Our visit to the Stratford Festival could not be complete without interviewing Antoni. He presides artistically over what is basically the national theatre of Canada. We saw five shows while we were there, all of them distinctive in their own way: Antony and Cleopatra and King John (in the Tom Patterson Theatre), Antoni’s own King Lear in the Festival Theatre, where we also saw A Midsummer Night’s Dream. And then we saw Peter Sellar’s Chamber Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The love and the affection which the town has for the festival is palpable. Here Antoni talks about how deeply intertwined the theatre and its surrounding community are; what makes Canadian acting distinctive; and how, although he sees the theatre itself as non-party-political, one its important intentions is to upset everybody equally…