Stratford Festival of Canada
August 2000
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Paul Gross
Watching Paul Gross sob his way through Hamlet was one of the highlights of my early theatre-going life. And by “sob”, I don’t mean the way his charater Geoffrey Tennant sobbed his way through a nervous breakdown in the middle of a performance, I just mean that Gross’ Hamlet was very fragile and constantly on the verge of tears. It worked, I promise. And I think having seen his Hamlet made me love “Slings and Arrows” even more.
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Graham Abbey
Graham was my big find of the week. I was lucky enough to see all three shows he was in that season: D’Artagnan in The Three Musketeers, Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest, and Laertes in Hamlet. Huge difference between Algy and Laertes, and it was the first time I was able to see a single actor do such disparate work. It was a real thrill to return in 2004 to see his Macbeth.
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George Masswohl George was Lazar Wolf in Fiddler on the Roof and Archibald Grosvenor in Patience that season. And his Grosvenor was really fantastic. He was also the company member I was able to get a little friendly with, to the point that he remembered me a few seasons later because we had corresponded briefly in the intervening years. Great guy I never get to see because I’m so rarely in Canada.