A peek at the Stratford Festival’s 2025 season in photos — months before the show goes on, they’re meant to entice people into the theatre

If a picture tells a thousand words, it can also sell thousands of tickets. That’s the hope with the marketing photos for the Stratford Festival’s 2025 season. Earlier this week, I spoke with photographer Ted Belton, who spent most of September in Stratford chatting with directors and marketing folks, collaborating with prop, costume and lighting designers and then, with actors in a studio, finding the most effective ways to capture the spirit of each of the fest’s 11 productions.
This is Belton’s third year taking these season photos, which will go on to appear on playbills, in newspapers — even on the sides of buses. If these photos, taken months before rehearsals begin and sometimes days after actors have been cast, look especially colourful, they are; during the last two seasons, his season images were in black and white. Here we break down his dramatic dossiers for five of the coming productions.
For Stratford’s high-profile production of the Scottish play, director Robert Lepage had one important note for Belton. “This is not ‘Macbeth’ on wheels,” he warned him. That proved helpful, because based on advance word — Lepage has been planning this production for years — the photographer had been thinking of Danny Lyon’s 1960s photos of Hells Angels outlaws, whimsically imagining co-star Lucy Peacock on a Harley. A key bit of information came when Lepage explained he was building a motel set, which got Belton thinking of Nan Goldin photos set in such liminal spaces. “Robert jumped on that,” said Belton. “So I forgot about the bikes and tried to capture a quiet, small moment, illustrating the complex codependence of these characters. Once Tom (McCamus) and Lucy arrived, they just dropped into their characters. It was one of the best experiences I’ve had working with actors. They were so open, making really subtle changes each time. We had 100 photos we could have used.”
Director Donna Feore understands that a single photograph can’t communicate her vision for a show, but she believes one that’s thoughtfully composed will go a long way to getting people interested in a story. “In the case of ‘Annie,’ I wanted to showcase the relationships that will lead us through the show,’” said Feore, in a statement. “The actors (Dan Chameroy, Laura Condlln and newcomer Harper Rae Asch) are very talented and know their roles so all I asked was that they trust that and have some fun.” Which worked. The central dynamic of the beloved musical comes through and Belton said everyone in the room was crying with laughter. “As soon as they got into costume and on set, they started riffing,” said Belton. “Laura had this lipstick-smeared face, Dan was trying to be the ‘straight man’ in this scenario so had to restrain himself. And I haven’t had much experience working with children, but Harper was so confident, cool and calm. When Dan and Laura played around, she totally held her own. This first picture is almost tame. Things got really wild. They really went for it. Maybe some of those other pictures will trickle out later.”
Director Chris Abraham and Belton discussed the themes of Shakespeare’s comedy and the reasons behind its relevance today. Abraham also spoke with actors Sara Farb and Christopher Allen, “emphasizing my trust in the photographer to capture something special and beautiful about their portrayal of Rosalind and Orlando’s relationship.” That beauty comes through with dignified ardour in this stunning photo. “Chris wanted there to be a sense of optimism in it, even though the picture is darker in tone and the costumes are slightly distressed,” said Belton. The photo also shows off the two stars — Farb returning after a few years away, Allen graduating to lead in his second season — with old-school cinematic glamour. “These are rising stars of the company,” said Belton, “and we wanted them to look good. I hope it’s clear that, in these pictures, we’re giving them the star treatment.”
Kat Sandler, who’s adapting and directing Lucy Maud Montgomery’s beloved story, said she and Belton “talked about introducing a new generation of audiences to the work while still maintaining the iconic imagery that so many Canadians know and love. With this image, we wanted to communicate the soul of this poignant and timeless story: belonging and finding one’s place in the world.” Belton immediately thought of the early scene of the red-headed orphan arriving at the train station, staging it like an old-fashioned family portrait. But how to suggest a train station in a studio? Turns out the house where he was staying was down the street from the actual Stratford depot and during his early morning jogs he would see the area covered in gorgeous mist. This stunning, nostalgic photo is a composite of pictures he took over a few weeks of the train tracks, a tree, the ground, and Caroline Toal (making her Stratford debut) surrounded by siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert (Tim Campbell and Sarah Dodd). “Ordinarily, I wouldn’t do a composite, but this felt right.” Later marketing images will tease other aspects of the production, he said. “But I think this one captures the warmth and nostalgia we associate with the story.”
For the photograph of Shakespeare’s late play about friendship and marriage, Stratford’s artistic director, Antoni Cimolino, asked Belton to “capture a joyful moment that suddenly feels like a shadow. A moment of rupture. When a sunny cloudless sky instantly turns bottle green and we are trapped in the storm.” Belton said working with actors André Sills, Sara Topham and Graham Abbey was a treat. “These are three experienced actors who were already completely familiar with the text and went through so much of their own work before coming to the studio,” he said. “We tried lots of things, highlighting the camaraderie between the characters and not the animosity. And this moment we ended on seemed to capture what they were exploring. I don’t sit in on rehearsals or workshops, but taking this photo almost felt like watching a first workshop.”
Go to stratfordfestival.ca for information about the 2025 season.