Interview with Ian Farthing (Part Two)

Ian Farthing
Artistic Director
St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival

Ian had the privilege (so well earned and deserved) to perform with the Mirvish Production “The Sound of Music” for the entire 18 month run. He not only was in the ensemble, and to quote Ian, ”and yes, amongst other things, I did play a nun!” He was also one of the two understudies for Captain von Trapp and as Ian tells me, “I treasure the memories of the times I was able to go on in the role. How many times in your life do you get four $800 dollar suits hand-tailored for you?! Sadly, we weren’t allowed to keep them!”If you have seen Ian, you will know that he is tall and slender, so I would imagine the role and suit could be filled by others. I am lucky that Ian shares with us a story about his favorite production and to see it from the eyes of a professional so to speak, getting THE INSIDE SCOOP, as it were. ”Favorite show that I’ve been in was probably the recent Toronto production of The Sound of Music. It was a career highlight to be part of such a fantastic production. Although the run was nearly 18 months long, we had such fun on that show that I could have done it for another 18 months! Of the shows that I’ve seen, my top three include the National Theatre production of Cat on a Hot Tim Roof in London – such powerful acting, Stephen Sondheim’s musical Sweeney Todd, a masterpiece, and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Titus Andronicus – I arrived and saw the play was going to be 3 hours and 55 minutes with one intermission and my heart sank. But I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I went back to see it twice more. An interesting link to SLSF – the actor playing Lavinia in that production was Sonia Ritter, who ended up directing Comedy of Errors for us in Prescott in 2004!” As a professional, I wondered if Ian, himself, had a favorite performer. He tells me … “Dame Judi Dench – apart from being extraordinarily versatile, whether it’s Shakespeare, James Bond, sitcoms or classics, she also has a reputation for being a wonderful company member and a very cheeky sense of humour. It would be an honour to work with her someday.”
(To be continued)