Shaw Festival

Month : November
Place : Ontario, Canada
Famous For : Theater Festival
Attractions : Display of the works of Shaw and his contemporaries

The Shaw Festival is one of the most renowned theater festivals in Canada. Rated as the second largest repertory theater company in North America, the Shaw festival is held every year in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. The festival focuses to display the work of George Bernard Shaw and almost every playwrights writing from word over, during Shaw's lifetime. The actual purpose of this theater festival is to contribute towards development of theater arts in Canada.

Major Attractions

The Shaw festival traces its origin back in the year 1962, when a lawyer fro Ontario, Brian Doherty staged a summertime Salute to Shaw in the town's courthouse, with a sole aim of promoting the works of Shaw and his contemporaries. The venue was later known as the Courthouse Theater. Doherty's venture was a great success as his crew produced Shaw's Don Juan in Hell and Candida. In 1966, actor and director Barry Morse joined the show and it became an international entity. In 1967, a proposal was prepared for the purpose-built 869 seat state-of-the-art Festival Theatre, to expand considerably in the capacity for audiences at Niagara-on-the-Lake. The inaugration season of this new theater was attended by eminent international guests like Queen Elizabeth II, Indira Gandhi, and Pierre Elliot Trudeau. After some years, during the reign of Newton as Artistic Director, the window of festival was widened to include contemporary plays which are set within Shaw's lifetime also. The festival is held every year during the month of November and the 2012 will mark the golden jubillee of Shaw festival.