IN APRIL 1979, Julian, a busy partner in the firm of Porter and Posluns and already on the Stratford Festival’s board, was elected chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission. I don’t think he realized that both boards faced crisis and that he would be spending more time dealing with them than he could spare from the law. Other than daily complaints from subway and bus—the Avenue Road route!—passengers, many of whose comments were delivered directly to our home, the TTC was manageable. Stratford, not so much. The day of Julian’s first annual general meeting, actor/director Richard Monette shouted “You pig” at the retiring president of the board, a foretaste of interesting times to come.I
Martin Knelman, theatre and movie critic, cultural commentator, and gossipy wit, would write about the turmoil in The Stratford Tempest, a 1982 book that recounts the events after Julian’s appointment to head the search committee for a suitable artistic director. Suitable, at a time of simmering Canadian nationalism, meant Canadian. Lloyd Axworthy, minister of immigration, Mavor Moore, head of the Canada Council, legendary actors Martha Henry, Hume Cronyn, and William Hutt were all involved in the melee. Julian, always a quick study, decided that the only feasible option was the inspiring, well-qualified, but mercurial John Hirsch.
Hirsch lived a couple of blocks from our house in Moore Park. He was suspicious of Stratford’s approach because he felt he had been snubbed and insulted by them in the past. Despite that history, Hirsch was flawlessly cordial at their first meeting. Julian took me along for some subsequent meetings because Hirsch too was born in Hungary and, by strange coincidence, had also become a Canadian nationalist. Lean, hirsute, reserved, with a soft Hungarian accent, he offered wine and pretzels but not a hint of being inclined to consider the Stratford position. He believed in nurturing and promoting Canadian talent, not at the expense of excellence but at the expense of the colonial mentality that, he believed, still reigned supreme on Stratford’s board. Julian was so eager to break through Hirsch’s resistance that he overstepped his board mandate and actually offered Hirsch the position, with details to be worked out later. I think they both rather enjoyed the media storm that followed, but it took all of Julian’s powers of persuasion to calm the board.
In spite of that kerfuffle, Hirsch took the job. He liked the challenge of Stratford at a time when he knew every move he made was going to be scrutinized and, if possible, debunked by his opponents. As Julian had predicted somewhat unconvincingly, the 1981 season was a huge success, due as much to Muriel Sherrin, whom Hirsch imported from CBC drama, as to Hirsch’s own genius. Brian Bedford, Richard Monette, Len Cariou—already stars on stage—added the glamour, as did Nicholas Pennell and Fiona Reid.
We attended most of the openings, and Julian settled the board down to enjoy the shows. He loves theatre, Shakespeare in particular. He can recite bits of dialogue and soliloquies with as much verve as an actor. The courtroom, where he still did most of his acting, is itself a stage where opposing counsel fight with words before an audience. Julian loved jury trials. I think Hirsch recognized in him a fellow thespian.
I met festival founder Tom Patterson on one of our Stratford trips. He was keen to reminisce about the early days of the festival, the efforts to persuade the town to allow a festival each summer, his time with Tyrone Guthrie and Alec Guinness. Without their extraordinary talent and the support of the British theatre community—not just the actors, but the experienced costume crew, the dancers, and the stage managers—Patterson felt the festival would never have happened. His memoir, First Stage: The Making of the Stratford Festival, ghosted by Allan Gould, should be required reading for Stratford’s annual new arrivals, both the talent and the board.
As for me, I remember Tom every time we are in the Tom Patterson Theatre. The town of Stratford has justified his dream. No longer the failed small town he left behind when he went to fight in the Second World War, it is a major international attraction, site of an inspiring theatrical extravaganza that drew an audience of half a million in 2017. There are plans now for a new Patterson Theatre building. I think Tom would be pleased.
I. Monette himself would be artistic director of the Stratford Festival from 1994 till 2007, and he was unfailingly polite to Julian every time they met.