Christopher Newton (11 June 1936 – 20 December 2021) was a Canadian director and actor, who served as artistic director of the

Shaw Festival The Shaw Festival is a not-for-profit theatre festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is the second largest repertory theatre company in North America. The Shaw Festival was founded in 1962. Originally, it only featured productio ...

from 1980 to 2002.

Early life and education

Newton was born in Deal, Kent, England and educated at Sir Roger Manwood's School. After graduating from the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

with a B.A., he moved to the United States for further study at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

, where he earned his M.A. in 1960. Summer jobs at the Vancouver Festival in 1959, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the next two summers, led Newton into acting.

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering ...

hired him as acting head of theatre department, where he continued to learn acting on the job.

Career

Newton performed with the Canadian Players, at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, the Vancouver Playhouse and the Stratford Festival. At Stratford, he played such roles as 'Oberon' in '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' and 'Aramis' in ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight ...

''. He also appeared on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (; 15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He wrote numerous award-winning plays, of which several were adapted into films. Early life Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in L ...

's ''The Private Ear''. In 1968, Newton founded

Theatre Calgary Theatre Calgary, is a theatre company in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, established as a professional company in 1968. It was preceded by Workshop 14, a theatre study group founded in 1944 by Betty Mitchell. Calgary's ''Betty Mitchell'' awards are ...

where he served as artistic director until 1971. In 1973, he was appointed artistic director of the

Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company The Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company ("The Playhouse") was a regional theatre company, producing plays since 1962. Its first production was '' The Hostage'' by Brendan Behan, which opened on October 2, 1963. The company performed out of the V ...

. There, he founded the Playhouse Acting School with his friend and mentor

Powys Thomas Powys Thomas (25 December 1925 – 22 June 1977) was a British-born actor who played an important role in the development of theatre in Canada. History He was born in Wales in December 1925. His early education was at Rendcomb College, Cirence ...

Shaw Festival

In 1979, after thrice refusing, Newton accepted an appointment as artistic director of the

. During his tenure, Newton continued the work to expand and enrich the Shaw Festival repertory company. Newton directed a number of critically acclaimed productions, including

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's '' Caesar and Cleopatra'' (1983), '' Heartbreak House'' (1985), ''

Major Barbara ''Major Barbara'' is a three-act English play by George Bernard Shaw, written and premiered in 1905 and first published in 1907. The story concerns an idealistic young woman, Barbara Undershaft, who is engaged in helping the poor as a Major in ...

'' (1987), ''

Man and Superman ''Man and Superman'' is a four-act drama written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. The series was written in response to a call for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. ''Man and Superman'' opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London o ...

'' (1989), ''

Misalliance ''Misalliance'' is a play written in 1909–1910 by George Bernard Shaw. The play takes place entirely on a single Saturday afternoon in the conservatory of a large country house in Hindhead, Surrey in Edwardian era England. It is a continuation ...

'' (1990), '' Pygmalion'' (1992), '' Candida'' (1993) and '' You Never Can Tell'' (1995), as well as

Henry Arthur Jones Henry Arthur Jones (20 September 1851 – 7 January 1929) was an English dramatist, who was first noted for his melodrama '' The Silver King'' (1882), and went on to write prolifically, often appearing to mirror Ibsen from the opposite (conserv ...

's ''The Silver King'',

William Gillette William Hooker Gillette (July 24, 1853 – April 29, 1937) was an American actor-manager, playwright, and stage-manager in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best remembered for portraying Sherlock Holmes on stage and in a 1916 ...

's ''Sherlock Holmes'',

Harold Brighouse Harold Brighouse (26 July 1882 – 25 July 1958) was an English playwright and author whose best known play is '' Hobson's Choice''. He was a prominent member, together with Allan Monkhouse and Stanley Houghton, of a group known as the Manche ...

's ''Hobson's Choice'',

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

's ''Lady Windermere's Fan'',

J.M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

's ''Peter Pan'', St. John Hankin's ''The Return of the Prodigal'', and

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

's ''Cavalcade''. He also continued to appear as an actor at The Shaw, taking a series of small roles in one of the company's greatest successes,

Derek Goldby Derek Tomlin Goldby (1940 – 9 January 2022) was an Australian-born theatre director who has worked internationally, particularly in Canada, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States and France. Early life Derek Goldby was born in Adel ...

's production of

Edmond Rostand Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with t ...

's ''

Cyrano de Bergerac Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist. A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...

'', as well as playing lead roles in Noël Coward's ''Private Lives'' and Granville Barker's ''The Secret Life''. As artistic director, he brought in directors such as Tadeusz Bradecki,

Denise Coffey Denise Dorothy Coffey (12 December 1936 – 24 March 2022) was an English actress, director and playwright. Early life Coffey was born in Aldershot in 1936, the only child of Dorothy (''née'' Malcolm), and her husband, Denis Coffey, an Irishm ...

, Jackie Maxwell and Neil Munro. Newton also carefully developed the acting company, cultivating talented younger actors with challenging roles and effectively turning company members Jim Mezon,

Heath Lamberts Heath Lamberts, (December 15, 1941 – February 22, 2005) was a Canadian actor.Robert Crew, "Lamberts, 63, stage's mirth master". ''Toronto Star'', February 23, 2005. He was born James Lancaster in Toronto, Ontario, where, as a boy, he won ...

, and

Fiona Reid Fiona Reid, CM (born 24 July 1951) is an English-born Canadian television, film, and stage actress. She is best known for her roles as Cathy on the TV series ''King of Kensington'' and Harriet Miller in the film ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding''. E ...

into stars. Newton also widened the mandate of the Shaw Festival (the performance of plays written and set in

Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's lifetime, 1856–1950) by programming the works of lesser known playwrights such as

Granville Barker Harley Granville-Barker (25 November 1877 – 31 August 1946) was an English actor, director, playwright, manager, critic, and theorist. After early success as an actor in the plays of George Bernard Shaw, he increasingly turned to directi ...

, whose entire oeuvre was performed at the Shaw Festival in a series of highly praised productions directed by Neil Munro. Newton's final season as artistic director of the Shaw was in 2002, and he invited Jackie Maxwell to join him for the season as artistic director designate to ensure a careful transition of leadership. Since his departure, he worked as a freelance director and actor for companies such as the

Canadian Opera Company The Canadian Opera Company (COC) is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and one of the largest producers of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Cent ...

, the Vancouver Playhouse,

, and the Stratford Festival. He also returned to the Shaw Festival in 2004 to direct Oscar Wilde's ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' and in 2005 to direct

R. C. Sherriff Robert Cedric Sherriff, FSA, FRSL (6 June 1896 – 13 November 1975) was an English writer best known for his play '' Journey's End'', which was based on his experiences as an army officer in the First World War. He wrote several plays, many nov ...

's ''

Journey's End ''Journey's End'' is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry comp ...

''.

Honours

Newton was appointed a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

in 1995. He was named an Officer in 2018. Christopher Newton's other awards include the

Governor General's Performing Arts Award A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts (2000), the

Molson Prize The Thomas Henry Pentland Molson Prize for the Arts is awarded by the Canada Council, Canada Council for the Arts. Two prizes are awarded annually to distinguished individuals. One prize is awarded in the arts, one in the social sciences and human ...

; and, from the

United States Institute for Theatre Technology The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) is a membership organization which aims to advance the skills and knowledge of theatre, entertainment and performing arts professionals involved in the areas of theatrical design, design, ...

(USITT), the Thomas DeGaetani Award, all honouring his lifetime contribution to the theatre.

Personal life and death

Newton died on 20 December 2021, at the age of 85. family

References

External links

An Interview with Christopher Newton
Legend Library, TheatreMuseumCanada
Entry at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Christopher 1936 births 2021 deaths Officers of the Order of Canada People from Deal, Kent English emigrants to Canada Canadian theatre directors Canadian male stage actors People educated at Sir Roger Manwood's School Alumni of the University of Leeds Purdue University alumni University of Illinois alumni Governor General's Performing Arts Award winners Canadian artistic directors