Slings And Arrows
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''Slings & Arrows'' is a Canadian television series set at the fictional New Burbage Festival, a Shakespearean festival similar to the real-world
Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a repertory theatre organization that operates from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shak ...
. It stars
Paul Gross Paul Michael Gross (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian actor, film and television director, screenwriter, playwright, and producer. He rose to fame for his lead role as RCMP Constable Benton Fraser on the popular Canadian television series '' ...
,
Stephen Ouimette Stephen Ouimette is a Canadian actor and director. Although mostly known for his stage work, particularly at the Stratford Festival of Canada and on Broadway in '' La Bete'', he achieved TV fame (and a Gemini Award) as the ghostly Oliver Welles i ...
and Martha Burns.
Rachel McAdams Rachel Anne McAdams (born November 17, 1978) is a Canadian actress. After graduating from York University in 2001 with a BFA in theatre, she worked in Canadian television and film productions, such as the drama film '' Perfect Pie'' (2002), ...
appeared in the first season. The darkly comic series first aired on Canada's
Movie Central Movie Central (occasionally abbreviated as "MC", mostly in program guides) was a Canadian English language Category A premium cable and satellite television channel that was owned by Corus Entertainment. Movie Central was designated to operat ...
and
The Movie Network Crave (formerly The Movie Network or TMN) is a Television in Canada, Canadian premium television network and Streaming service provider, streaming service owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. Launched in 1983 as the national service ...
channels in 2003, and received acclaim in the United States when it was shown on the Sundance Channel two years later. Three six-episode seasons were filmed, with the final season airing in Canada in the summer of 2006 and in the United States in early 2007. ''Slings & Arrows'' was created and written by former '' Kids in the Hall'' member Mark McKinney, playwright and actress
Susan Coyne Susan Coyne (born 16 June 1958) is a Canadians, Canadian writer and actress, best known as one of the co-creators and co-stars of the award-winning ''Slings & Arrows'', a TV series which ran 2003–06 about a Canadian Shakespearean theatre c ...
, and comedian Bob Martin. All three appear in it as well. The entire series was directed by
Peter Wellington Peter William Wellington (born 21 August 1957) is an Australian politician. He was the independent member for Nicklin in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1998 to 2017, and served as Speaker from 2015 to 2017. Wellington has held the ...
.


Premise

''Slings & Arrows'' centers around life at a fictional Shakespearean theatre festival in New Burbage, Canada. Each season focuses on The New Burbage Festival's production of a different play. The themes of the play are often juxtaposed with personal and professional conflicts facing the festival's cast and crew.


Season 1: ''Hamlet''

The show's central characters are actor/director Geoffrey Tennant (
Paul Gross Paul Michael Gross (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian actor, film and television director, screenwriter, playwright, and producer. He rose to fame for his lead role as RCMP Constable Benton Fraser on the popular Canadian television series '' ...
), New Burbage artistic director Oliver Welles (
Stephen Ouimette Stephen Ouimette is a Canadian actor and director. Although mostly known for his stage work, particularly at the Stratford Festival of Canada and on Broadway in '' La Bete'', he achieved TV fame (and a Gemini Award) as the ghostly Oliver Welles i ...
), and actress Ellen Fanshaw ( Martha Burns), who seven years previously collaborated on a legendary production of ''
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
''. Midway through one of the performances, Geoffrey suffered a nervous breakdown, jumped into Ophelia's grave and then ran screaming from the theater. After that, he was committed to a psychiatric institution. When the series begins, Geoffrey is in Toronto, running a small company, "Théâtre Sans Argent" (French for "Theatre Without Money"), on the verge of being evicted. Oliver and Ellen have stayed at New Burbage, where Oliver has gradually been commercializing his productions and the festival. On the opening night of the New Burbage's ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...
'', Oliver sees Geoffrey on the news, chained to his theatre in protest. Heavily drunk, Oliver calls Geoffrey from a payphone and they argue about the past. Oliver then passes out in the street and is run over and killed by a truck bearing the slogan "Canada's Best Hams". Geoffrey's blistering eulogy at Oliver's funeral about the state of the festival leads to him being asked to take over Oliver's job on a temporary basis. After clashing with an old rival, Darren Nichols (
Don McKellar Don McKellar (born August 17, 1963) is a Canadian actor, writer, playwright, and filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. He is known for directing and writing th ...
), Geoffrey is reluctantly forced to take over directing the festival's latest production of ''
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
''. Making this difficult are Jack Crew ( Luke Kirby), the insecure American film star cast as Hamlet; Geoffrey's former lover Ellen, who is playing Gertrude and dating a much younger man; and Oliver, now haunting both Geoffrey and the festival as a ghost. Also in the play is apprentice actress Kate (
Rachel McAdams Rachel Anne McAdams (born November 17, 1978) is a Canadian actress. After graduating from York University in 2001 with a BFA in theatre, she worked in Canadian television and film productions, such as the drama film '' Perfect Pie'' (2002), ...
), who finds herself falling for Jack. On the business side of the festival, New Burbage manager Richard Smith-Jones ( Mark McKinney) is seduced by one of his sponsors, American executive Holly Day ( Jennifer Irwin) who wants to remake New Burbage into a shallow, commercialized "Shakespeareville".


Season 2: ''Macbeth''

The second season follows the New Burbage production of ''
Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
''. Richard is desperate for money to keep the company going. Geoffrey, frustrated over what he sees as a lack of commitment from his actors, suggests downsizing the company. A famous and highly egotistical actor, Henry Breedlove (
Geraint Wyn Davies Geraint Wyn Davies ( , ; born 20 April 1957) is a British-American stage, film and television actor. Born in Wales and educated in Canada, he became a citizen of the United States on 13 June 2006, having been sworn in by then Associate Suprem ...
), arrives to star in ''Macbeth.'' Geoffrey is reluctant to direct the play due to the difficulty of staging it well, but insists that he doesn't believe in the curse of "
The Scottish Play ''The Scottish Play'' and ''the Bard's play'' are euphemism, euphemisms for the William Shakespeare play ''Macbeth''. The first is a reference to the play's Scotland, Scottish setting, and the second is a reference to Shakespeare's popular ni ...
". Richard secures a government grant to
rebrand Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...
the festival. To do so, he hires an
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
advertising agency, Frog Hammer. Sanjay (
Colm Feore Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of ...
), the head of Frog Hammer, launches a series of shock advertisements and manipulates Richard into accepting them. Elsewhere at the festival, Darren has returned from an artistic rebirth in Germany to direct a version of ''
Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...
''. His experimental staging requires the actors to not touch or even look at each other. Frustrated by this, the leading actors Sarah and Patrick seek out Geoffrey's help. The festival's administrator, Anna Conroy (
Susan Coyne Susan Coyne (born 16 June 1958) is a Canadians, Canadian writer and actress, best known as one of the co-creators and co-stars of the award-winning ''Slings & Arrows'', a TV series which ran 2003–06 about a Canadian Shakespearean theatre c ...
), copes with an influx of interns. Among them is the ambitious Emily ( Grace Lynn Kung), who can be a little ''too'' enthusiastic when enforcing theater rules. Anna begins a romance with playwright Lionel Train ( Jonathan Crombie), who is doing a reading of his original play at the festival. She becomes upset when he uses her personal life in his writing, straining their relationship. Ellen is upset that she must undergo a tax audit. Her accountant brother-in-law agrees to help, but the two argue over Ellen's shoddy record keeping. Meanwhile, Geoffrey obsesses over directing ''Macbeth'', antagonizing his cast and crew. He starts seeing Oliver's ghost again, which make Ellen fear for his sanity. Henry and Geoffrey develop a tense power struggle over how to handle the titular character.


Season 3: ''King Lear''

The third season follows the New Burbage production of ''
King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...
''. The cast of ''Macbeth'' returns home after a successful run of the production on Broadway, where an old friend of Ellen's, Barbara, tells her to think about moving beyond New Burbage. As Richard tries to cope with being a success, Anna must deal with a group of stranded musicians and Darren is back in town, this time to direct a new musical, ''East Hastings''. Geoffrey, meanwhile, has cast an aging theatre legend, Charles Kingman ( William Hutt) as Lear, despite everyone's fears that the role will kill him. Oliver reappears and laments his inability to move on to the
afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...
. As rehearsals continue, Charles terrorizes Sophie (
Sarah Polley Sarah Ellen Polley (born January 8, 1979) is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, political activist and actress.Howell, Peter (September 24, 199"Nobody's Starlet: Toronto's Sarah Polley is Only 20 but already a veteran actor so secure in her craft s ...
), the actress playing Cordelia. She is also involved in the rivalry between the young actors in ''Lear'' and the young actors in the musical, whose success soon overshadows the troubled Shakespeare production. As things spiral out of control, Oliver returns to haunt and help, and Geoffrey seeks therapy from an unlikely source.


Cast


Episodes


Season 1 (2003)


Season 2 (2005)


Season 3 (2006)


Background and production


Development and writing

In the late 1990s, Tecca Crosby pitched the idea of a half-hour comedy about a theatre festival to producer Niv Fichman. Fichman recruited Susan Coyne to write the pilot, which at the time was called ''Over The Top.'' Mark McKinney later joined the project, followed by Bob Martin. Coyne, McKinney, and Martin are listed as the show's creators, and share writing credits on all 18 episodes. The series was produced by Rhombus Media for The Movie Network and Showcase.


Filming

Filming took place in southern Ontario, Canada. The lobby of the fictional Swan Theatre is Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre. Interior theatre scenes were filmed in Hamilton's Tivoli Theatre in season one and in Brantford's Sanderson Centre in seasons two and three. The Studio Theatre where season three's East Hastings performs is the main stage of Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto. Other locations included the Blue Goose Tavern in Toronto, and Yong's Restaurant in Georgetown.


Remake

In 2009, a remake of ''Slings & Arrows,'' titled ''Som & Furia'' (“Sound & Fury”), aired on Brazil's Rede Globo network. The 12-part Portuguese-language miniseries was produced and co-directed by Fernando Meirelles.


Possible prequel

As of November 2019, the creators were shopping a prequel to ''Slings & Arrows'' called ''The Amateurs'' about the origins of The New Burbage Festival in the 1950s.


Reception


Awards and nominations

In its three seasons, ''Slings & Arrows'' was nominated for 50 awards across several categories, and won 22 awards for acting, writing, direction, editing and more. It won 13
Gemini Awards The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in th ...
. It was nominated for Best Dramatic Series every season it aired, and won twice. It won at least two Gemini awards for acting in every season, winning three in each of 2006 and 2007. In addition to the Gemini Awards, the series swept Best Drama (One Hour) from the
Writers Guild of Canada The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) is a trade union representing professional writers working in film, television, radio, and digital media production in Canada. Members of the WGC write dramatic TV series, feature films, Movies of the Week, do ...
all three times it was nominated, and won Outstanding Television Series – Drama Awards from the Directors Guild of Canada in 2006 and 2007. The Writers Guild of Canada nominated three of its episodes for Best Drama Series in 2004. Other awards included a
Canadian Comedy Award The Canadian Comedy Awards (CCA) is an annual ceremony that awards the Beaver for achievements in Canadian comedy in live performance, radio, film, television, and Internet media. The awards were founded and produced by Tim Progosh in 2000. Th ...
in 2005 for Television – Pretty Funny Writing – Series, and a Satellite Award in 2006 for Best DVD Release of a TV Show. This table summarizes award wins by cast members: Many cast members—guests as well as regulars—were Gemini-nominated for their work on ''Slings & Arrows'' but did not win, including Jennifer Irwin,
Sarah Polley Sarah Ellen Polley (born January 8, 1979) is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, political activist and actress.Howell, Peter (September 24, 199"Nobody's Starlet: Toronto's Sarah Polley is Only 20 but already a veteran actor so secure in her craft s ...
,
Chris Leavins Chris Leavins is a Canadian actor and writer based in Los Angeles. Known for playing Atticus Murphy, Jr. the malevolent school guidance counselor on cult TV series ''Todd and the Book of Pure Evil''. He has appeared in a number of successful Tel ...
,
Don McKellar Don McKellar (born August 17, 1963) is a Canadian actor, writer, playwright, and filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. He is known for directing and writing th ...
and William Hutt.


References


External links

*
''Shakespearean Struggles, Both Onstage and Backstage''
at New York Times.com, August 5, 2005
''Sex and Shakespeare''
- Writers Guild of Canada article and interview at www.wgc.ca, Summer 2005
Bob Martin
- ''Downstage Center'' interview at American Theatre Wing.org, June 2006
''Slings & Arrows''
- ''NPR Weekend Edition'' interview at NPR.org, July 21, 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Slings and Arrows 2000s Canadian comedy-drama television series 2003 Canadian television series debuts 2006 Canadian television series endings Television shows based on works by William Shakespeare Canadian English-language television shows Gemini and Canadian Screen Award for Best Drama Series winners Television series about actors The Movie Network original programming Movie Central original programming