Stratford Festival of Canada
August 2000
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.
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.
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.