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FESTIVAL CRICKET COMPETITION

SEASON: Late Summer or Fall

LOCATION: Lower Queen’s Park, Stratford, every other year

WEBSITE: n/a

HIGHLIGHT: A cricket competition between Stratford and Shaw Festivals

The Stratford Festival’s cricket tradition began in the 1950s when Tyrone Guthrie and other British theatrical celebrities arrived in Stratford to be a part of the city’s new Shakespearean theatre. As a break from the pressures of tent construction, stage design, and rehearsals, the Brits played cricket, their game with origins back to the sixteenth century.

Each year, the Stratford Festival and Shaw Festival challenge one another to a cricket match in order to prove, in a sportsmanlike way, which is the better festival. The friendly rivalry between the two theatrical companies began in the 1970s. The match is always on a Monday, a dark day at both festivals, which means actors and staff have one day to show off their cricket competency. The annual match alternates between Stratford and Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The Stratford Team is known as Blakes’ Blokes in honour of its founder, actor Mervyn (Butch) Blake, who was at the Stratford Festival for over forty seasons.

The Stratford-Shaw match is a day of champagne and celebration, revelry, and rivalry. One story describes how, in 2015, Bill Malmo, a Stratford Festival veteran, opened a bottle of bubbly with a sabre and then went on to open a second with a cricket bat. Other antics include the Shaw Festival players arriving in Stratford dressed in theatre production costumes.

In cricket there are specific rules regarding intervals taken during a match. In Stratford and Niagara-on-the Lake, when teatime is announced, lunch is served. There is also a dinner after the match. If you find yourself in Lower Queen’s Park on cricket day, you can partake in the food and drink. If you wear all white, you will fit right in.