Stratford Festival Brings King Lear to Kingston Screen

Published on: 2015/02/19 - in Featured Releases

Stratford Festival’s King Lear starring Colm Feore launches Stratford Festival HD

A kingdom divided, a family destroyed, the faithful banished and the hateful left to wreak inhuman havoc in the realm. Four hundred years after it was written, King Lear, resonates as never before.

Now you can experience the magnificent Stratford Festival production of Shakespeare’s great masterpiece, filmed in spectacular HD, at Cineplex cinemas across Canada on Thursday, February 19 – including Kingston’s Cineplex Odeon on Gardiners Road .

Other participating theatres across Canada can be found below and at Cineplex.com/Events/Stratford.

Encore screenings across Canada are scheduled for Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 22. Worldwide distribution begins February 25.

King Lear screens at more than 350 cinemas across the U.S. beginning on February 25. Encore dates vary by cinema. Visit StratfordfestivalHD.com for details.

This powerful and unforgettable production by North America’s leading classical theatre company stars the incomparable Colm Feore in the role of a lifetime, directed by the Stratford Festival’s acclaimed Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino.

“The play’s final scenes are as harrowing as any I’ve seen.” Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

“It unquestionably catapults Colm Feore into the ranks of the world’s greatest living actors.” Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star

“Feore’s fallible, fleshly Lear is unforgettable.” J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail

“This superb production is not only the Stratford Festival at its finest, it is Shakespeare at his finest.” Robert Reid, The Record

“Colm Feore’s powerhouse of a performance stands at the apex of a riveting staging from Festival artistic director Antoni Cimolino.” Gary Smith, Hamilton Spectator

King Lear is produced by Melbar Entertainment Group in association with the Stratford Festival, Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino, and Executive Producers Barry Avrich, Anita Gaffney and Michael Levine, and directed for film by Joan Tosoni.

King Lear kicks off a massive initiative by the Stratford Festival, North America’s leading classical theatre company, to capture all of Shakespeare’s plays over the next 10 years. The Stratford Festival’s critically acclaimed productions of King John and Antony and Cleopatra will premiere in April and May of 2015, rounding out the first instalment of the Stratford Festival HD series that will ultimately bring the complete works of William Shakespeare to audiences around the world.

Stratford Festival HD is sponsored by Sun Life Financial as part of their Making the Arts More Accessible® program, with generous support from Laura Dinner & Richard Rooney, the Jenkins Family Foundation, Ophelia & Mike Lazaridis, Sandra & Jim Pitblado, the Slaight Family Foundation, and Robert & Jacqueline Sperandio.

Canadian distribution is through Cineplex Entertainment’s Front Row Centre Events, which specializes in bringing world-class events and performances to the big screen. Cinema screenings will be followed by a broadcast window on CBC-TV, Canada’s national public broadcaster. Digital and on-demand release will follow.

U.S. distribution is through BY Experience, the “live cinema event powerhouse” (Variety) that brings the highest quality international cultural events to more than 2,000 cinemas and performing arts centres in over 60 countries around the world as the Worldwide HD Distribution Representative for The Met: Live in HD series, International (ex-UK) Distribution Representative for the U.K.’s National Theatre Live series, and North American Distributor for the Bolshoi Ballet cinema series.

ABOUT THE STRATFORD FESTIVAL:

The Stratford Festival has been setting the standard for classical theatre in North America for more than 60 years. With the works of Shakespeare at its core, this acclaimed repertory theatre presents a seven-month season of about a dozen plays in four venues, along with a Forum of events to enrich the play-going experience. Since its revolutionary first season in 1953, it has welcomed more than 26 million theatre goers from around the world, people who flock to this small Canadian town for one reason: an unparalleled quality of performance. Beginning in 2015, under the leadership of Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino and Executive Director Anita Gaffney, the Stratford Festival will make a select number of its Shakespearean masterpieces available each year in spectacular HD, capturing the entire Shakespeare canon over the next 10 years and bringing the work of this renowned company to audiences around the world.

“Stratford, where fans of classic drama come in large numbers to worship at its leading, four-stage, North American shrine.” Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

“If you have been longing to encounter greatness in the theatre, it’s waiting for you at the Stratford Festival.” Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star

“I can’t think of another theatre company in the world currently offering such variety stylistically – and all of it at the highest standard, too. … The company is feeling like an international mecca for Shakespeare.” J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail

“The depth of casting allows for revelatory performances even in minor roles.” Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

“The Stratford Festival is like nirvana for theater fans.” Amy Alipio, National Geographic Traveler

TICKET INFORMATION: 

Tickets for three Stratford Festival HD films – King Lear (premièring February 19 in Canada, February 25 in the U.S.), King John (April 9 in Canada, April 8 in the U.S.) and Antony and Cleopatra (May 21) – are on sale for screenings throughout Canada and the U.S., with international markets to follow. For participating cinema locations and to purchase tickets, visit StratfordfestivalHD.com .


Release source and photos: Stratford Festival

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