Stratford Festival's 'beautiful, intimate' Tom Patterson Theatre reopens after $72M transformation

The Stratford Festival's transformed Tom Patterson Theatre has officially reopened to public performances after being stalled by two long pandemic years.

"[It's] a historic day for the Stratford Festival, one that has been years in the making with a few interruptions along the way," said artistic director Antoni Cimolino during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday.

In 2018, the facility — a former curling rink-turned-theatre — underwent a $72-million demolition and reconstruction, a project completed in 2020. However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic's health and safety measures, the theatre's reopening was delayed until this week.

On Tuesday, the theatre marked its reopening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by its very first public performance of Richard III.

At first glance, it's hard to miss the new theatre's floor-to-ceiling glass windows that wrap the entire facility overlooking the Avon River. Upon entering, the lobby space is decorated in pale, yellow brick walls with wooden floors and ceilings.

The new facility, designed by Toronto-based architect Siamak Hariri, offers several rehearsal spaces, a forum hall, a members' lounge, education space and two refreshment areas. 

"It's a very welcoming space," said Anita Gaffney, executive director at the Stratford Festival.

"What we added … was spaces for people to gather before and after the shows … to have a space where people could go to forum events, which is our lectures, and debates, and panel discussions, and concerts, and comedy nights and everything from a morning film screening to a late-night comedy event," she said.

The former facility was essentially an auditorium with a small lobby space, with fewer production features, gathering spaces and amenities. 

The transformed auditorium, which can seat up to 700 people, has additional rows, comfortable seating, accessible aisles, and upscale production and lighting equipment. One of the more striking distinctive features maintained from the previous facility is its long thrust stage, which extends into the audience for a more intimate interaction.

The upside to the reopening delay was additional time to work through logistics, said Gaffney.

The space was also used last season for front-of-house services and performances in the parking lot, since the Festival Theatre hosted an outdoor season. 

"We had a bit of a test run," she said.

In the meantime, eager actors waiting for the grand debut used the theatre's rehearsal space.