Wednesday, May 6, 2015
BY Experience and Stratford Festival Present
The best of Shakespeare coming to cinemas around the world.
STRATFORD FESTIVAL HD’s ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
TO BE RELEASED THURSDAY, MAY 21 IN CINEMAS THROUGHOUT
THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
“BY Experience is in the business of breaking through the barriers posed both by time limitations and space.”
– Fast Company
“Yanna McIntosh makes Cleopatra the consummate sexual manipulator, proud of her talents, furious when they fail her.”
Robert Cushman, National Post
“Geraint Wyn Davies offers us an Antony of boundless charm and eternal optimism.”
Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star
The Stratford Festival HD stage to screen event series returns to U.S. cinemas on Thursday, May 21 with the Stratford Festival production of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, the steamy story of a midlife affair that shook the foundations of the ancient world comes to vivid life. Starring Geraint Wyn Davies and Yanna McIntosh as the powerful rulers whose insatiable love leads to the greatest of tragedies, Antony and Cleopatra is directed by Gary Griffin. Distributed by BY Experience and Fathom Events, Stratford Festival HD brings the best of Shakespeare from North America’s leading classical theatre company to cinema audiences around the world. Visit www.stratfordfestivalHD.com for tickets and participating cinema locations.
Antony and Cleopatra is produced by Melbar Entertainment Group in association with the Stratford Festival, Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino, and Executive Producers Barry Avrich, Anita Gaffney and Michael A. Levine.
This production is part of a massive initiative by the Stratford Festival, North America’s leading classical theatre company, to capture all of Shakespeare’s plays over the next 10 years. The series, which began with the Stratford Festival’s critically acclaimed production of King Lear in February, followed by King John in April and now Antony and Cleopatra, will ultimately create the first North American collection of the complete works of William Shakespeare.
Stratford Festival HD is sponsored by Sun Life Financial as part of their Making the Arts More Accessible® program, with generous support from Laura Dinner & Richard Rooney, the Jenkins Family Foundation, Ophelia & Mike Lazaridis, Sandra & Jim Pitblado and Robert & Jacqueline Sperandio.
U.S. distribution is through BY Experience, the “live cinema event powerhouse” (Variety) that brings the highest quality international cultural events to more than 2,000 cinemas and performing arts centres in over 60 countries around the world as the Worldwide HD Distribution Representative for The Met: Live in HD series, International (ex-UK) Distribution Representative for the U.K.’s National Theatre Live series, and North American Distributor for the Bolshoi Ballet cinema series.
Canadian distribution is through Cineplex Entertainment’s Front Row Centre Events, which specializes in bringing world-class events and performances to the big screen. Cinema screenings will be followed by a broadcast window on CBC-TV, Canada’s national public broadcaster. Digital and on-demand release will follow.
ABOUT THE STRATFORD FESTIVAL:
The Stratford Festival has been setting the standard for classical theatre in North America for more than 60 years. With the works of Shakespeare at its core, this acclaimed repertory theatre presents a seven-month season of about a dozen plays in four venues, along with a Forum of events to enrich the play-going experience. Since its revolutionary first season in 1953, it has welcomed more than 26 million theatregoers from around the world, people who flock to this small Canadian town for one reason: an unparalleled quality of performance. Beginning in 2015, under the leadership of Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino and Executive Director Anita Gaffney, the Stratford Festival will make a select number of its Shakespearean masterpieces available in spectacular HD, bringing the work of this renowned company to audiences around the world.
“Stratford, where fans of classic drama come in large numbers to worship at its leading, four-stage, North American shrine.”
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
“If you have been longing to encounter greatness in the theatre, it’s waiting for you at the Stratford Festival.”
Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star
“I can’t think of another theatre company in the world currently offering such variety stylistically – and all of it at the highest standard, too. … The company is feeling like an international mecca for Shakespeare.”
- Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail
“The depth of casting allows for revelatory performances even in minor roles.”
Charles Isherwood, The New York Times
“The Stratford Festival is like nirvana for theater fans.”
Amy Alipio, National Geographic Traveler
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