE NADAJEWSKI AS BABBERLEY, GABRIELLA SUNDAR SINGH AS ELA DELAHAY, CLAIRE JULLIEN AS DONNA LUCIA, ALEXIS GORDON AS AMY SPETTIGUE AND ANDREW LAWRIE AS CHARLEY WYKEHAM; MIKE NADAJEWSKI AS BABBERLEY; NEIL BARCLAY AS BRASSETT AND MARLA McLEAN AS KITTY VERDUN.
Charley’s Aunt, 2021
the bmo stagePOSTER ILLUSTRATION BY SCOTT McKOWEN FOR A 2018 PRODUCTION OF CHARLEY’S AUNT AT THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE OF NEW JERSEY.
Where the Nuts Come From
by Bob Hetherington
As long as women have worn dresses, male actors have been borrow-
ing them to get a laugh. Milton Berle, Uncle Miltie in the early days of
television, had only to put on a dress and some lipstick to elicit belly
laughs from the enthusiastic American viewing public. More recently,
all flavours of audiences have enjoyed Australia’s Barry Humphries’
flamboyant Dame Edna Everage, the drag sketches on England’s
Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Canada’s The Kids in the Hall, Robin
Williams’ much-loved Mrs Doubtfire, Tyler Perry’s Madea – even Bugs
Bunny has dolled himself up to hoodwink Elmer Fudd.
A little while back, when the American Film Institute released
their hundred funniest movies of all time, the two at the top of the list
were Some Like It Hot and Tootsie. Obviously, they share more than
popularity. The cross-dressing Dustin Hoffman learns essentially
the same lesson that his brothers-in-skirts, Jack Lemmon and Tony
Curtis, learn – namely, after walking a mile in the shoes (especially
the high heels) of women and suffering a series of casual indignities
at the hands of thoughtless men, the other gender should be treated
with respect and equality. What happens to the cross-dressers in
beloved Hollywood films also happens to Lord Fancourt Babberley
in Charley’s Aunt: dragged unwillingly into skirts, he slowly finds
himself warming to the role. He even comes to fear, “I am a disgrace
to my sex,” whichever one he means. We are now more sensitive about
the interference patterns that waver between genders, but this, one
of the theatre’s hardiest perennials, endures.
Charley’s Aunt, a luxury laugh machine, is also slyly subver-
sive, marrying farce, vaudeville, panto and social satire with some
interesting excursions into male-female dynamics, not to mention a
timely treatment of class and entitlement. It is based on the ludicrous,
old-fashioned premise that two Oxford students, Charley and Jack,
require a chaperone to woo their respective sweethearts. No problem
– there’s an aunt coming from abroad. Except that she doesn’t show
up on time. That’s where young Lord Fancourt Babberley comes in
to impersonate Charley’s aunt from Brazil, “where the nuts come
from.” These young gentlemen are soon in over their heads with their
lunatic scheme. This is a Victorian comedy with bells on: period slang,
dressing for dinner and even smoking on-stage. How much more
scandalous today than cross-dressing, to see a young man in drag
enjoying a good cigar, now that theatres have outlawed lighting up.
Between 1875 and 1900 more than six hundred full-length farces
were produced in London. Besides Oscar Wilde’s The Importance
of Being Earnest (a comic masterpiece, but not a farce), try to name
another one. In just one year, Charley’s Aunt played simultaneously
in forty-eight separate productions in twenty-two different languages.
In Italy it was called La Zia di Carlo, in Germany Charley’s Tante, in
France La Marraine de Charley, and in Japan The Aunt of Hawaii.Perhaps the most remarkable production took place in cosmopolitan Cairo during the
Second World War, when several actors of different nationalities met drinking in the cel-
ebrated Shepheard’s Hotel bar and discovered they had all played in Charley’s Aunt at some
time in their careers. They immediately agreed to give a charity performance, but as there
was no language they all shared, each spoke their own. Remarkably, the gala was a triumph;
the audience had no trouble follow-
ing the production since, apparently,
they knew the play almost as well
as the actors.
At the London premiere, the
theatre fireman laughed so hard he
dropped his fire curtain, nearly caus-
ing a panic. A duke’s equerry in the
audience was so convulsed he fell
through his seat to the floor, where
he remained for the rest of the per-
formance. Pirate performances of the
farce cropped up all over the country,
forcing Brandon Thomas to hire a pri-
vate detective to look out for unau-
thorized productions. Charley’s Aunt
was HUGE, making the playwright
and the comedian W.S. Penley, who
created Lord Fancourt Babberley,
both very wealthy.
But, why? Was the playwright
a genius? Brandon Thomas hatched
the idea for his immortal play when
he met Penley on a train journey.
Penley was planning to become an
actor-manager, and he asked Thomas
to write a play for him. Something
about Penley’s large oval face reminded him of a photograph of one of his own female
relatives. “Have you ever thought,” he asked, “of playing a woman?” The comedy is uncon-
ventional in that it is not about marriage, but about courtship. Most strikingly, it solves a
common problem of a three-act farce: how to construct a final act that improves on the
hilarity achieved at the end of act two. Unlike many comedies, it is not remembered for its
funny dialogue (it is not, like Earnest, often quoted). It does have exceptional comic sight
gags – many involving business with hats, or the tossing of a valise concealing bottles of
champagne. But the question remains: why is it so popular? The best explanation of the
play’s singular success returns to the comedy in theatrical cross-dressing.
Charley’s Aunt teases the audience with the constant danger that Babb’s lack of
improvisational acting skills will reveal the underlying gender of the androgynously
nick-named Fanny Babbs. The risk of exposure eventually culminates in a rebellious
striptease where his frustrated undressing provokes a chase where Jack and Charley forceSTARRY WOODRUFF, PERCY LYNDAL AND “It is wrong to scorn farcical comedy. It
ETIENNE GIRARDOT IN THE FIRST NEW YORK
PRODUCTION OF CHARLEY’S AUNT, 1893 is by jingling the bells of a jester’s cap
(PHOTO BY SARONY, NEW YORK PUBLIC
LIBRARY FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS).
that I have made people listen to me.”
OPPOSITE: CARICTURE OF W.S. PENLEY BY Bernard Shaw
ALFRED BRYAN, 1894.him to resume the role of Charley’s aunt.
The striptease and chase gave the actor
Penley/Lord Fancourt an opportunity
to demonstrate acrobatic alacrity in the
switching of roles and genders and so
enabled him to grab hands with Jack
Lemon and Dustin Hoffman and all
the other great men in skirts.
According to Jevan Brandon-
Thomas (in his biography of his father),
it was also the cause of a terrible row
between Thomas and Penley at the final
dress rehearsal of the London premiere.
“Penley adopted a sudden fit of prudery
and objected to taking off the dress in
Act II on the grounds that the audience
would resent it as ‘improper,’ and hate
him for it. This in spite of the fact that
he was fully dressed in ordinary men’s
clothes (except for his coat) underneath,
and also that he had been playing this
very scene for weeks in the Provinces
before coming into London.” A fight
about how best to present a man on-stage
dressed in Victorian bombazine can only
end with one realization: “It is foolish
to resist.” When Penley/Lord Fancourt
stopped resisting the ridiculousness of
his situation and steered the farce into
the spin, the play picked up consider-
able comic momentum. And theatre
immortality.
Brandon Thomas would continue
to prosper in the theatre as an actor and
writer, but nothing would achieve any-
thing near the success of his one huge hit.
In his obituary The Times quoted him as
saying, “I hoped to go down to fame as
a great actor. If I go at all it will be as the
DIE- CUT THEATRE ADVERTISEMENT FOR A author of Charley’s Aunt.”
1916 PRODUCTION OF CHARLEY’S AUNT,
SHOWN FOLDED AND FULLY OPEN (ALAMY). BOB HETHERINGTON IS A THEATRE DIRECTOR AND
P R O F E S S O R E M E R I T U S AT T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F
MEMPHIS. HE IS A FREQUENT SHAW ESSAYIST, WHOSE
R EC E N T CO N T R I B U T I O N S I N C LU D E R O P E ( 2 0 1 9) ,
STAGE KISS (2018), HENRY V (2018) AND MIDDLETOWN
(2017).ITALIAN COMEDIAN ERNESTO FERRERO IN LA ZIA DI CARLO, C.1925 (ALAMY); JOSÉ FERRER IN CHARLEY’S AUNT
AT THE CORT THEATRE, NEW YORK, 1941 (NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS).
Production History
Charley’s Aunt opened at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds on February 29, 1892, and
then toured the English provinces before the London premiere at the Royalty Theatre on
December 21, 1892. It transferred to the larger Globe Theatre on January 30, 1893. The total
London run was 1466 performances. In the many British stage revivals, Lord Fancourt
Babberley has been played by such stars as Leslie Phillips, John Mills, Tom Courtenay
and Griff Rhys Jones. bbc television revivals have featured Bernard Cribbins, Donald
Wolfit, Danny La Rue and Ronnie Barker. In the United States, Charley’s Aunt opened on
Broadway at the Standard Theatre on October 2, 1893, and ran for four years. A 1940 revival
headlined by José Ferrer as Babberley ran for over six months, but managed only fifteen
performances when Ferrer reprised the role in 1953. A live cbs television production in
1957 starred Art Carney (Babberley), Orson Bean (Charley) and Jeanette MacDonald (Donna
Lucia). The Canadian premiere was at Toronto’s Grand Opera House on December 12, 1906,
starring Anglo-French actor Etienne Girardot. An international favourite, Charley’s Aunt
has been performed world-wide and translated into over twenty languages, including
Gaelic, Afrikaans, Chinese, Russian and Esperanto.
The best-known of several film versions was made by 20th Century Fox in 1941. Directed
by Archie Mayo, it featured Jack Benny as Babberley.
The Shaw produced Charley’s Aunt at the Festival Theatre in 1974, directed by Artistic
Director Emeritus Paxton Whitehead who also played Babberly. A centennial production
in 1992 was directd by Susan Cox and featured Neil Barclay, Christopher Newton, Simon
Bradbury, Steven Sutcliffe, Seana McKenna, David Schurmann, Barry MacGregor and
Fiona Reid.CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: GABRIELLA SUNDAR SINGH AS ELA DELAHAY; MIKE NADAJEWSKI AS BABBERLEY AND PATRICK GALLIGAN AS SIR FRANCIS; RIC REID AS SPETTIGUE; PETER FERNANDES AS JACK CHESNEY AND MIKE NADAJEWSKI AS BABBERLEY; ANDREW LAWRIE AS CHARLEY WYKEHAM AND ALEXIS GORDON AS AMY SPETTIGUE; NEIL BARCLAY AS BRASSETT AND MIKE NADAJEWSKI AS BABBERLEY; PATRICK GALLIGAN AS SIR FRANCIS AND CLAIRE JULLIEN AS DONNA LUCIA .
Charley’s Aunt, 2021
the bmo stageThe Author
TIM CARROLL
BR ANDON THOMAS (1848-1914) was born in Liverpool on Christmas Eve
1848 into a family that had no theatrical connections (his father was a boot
seller). Thomas joined the Royal Marines when he was fourteen, but soon left
to find work in the shipbuilding industry, first in Liverpool, then in Hull, while
supplementing his income with forays into journalism. He also discovered a
talent for entertaining, initially as a singer and poetry reciter at temperance
meetings. Having met prominent London actors William and Madge Kendal,
while they were touring the English provinces, Thomas moved to London in
1879 and began his acting career in a variety of minor roles, before touring the
United States for nine months in 1885. On his return to London, he won roles in
plays by important contemporary play-
wrights such as Arthur Wing Pinero,
and in classics such as Sheridan’s The
Rivals, in which Shaw praised him for
acting “agreeably and with dignity.” On
other occasions Shaw expressed admi-
ration for Thomas’s “genuine feeling,”
and defended him when “it looked as
if he were killing the play, whereas the
play was really killing him.”
Thomas’s debut as a playwright,
a domestic comedy called Comrades,
which ran at London’s Court Theatre
in December 1882, was not enthusias-
tically received (“it is impossible that
a solid structure can be built upon a
foundation of sand,” said The Times),
but he persevered with several other
forgettable plays, none of which fore-
shadowed the triumph of Charley’s
Aunt in 1892. It was, said the Manchester
Guardian, “an instant and incontest-
able success, keeping the audience in
shrieks of laughter.” Thomas was in the
cast of the London premiere (as Francis Chesney) and he continued to appear on the
London stage in a range of other plays, including Shakespeare’s Richard II (as John of
Gaunt) in 1903.
In December 1888 Thomas married Marguerite Leverson, despite the objections of
her Jewish family. Two of their three children became actors and appeared regularly
in Charley’s Aunt after their father’s death.
Shaw thought more highly of Thomas’s acting than perhaps Thomas himself did,
but could not deny that his fame rested on Charley’s Aunt. When Shaw went on an ego
trip in a 1924 interview about how famous he was, he used the play as a measure of his
fame: “My currency,” he said, “is as universal as that of Sherlock Holmes, or Charlie
Chaplin, or Charley’s Aunt.”For full biographical information about our cast
and creative team, please visit shawfest.com/
ensemble.
TIM CARROLL Director
SHAW 2021: Director for Charley’s Aunt; adapter/
director for Flush. My first full-time job in the
theatre was as Associate Director of the Northcott
Theatre, Exeter. The first play I directed there was
Charley’s Aunt. It was designed by Roger Butlin,
a famous opera director, whom I had only just
met. He became my mentor and the person who
taught me most about theatre. He was a brilliant
psychologist: if he didn’t like something I had
staged, or a moment I was attached to, he would simply say, “I
CHRISTINE LOHRE
don’t think it’s quite up to Carroll standard.” I would insist that
I was right, then, eventually and with bad grace, I would change
it. And, of course, it would be better. Everyone should be lucky
enough to meet someone like Roger early in their journey.
CHRISTINE LOHRE Designer
SHAW 2021: Designer for Charley’s Aunt. Since I was little, I
have made up stories in a cupboard, in a box, or as if they were
happening under a tree in the forest. The way I remember a situ-
ation is through the feeling of the fabric of a shirt, the carpet in a
cinema, or how the wood in the table felt under special matting.
I think this is what led me to work with design in theatre. To
combine the love for materials with the love for stories. On the
stage a chair can turn into a ship in one moment, and a cradle
the next, through the magic play of the actors, and thereby tell
a story like no other form can.
LOUISE GUINAND Lighting Designer
SHAW 2021: Lighting designer for Charley’s Aunt. I was drawn
to theatre in my early teens and was fortunate to be given the
opportunity to see many plays at Shaw and Stratford through
my school years. I didn’t discover the world of lighting design
until university, when I was given the
opportunity to light Happy End. From
LOUISE GUINAND that point on I have been fortunate to
work in this magical field in theatres
across the country. One particular joy
has been designing lights on differing
styles of stages, with an abundance of
my work being on thrust stages or in
the round. Productions have included
new, developing scripts, contemporary
plays, operas and classical theatre from
Shakespeare to the Greeks. It is the ever-
changing spaces and plays that continue
to excite and interest me.KALEB ALEXANDER Walking Cover
SHAW 2021: Charley’s Aunt and Trouble in Mind; 1st season.
I grew up in two different worlds – one in southern Ontario,
in Toronto, and one in northern Ontario, in Thunder Bay.
Between the two, I found myself in my first play at the age
of eleven – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and from that
moment I was hooked. No matter how far I strayed from
performing, the arts have called me back. From being a
farmer in Australia, to sipping coconuts in Sri Lanka, to
the Shaw Festival today, theatre has always been a home
that I love to return to.
NEIL BARCLAY Brassett
SHAW 2021: Charley’s Aunt and Trouble in Mind; 31st sea-
son. From the moment I was taken to my first play at the KALEB ALEXANDER
age of ten, I was smitten: I collected my programmes, I
bought every cast recording I could find,
I recorded plays on our vhs machine and NEIL BARCLAY
watched and re-watched them. I nagged
my mom to take me to New York at spring
break and then to make summer pilgrim-
ages to Stratford and Shaw. My grade
ten North American Literature teacher,
Father Peck, urged me to audition for Our
Town at Loyola High School, and that led
to a deep dive at cegep and then nts. And
for the past thirty-three years I’ve been
making a living at it. I have been blessed
PATRICK GALLIGAN
to work alongside scores of extraordinary
actors and, this season, I am thinking of
three who were particular friends and
inspirations: Jennifer Phipps, Mary Haney
and David Schurmann.
PETER FERNANDES
PETER FERNANDES Jack Chesney
SHAW 2021: Charley’s Aunt; 3rd season. I was
born in Awali, Bahrain, raised in Edmonton, and
now call Toronto home. Before moving to Canada
I hadn’t been exposed to a lot of theatre, but my
parents encouraged my siblings and me to sing as
an extra-curricular activity. Little did they know
that all three of us would become actors. In grade
six, I performed in my school’s production of The
Wizard of Oz. I played the Cowardly Lion, because
I was so nervous during the audition that I kept
stuttering. In the show, I had to faint – this made
the audience laugh and I’ve been trying to make
people laugh ever since.
PATRICK GALLIGAN
Colonel Sir Francis Chesney
SHAW 2021: Charley’s Aunt and Trouble in Mind;
18th season. It’s rare for an actor to play the same
role twice, even rarer forty years apart. In 1981, in my
final year at Brebeuf College High School, I played
Sir Francis Chesney in our high school production
of Charley’s Aunt. Although I remember having great fun playing a fifty-one-year-old, retired,
British army officer, a career in the performing arts was something I never really considered. But
when I think back to that year, I am struck by how much one teacher affected my future. In Mr E.J.
Barry’s English class, we were inspired not only to study plays like Waiting for Godot and Hamlet,
but to bring them to life. It was thrilling to participate in a kind of alchemy, where words on a page
were transformed into something alive and magical. Thank you, Mr Barry!ALEXIS GORDON Amy Spettigue
ALEXIS GORDON SHAW 2021: Charley’s Aunt; 2nd season. Growing up in London, Ontario, I always
loved to sing. Before I knew who I was or what I liked, singing always helped make
my heart happy. After attending my first theatre performance I dreamed of stepping
on-stage, but didn’t believe I could. No one looked like me. Then, when I was sixteen,
I finally saw a piece of me in some-
one on-stage. From that moment, I
CLAIRE JULLIEN
decided to try and be the voice of
encouragement for anyone who, like
me, wants to pursue whatever makes
their heart happy too.
CLAIRE JULLIEN
Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez
SHAW 2021: Charley’s Aunt and
Sherlock Holmes and The Raven’s
Curse; 13th season. Now more than
ever, I recognize and appreciate the
importance of theatre, art, creativity,
imagination. How much it is needed.
How much we all miss it and the
absolute need for human connec-
tion. I long for the theatre, and I am
very grateful to be at The Shaw and in
the company of like-minded people.
In my twenty-five-year career, that
is one of the reasons I loved being
on-stage – the surprise, intimate and
immediate connection with my fel-
low actors and the audience. At the
Shaw Festival I have lots of favour-
ite roles, but I most enjoyed playing
heroine Lois Relph in The Stepmother
(my first season!), the unapologetic
and ambitious Pearl Grayson in Our
Betters, and the woman of principles,
Lesbia Grantham in Getting Married.
ANDREW LAWRIE
Charley Wykeham
SHAW 2021: Charley’s Aunt; 5th sea-
son. Once, after a show, someone told
ANDREW LAWRIE
me, “Seeing this production made
my day.” This was my favourite com-
ment that I’ve ever heard from an
audience member. By itself it seems
to just be a simple and lovely senti-
ment, but to me it resonated with why
I chose to become an actor. I feel that
my job as an actor is to affect others
with my work. Whether that means
to provoke important discourse, to
instigate different ways of thinking
or simply to make someone’s day spe-
cial, that’s why I do what I do. That’s
why I’m an actor.MARLA McLEAN Kitty Verdun
MARLA McLEAN
SHAW 2021: Charley’s Aunt and Sherlock Holmes
and The Raven’s Curse; 15th season. Growing up in
Nova Scotia, I had the great fortune of finding my
regional theatre early in life. The company created
an apprenticeship of sorts that allowed me (who
couldn’t afford to train) a chance to learn on my
feet. More companies should endeavour to find cre-
ative ways to support young actors from a working-
class background. If you find yourself able, search
out ways to facilitate this in your own community.
It can change a young artist’s life. Inspiration in our
work comes from many places and I’m eternally
grateful for, and inspired by, my partner and our
wee boy. “This is the true joy in life; the being a force
of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of
ailments and grievances complaining that the world
MIKE NADAJEWSKI
will not devote itself to making you happy.” – gbs.
MIKE NADAJEWSKI
Lord Fancourt Babberley
SHAW 2021: Charley’s Aunt and Sherlock Holmes
and The Raven’s Curse; 6th season. It is with great
optimism that I write this bio for The Shaw’s 2021
season. Even now, uncertainty is still very much
a character that we all have to contend with on a
daily basis – but I am inspired and in awe of The
Shaw’s unwavering perseverance, the good will
that they have extended to their company and
staff, and their dedication to you, our loyal patrons. RIC REID
The Shaw has kept my spark intact and enabled me to
pivot within our devastated industry, feeding my artist
as well as my tummy. Thank you, dear patron, for being
here now, today – never before (certainly in my lifetime)
has it ever been so abundantly clear how integral live
performance is, and we couldn’t do it without you.
RIC REID Stephen Spettigue
SHAW 2021: Charley’s Aunt and Sherlock Holmes
and The Raven’s Curse; 18th season. Welcome back!
Inspiration. Where have I found it? At The Shaw I have
worked opposite Goldie Semple. Who could not be
inspired by her? You could fill an encyclopedia with
the stories of Robert Benson and Al Kozlik, who were so
gracious in passing along their wisdom and experience.
Bernard Behrens was a great spirit of a man, whose
drive to excel left its mark. To be on-stage with Jennifer
Phipps was a ride like no other. I will miss the laughter,
drive and punch of Mary Haney’s performances. Jonah
McIntosh…so talented and marvellous that you could
not breathe without being inspired. David Schurmann,
a gentle man with a heart of gold. And Neil Munro.
There are no words for all that he meant to this company.
Inspiration is not lost, it is remembered and carried
forward.
OLIVIA SINCLAIR-BRISBANE
Walking Cover
SHAW 2021: Charley’s Aunt; 2nd season. I was born and
raised in London, Ontario. I’m very proud of my home
town and the great opportunities it offers young people, of all backgrounds, to experience and participate in the arts.
My first theatre production was The Music Man in grade three, I played one of the Barbershop Quartet. To date, myfavourite experience in theatre was being in the Grand Theatre’s
DIANE KONKIN production of Cabaret. It was a dream come true. However, my
favourite experience at a Shaw show, so far, was seeing Getting
Married in the 2019 season, because I caught the bouquet at the
curtain-call and that’s how I knew I’d be part of it one day.
GABRIELLA SUNDAR SINGH Ela Delahay
SHAW 2021: Charley’s Aunt; 4th season. I was born and raised in
Toronto, but have spent time studying in Guelph and Montreal,
and miss these places every day. My mother was a dancer. When
I was four, she introduced me to Bharathanatyam, a form of
drama-dance from the south of India. It is a highly expressive
and epic art form, and I have loved learning how to translate
what I know to my work in theatre. I was fourteen years old when
I performed in my first musical, as a dancer in Crazy for You,
brimming with pure joy and a
sense of belonging. That feeling
GABRIELLA SUNDAR SINGH
is what theatre is to me.
DIANE KONKIN
Stage Manager
SHAW 2021: Stage manager for
Charley’s Aunt and Sherlock
Holmes and The Raven’s Curse;
13th season. Growing up in
Northern Ontario, my only
option was to create and man-
age my own entertainment.
After winning an award for
a play I wrote in grade three,
and early aspirations of being
a New York producer, I jumped
into stage-managing university
cabarets and experimental col-
laboratives. After many indie
shows, and touring for seven
years across Canada, the us and
Asia, I landed at my Shaw home
in 2009. Over the winters, I pre-
tend to play congas and travel south
to manage talent for a film and music
festival in Sayulita, Mexico.
ASHLEY IRELAND
Assistant Stage Manager
SHAW 2021: Assistant stage manager
ASHLEY IRELAND
for Charley’s Aunt and Sherlock Holmes
and The Raven’s Curse; 4th season.
When I was a little girl, my Nana would
take my sister and me to the theatre.
OLIVIA SINCLAIR-BRISBANE Whether it was a large-scale produc-
tion in Toronto or a small community
theatre production I didn’t know the
difference, it was always so thrilling. On one of these occasions, while read-
ing through a programme, we saw that my sister and I could volunteer
backstage as crew members. Having no idea what we were getting into, my
sister convinced me to sign up with her. Nervously we were assigned our
off-stage roles and I quickly fell in love. As cast members, props and set
pieces whirled around me backstage, I realized that this is where I had to be.Technical Directors Cutters Audio Mixer/Technician
Staff MARK CALLAN TRULY CARMICHAEL DEAN MALTON
ANRITA PETRAROIA RAMONA CRAWFORD Electrics
JASON WOODGATE MORGAN MACKINTOSH Head of Electrics
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KEITH SUTHERLANDCharley’s Aunt at The Shaw
FIONA REID AS
DONNA LUCIA AND
STEVEN SUTCLIFFE
AS LORD FANCOURT
BABBERLEY, 1992.
PAXTON WHITEHEAD AS LORD
FANCOURT BABBERLEY, 1974.DONORS AS OF JUNE 1, 2021 + BOARD ALUMNI ++ BOARD MEMBER
* SHAW COMPANY/ ENSEMBLE MEMBER
We salute all of the generous donors who help us to create great theatre!
Cumulative Giving Cumulative donations and pledges of $250,000 or more.
$1 MILLION+ The 1916 Foundation • Anonymous Buffalo Donors • Marilyn++ & Charles++ Baillie • Estate
of Mona M. Campbell • Estate of Valerie Delacorte, Gabriel Pascal Memorial Fund • Val Fleming+ • Nona
Heaslip++ • Tim++ & Frances++ Price • The Slaight Family Foundation • Donald++ & Elaine++ Triggs • Carol
Walker and Estate of John Greenhill Walker
$750,000+ Carol & David+ Appel • Estate of Walter Carsen • Richard++ & Darleen Falconer • Diane++ &
James King • The Catherine & Maxwell Meighen Foundation • The John R. Oishei Foundation • William++ &
Meredith Saunderson • Shaw Festival Guild • 1 anonymous gift
$500,000+ Estate of Bram & Bluma Appel • Rennie & Bill+ Humphries • Colleen++ & Brian Johnston •
Nancy & John McFadyen • Philip & Berthe Morton Foundation • Andrew++ & Valerie Pringle • Corinne++ &
Victor++ Rice • Estate of Ada W. Slaight+ • The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation • 1 anonymous gift
$250,000+ Charles Balbach++ • James F. Brown++ • Cullen Foundation • Michael Eagen & Michele Darling+
• Donner Canadian Foundation • DeRoy Testamentary Foundation • Mr & Mrs Anthony++ R. Graham •
Corinne Hansen • The Joan & Clifford Hatch Foundation • Mary E. Hill++ • Mr Richard M. Ivey • Don &
Gundy+ Jackson • Chris & Jeanne Jennings • The Henry White Kinnear Foundation • Michael & Sonja+
Koerner • Cynthia & Malcolm+ Macdonald • Richard McCoy+ • The McLean Foundation • George Cedric
Metcalf Charitable Foundation • Bernard Ostry+, oc • Barbara Palk+ & John Warwick+ • Peter M. Partridge
T • Allan Slaight+ • Maureen+ & Wayne Squibb • Liz Tory+ • Jim++ & Michal+ Wadsworth (Carlos & Elizabeth
Heath Foundation, Mulroy Family Foundation, Robert & Patricia Colby Foundation) • Estate of Gerald D.
Yanke • 3 anonymous gifts
We also recognize the following corporations for their cumulative donations.
$1 MILLION+ Bell Canada • Canada Life • CIBC • Honda Canada Inc • HSBC • RBC • Scotiabank • Sun
Life Financial • TD Bank Group • Vintage Hotels
Endowment & Estate Gifts Contributions of $600 or more, made over the last 13 months.
Marilyn++ & Charles++ Baillie, Christopher Newton Intern Program • Estate of Ruth Bolt • Department of
Canadian Heritage • Fiera Capital Corporation • Martha+ & Tom++ Hyde • Estate of Dr Mary Beth Jennings
• Colleen++ & Brian Johnston, Andy Pringle Creative Reserve • Diane++ & James King • Estate of Malcolm
Macdonald+ • Mary I. McLeod Foundation • H & R Mida Charitable Foundation • Tim++ & Frances++ Price,
Tim & Frances Price Risk Fund • Andrew++ & Valerie Pringle, Andy Pringle Creative Reserve • RP Investment
Advisors • Estate of Ada W. Slaight+ • The Slaight Family Foundation • Estate of Helen Allen Stacey • Michael
& Anne Tyler Fund through the Victoria Foundation • Estate of Dr Jannie Woo • Estate of Elizabeth Work •
1 anonymous gift
Annual Donors Gifts in support of annual operations and special projects.
MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS
$250,000+ VISIONARIES Estate of Ada W. Slaight+ • The Slaight Family Foundation • 1 anonymous gift
$100,000+ DIRECTORS CIRCLE Ron++ & Barbara++ Besse • David & Amy Fulton • Nona Heaslip++ •
Colleen++ & Brian Johnston • Corinne++ & Victor++ Rice • 1 anonymous gift
$50,000+ ARTISTS CIRCLE Patricia & Barrie Barootes • James F. Brown++ • Mary E. Hill++ • Chris & Jeanne
Jennings • Oliver Kent & Martine Jaworski • Diane++ & James King • Mona+ & Harvey Levenstein • The Jim
Meekison++ & Carolyn Keystone++ Foundation • Philip Terranova & Audrey Allen
$25,000+ PRODUCERS CIRCLE Richard & Mona Alonzo • Carol & David+ Appel • Charles Balbach++
• Robin Campbell++ & Peter Jewett++ • Truly Carmichael* & Tim Jennings*++ • Tim Carroll*++ & Alexis
Milligan* • Michael Eagen & Michele Darling+ • Val Fleming+ • Wendy++ & Bruce++ Gitelman • In memory
of Charles J. Hahn • Nathan & Marilyn Hayward • Mr & Mrs C.L. Hunt • Martha+ & Tom++ Hyde • Paul
& Valerie Kirkconnell • Kristian+ & Anita Knibutat • Richard McCoy+ • Andrew++ & Valerie Pringle •
William++ & Meredith Saunderson • Nancy Smith++ • Donald++ & Elaine++ Triggs • Jaime Watt++ & Paul
Ferguson • 1 anonymous giftYou can also read
