SOUND , FURY & STILLNESS :
STRATFORD ’ S TOM PATTERSON THEATRE
ONLINE READERS CLICK HERE
PHOTO : SCOTT NORSWORTHY
By Alan Hardiman
The Stratford Festival ’ s new 600-seat Tom Patterson Theatre opened on May 10 , 2022 , two years late due to the pandemic , but well worth the wait . Built for $ 72 million from a design by Siamak Hariri , founding partner of Hariri Pontarini Architects , the theatre was slated to open on the centenary of the birth of its namesake : Tom Patterson , a local reporter who conceived the idea to found a Shakespearean festival in Stratford in 1952 — mostly because the town ’ s name and its Avon River called to mind the Bard . Frankly , at the time , Stratford desperately needed something to replace its steam locomotive maintenance industry , which was rendered obsolete in the age of diesel .
Replacing the original Tom Patterson Theatre that had been housed on the same site in a converted century-old curling arena with few amenities , the new theatre is a glorious embodiment of Patterson ’ s vision and legacy . Its thrust stage recalls and expands on the original stage designed for the festival in 1953 by the artistic director Tyrone Guthrie and designer Tanya Moiseiwitsch , the first thrust stage of the modern era . Here , it is stretched to almost 50 by 20 ft ., making it the largest thrust stage in the country , if not the world , ideal for staging the grand battle scenes in Shakespeare ’ s more violent histories .
Reclining sinuously along the southern bank of the river midway between the Festival Theatre and the Avon / Studio Theatre complex downtown , the 77,000-sq . -ft . Tom Patterson Theatre is intended to be a natural gathering place for patrons of any of the festival ’ s four venues , as well as a vibrant community hub .
“ The capacity of the lobby with its public café is about 1,000 , much greater than that of the theatre itself . We wanted to create a space where the community could gather ,” says the technical director Greg Dougherty .
Additional spaces flowing from one to another within the building ’ s undulating , bronze-glazed envelope are designed for performances , readings , cabarets , seminars , and receptions , including the 200-capacity Lazaridis Hall . Equipped with a modest lighting rig and sound reinforcement system , the hall is acoustically isolated to permit events to run concurrently with others in the building , but can transform into a much larger space via two 16-ft . -high custom walnut acoustic pocket doors that open to include the lobby . The Dinner Rooney Workshop , a multi-purpose space with a sprung floor for performance , can also serve as a secondary rehearsal space , augmenting the full-height rehearsal hall behind the backstage area . The Spriet Members ’ Lounge features one of three stone bars distributed throughout the venue , views to the garden on three sides , a custom fireplace , and private garden space .
“ Even if there are 1,000 people in here , we want them to be able to have normal conversations without raising their voices ,” Dougherty says . “ With all the glass , brick , and wood , you can imagine how that could be a bit of a cacophony . But the ceiling does the lion ’ s share of the work in the acoustic treatment of this place . We don ’ t have a lot of distributed loudspeakers because we don ’ t need high levels to fill this space , whether it ’ s background music , a live band , or speeches and announcements . Our lobby PA is subtle , just a few Bose Panaray columnar loudspeakers here and there . When we were specifying the gear for this place , we were so enamored of the architecture that we didn ’ t want to mar it with technology , but rather keep the public spaces as intimate as possible . The rooms are all wired for audio , video , data , and control over fibre , Cat 6 , SDI , BlackMagic … you name it : in every room , to every room , from every room . So , we can simulcast from the auditorium or Lazaridis Hall into the lobby , or vice versa ,” Dougherty explains .
The heart of the building , the theatre , is wrapped in gently curving blond brick walls . “ We used this beautiful brick that is sand-cast . By taking the mortar and coming flush , it becomes like stone — it ’ s ambiguous ,” Hariri says . “ It has a kind of rawness and a simplicity that then sets off the warmth of the ceiling . I felt that if we created a very
26 PROFESSIONAL SOUND