Drama Online - Stratford Festival Shakespeare Learning Resources
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Stratford Festival Shakespeare Collections Learning Resources

The Stratford Festival Shakespeare Collection 1 and Stratford Festival Shakespeare Collection 2 include study guides with a synopsis, list of characters, and a range of activities for students.

The Adventures of Pericles

Year of Release: 2016

A storm at sea brings love into the life of Prince Pericles; another snatches it away. The Stratford Festival's magical production of Shakespeare's epic tale follows a fairy-tale hero on a miraculous journey to one of drama's most poignant reunions. "Moving from beginning to end," it's a story rarely told and one you won't soon forget.

Study Guide (PDF)

All's Well That Ends Well

Year of Release: 2023

When Helena (Jessica B. Hill) cures the King of France (Ben Carlson) of an ailment that has confounded every other doctor, he grants her lifetime wish: the hand in marriage of the aristocratic courtier Bertram (Jordin Hall). However, Bertram proves a reluctant husband and immediately heads off to war, leaving Helena with a seemingly impossible riddle to solve in order to secure their marriage.

Study Guide (PDF)

Antony and Cleopatra

Year of Release: 2015

Reason and judgement prove no match for the tsunami of mutual passion engulfing Mark Antony, one of the three joint rulers of the Roman republic, and Cleopatra, the seductive queen of Egypt. Surrendering everything to their desires, they open the floodgates to a civil conflict that will shake the very foundations of their world.

Study Guide (PDF)

Coriolanus

Year of Release: 2019

See Robert Lepage's breathtaking production that explores the age-old tensions that still tear at the heart of democracy. There's one visual surprise after another in this fast-paced show.

Digital Study Guide (Web)

Hamlet (2016)

Year of Release: 2016

A ghostly visitor with a shocking secret, a daughter devastated by loss, a deadly duel and the most famous question in all of drama: Shakespeare's iconic tragedy will hold you spellbound. Hamlet has been called the greatest play and this Stratford Festival production "the most complete, most fulfilling, most satisfying in decades."

Study Guide (PDF)

Hamlet (2023)

Year of Release: 2023

Prince Hamlet (Amaka Umeh)'s father is dead, poisoned by his uncle (Graham Abbey), who has usurped the throne and married Hamlet's mother, the Queen (Maev Beaty). When the dead King's ghost appears, commanding his son to avenge his foul and most unnatural murder, Hamlet is set on a course of action that can only end in the destruction of a dynasty and his own extinction.

Study Guide (PDF)

King John

Year of Release: 2015

War is the inevitable result when the King of France demands that John relinquish his crown in favour of his nephew, the young Prince Arthur. Excommunication, attempted atrocity, rebellion and assassination all contribute to a political and personal turmoil that finds devastating expression in an anguished mother's grief for her son.

Study Guide (PDF)

King Lear

Year of Release: 2015

An aging monarch resolves to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, with consequences he little expects. His reason shattered in the storm of violent emotion that ensues, with his very life hanging in the balance, Lear loses everything that has defined him as a king - and thereby discovers the essence of his own humanity.

Digital Study Guide (Web)

Love's Labour's Lost

Year of Release: 2017

A king and three friends swear off women to devote themselves to their studies just as a princess and three ladies arrive on a diplomatic mission. Shakespeare delivers a touching and funny coming-of-age story with a twist ending, beautifully told in this "vibrant" and "sublime" Stratford Festival production.

Study Guide (PDF)

Macbeth

Year of Release: 2017

Inspired by the prophecies of three witches and encouraged by his ambitious wife, a murderous king claws his way to power. The Stratford Festival's chilling production of Macbeth will haunt your dreams and leave you tingling.

Digital Study Guide (Web)

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Year of Release: 2020

Pursuing two respectably married women at the same time, a would-be seducer fails to anticipate that his targets will, quite literally, compare notes. Nor has he reckoned on the mischievous spirit in which the wives will use their wits and wiles to teach him the error of his ways. Set in the 1950s, in a town not unlike Stratford, Ontario, this production from Canada's renowned Stratford Festival brings Shakespeare's rollicking comedy close to home - and close to our hearts.

Digital Study Guide (Web)

Othello

Year of Release: 2020

Undeterred by the differences in their backgrounds and life experiences, Othello and Desdemona defy prejudice to be united in marriage. But deadly malice lurks where the newlyweds least expect it, as the one man Othello trusts the most resolves to destroy their happiness at any cost. Whispers of suspicion feed irrational jealousy in this gripping psychological drama, one of Shakespeare's greatest and best-known tragedies, produced by the renowned Stratford Festival.

Digital Study Guide (Web)

Richard III

Year of Release: 2023

Charismatic, cunning, and utterly ruthless, Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Colm Feore), is the very embodiment of lethal ambition as he maneuvers and murders his way to the throne of England. But once he reaches the top, the only way is down, and among Richard's growing roster of vengeful enemies, none are more menacing than the ghosts of his past.

Study Guide (PDF)

Romeo and Juliet

Year of Release: 2018

Falling headlong in love, two teenagers defy the long-simmering hatred between their families - but daring to love one's enemy comes with a terrible cost. The famous tragedy of star-crossed lovers has never been more heartbreaking than in this captivating production by the Stratford Festival.

Digital Study Guide (Web)

The Taming of the Shrew

Year of Release: 2018

Courtship or conquest? The breakdown of a defiant spirit or a breakthrough that liberates a heart deprived of love? The Stratford Festival production of Shakespeare's boisterous comedy will stir your emotions with the love story of Katherina and Petruchio, the feisty couple at the centre of this fierce and funny battle of wills.

Study Guide (PDF)

The Tempest

Year of Release: 2019

In Shakespeare's great drama of loss and reconciliation, a long-deposed ruler uses magical arts to bring within her power the enemies who robbed her of her throne and marooned her on a remote island. But what revenge does she mean to take?

Digital Study Guide (Web)

Timon of Athens

Year of Release: 2019

Timon's compulsive generosity makes him the most popular man in Athens - until his funds run out. Now, embittered by ingratitude, what will he do when his city comes under attack? This stirring production from the Stratford Festival is a heartbreaking masterpiece.

Study Guide (PDF)