The Grand Theater Company, London, Ont.
When Robin Phillips was 15 and a student at Britain's Bristol Old Vic, his impoverished rural parents provided him £ 1 a week for pocket money, obtained "by selling things from the house, including their wedding presents." The sacrifice bore fruit. At 20, Phillips was acting with Laurence Olivier; by the time he was 30, he was an established director in London's West End (Tiny Alice), on Broadway (Abelard and Heloise) and, by preference, in Britain's regional repertory theaters. His success was certified in 1973 when, at age 31, he won one of the most prestigious repertory-theater posts in North America, as artistic director of Canada's Stratford Festival.
Phillips built a justified following at Stratford for his venturesome direction of more than 30 productions. But after seven years there led to "utter exhaustion," he quit and, amid acrimony over his abrupt departure, resumed the roving life of a guest director. Friends predicted that he would find himself longing for a home, and they were right. Last month, in sedate, affluent London, Ont. (pop. 255,000), about 40 miles from Stratford, Phillips launched a new troupe that is as ambitious as its title: the Grand Theater Company.
The ensemble—named for its performing space, a chastely remodeled former grand-opera house—is mounting productions ranging from Hamlet to Godspell, from a transvestite Arsenic and Old Lace to a studiously Edwardian The Doctor's Dilemma. Phillips will direct four of the nine main stage productions and co-direct three more. (The schedule also includes five children's shows, adapted from stories by Paul Gallico.) The actors, many of them veterans of the Phillips era at Stratford, work in true repertory: a weekend visitor can see four plays in two days; at its peak during December, the Grand will offer seven main stage shows and three children's plays. With only modest government and corporate support, the company is counting on ticket sales to defray an optimistic 73% of the $3.5 million budget (in U.S. dollars).