Oberon Shakespeare Study Group

I came across an interesting article about Stratford, Ontario in the Toronto Star. The article, which appeared on June 19, 2010, is entitled "Arts meets high-tech in the new Stratford" The article is about how Stratford is trying to diversify its economy by welcoming "high-tech". This involves creating a satellite campus for the University of Waterloo, rigging the entire city for wi-fi (although it may not actually be free) and setting up "a 60-acre section of land with services to meet the needs of upstart technology companies". The mayor, Dan Mathieson, recognizes that Stratford cannot survive solely on its tourist industry (the theater) since restaurants, hotels, and stores don't do much business in the wintertime. Mathieson is quoted as saying, "We have to be grounded in three or four camps really to survive as a community" He also feels that if the new school and new industry brings in younger people the stores and restaurants will adap...

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada will headline Christopher Plummer as Prospero in The Tempest, according to an August 26 report in the Toronto Star : I am very excited to have Christopher Plummer return to the Festival for The Tempest, one of Shakespeare's most haunting and magical plays," said artistic director Des McAnuff, who will also direct the production. http://www.thestar.com/theatre/stratford/article/686787 Plummer's new biography,   In Spite of Myself: A Memoir published by Alfred Knopf is reviewed by Caldwell Titcomb on The Arts Fuse blog: This huge autobiography is crammed with details. Plummer must have an extraordinary memory or carefully kept diaries – perhaps both. Hundreds of people, well known and unknown, pop up in these pages briefly or extensively. He does not spare himself, admitting to constant carousing throughout the first half of his life. From what he repeatedly tells us, it is a miracle that he did not succumb to cir...