By Richard Ouzounian
Theatre Critic
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival said “thank you” to Dame Maggie Smith on Monday night, 35 years after her talent and star quality raised the theatre company to dazzling heights in the late 1970s.
She was honoured with the Festival’s Legacy Award, presented to her by Christopher Plummer, in a star-studded ceremony at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.
“There may be a lot of glittering events in Toronto tonight,” said event chair Barry Avrich, alluding to TIFF, “but this is the only one with two Oscar winners and a Dame.”
Jian Ghomeshi, the host of CBC’s Q morning radio program, emceed the evening, introducing the three artistic directors of the festival — past, present and future — Robin Phillips, Des McAnuff and Antoni Cimolino.
Smith was already an Oscar-winning star when Robin Phillips invited her to join the company in 1976. She returned for three more seasons, making her last appearance in 1980.
In her four seasons at Stratford, Dame Maggie gave some of the most memorable performances in the Festival’s history, including Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, Rosalind in As You Like It, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Mistress Overdone in Measure for Measure, Queen Elizabeth in Richard III, Titania/Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Lady Macbeth.
Monday night’s entertainment included Cynthia Dale singing “La Vie en Rose,” Brent Carver performing a bravura version of Jacques Brel’s “Jacky,” Ben Carlson offered a moving interpretation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 126 and Kyle Blair sweetly rendered selections from the score written by Bert Carrière for Smith’s production of As You Like It.
Her non-Shakespeare roles at Stratford were equally noteworthy: Masha in Three Sisters, The Actress in The Guardsman, Judith Bliss in Hay Fever, Amanda Prynne in Private Lives, Irina Arkadina in The Seagull and Millamant in The Way of the World.
READ MORE: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/onstage/article/1254696--maggie-smith-receives-stratford-festival-s-legacy-award
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