The way audiences around the world view theater is changing thanks to ventures like BY Experience (the cinema event powerhouse behind NT Live, The Met: Live in HD and the Bolshoi Ballet series). No more searching YouTube and Tumblr for a bootleg of your favorite performance or a salivating production abroad you missed (#SorryStillNotSorry) because these screening events bring the best of the world’s theatre right to your local cinema. And now Shakespeare fans are getting a special treat as the Stratford Festival HD brings The Bard global. And on April 8 US audiences can see the HD release of King John, starring Tom McCamus and Seana McKenna.
To celebrate the international release of King John (Oh yeah, Canada gets it in their movie theaters April 9), we are breaking down the illustrious Stratford Festival by the numbers. Get ready to be impressed.
How many productions have been filmed?
3
Stratford Festival HD launched with the filming of the 2014 productions of King Lear, King John and Antony and Cleopatra.
How many plays are in the canon?
37 or 38 or so.
What actually constitutes the canon is debated. Including Two Noble Kinsmen, the number is 38. But new evidence of Shakespeare’s lost play Cardenio has recently surfaced, so the number could be 39—or more. Additionally, the three parts of Henry VI are often conflated into two parts when produced today, so that could bring the number down to 36.
Number of cameras used to capture the productions?
10
Number of performances shot?
One with pickups
Number of Stratford Festival seasons since its first in 1953:
62 (2015 will be the 63rd)
Number of people who have attended productions since 1953:
26 million
Number of people who attend each year:
500,000
Number of actors in the Stratford Festival company:
121 (in 2014)
Number of Stratford Festival productions that have transferred to Broadway:
7
Number of Tony nominations received by productions originating at the Stratford Festival:
15
Number of Tony Awards:
2
Number of plays per season:
12 to 15
Number of performances per season:
About 600
Number of weeks in the season:
26
Number of theatres:
4
Number of performances per day:
Up to 8
Number of rehearsal halls:
10
Annual budget:
$57 million
Number of Employees:
1,000 (including seasonal)
Number of sewers, cutters and designer creating costumes:
120
Amount spent on costumes and props each year:
$5 million
Economic impact on the region:
$140 million per year
Hall of Fame:
Maggie Smith ●Alec Guinness ● Christopher Plummer ● William Shatner ● Lorne Greene ● Robert Goulet ● Hume Cronyn ● Jessica Tandy ● Alan Bates ● Julie Harris ● Michael Learned ● James Mason ● Jason Robarts Jr. ● Paul Scofield ● Len Cariou ● Timothy Findley ● Eric McCormack ● Andrea Martin ● Christopher Walken ● Brian Dennehy ● Brent Carver ● Peter Ustinov ● Sarah Polley ● Brian Bedford ● Loreena McKennitt ● Paul Gross ● Martha Henry ● Douglas Raine ● Uta Hagen.
Clear your calendar for the cinema event ‘King John’ screened across movie theaters in the U.S. on April 8 and Canada on April 9.
