He goes on to say that "Caroline Toal delivered a performance that felt lived-in and grounded in every regard".

"Charming, tender and heartfelt, this adaptation paid beautiful homage to its source material, while breathing contemporary resonance into the original tale" and it "more than deserves to be a new Canadian classic".

5️⃣ Close behind at number 5 is Kat Sandler's "wildly imaginative" new Anne of Green Gables. Although @joshuachong.bsky.social sheepishly admits that he is not particularly fond of L.M. Montgomery's original novel, he said this play won him over.

He continues: "Graham Abbey delivered a performance that ranks among the best I've ever seen in my 10 years of attending the Stratford Festival".

1️⃣ Right at the top is our "flawless revival" of The Winter's Tale, directed by Antoni Cimolino. @joshuachong.bsky.social said that it proved it's "one of the great plays in Shakespeare's canon".

If you want to learn more from our archives, then tune in this Thursday to ask our team of archivists about the collection and their work!

There are also pieces of Martha’s costume from her first role at the Festival, as Miranda in 1962, and pieces of the original tent that housed our first four seasons, from 1953 to 1956. Her magic staff also includes pieces of the original stage floor.

Designer Bretta Gerecke, with a team of in-house artisans, spent months building this very special creation, incorporating scraps of historic costume pieces from all of the previous Prosperos who have ever played on our Festival stage.

Jonathan will join the Festival in March to plan the 2027 season. We can’t wait to see what he has in store!

In his time at Chichester, a remarkable 48 productions toured or had West End runs, including a critically acclaimed production of Macbeth, directed by Rupert Goold and starring Patrick Stewart, which moved to the West End before transferring to BAM in New York and then Broadway.