On Monday, October 2, 2023 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto the Stratford Festival will celebrate and honour the legendary career of Lucy Peacock. This spectacular evening will be hosted by Sheila McCarthy.

The 2023 Stratford Festival Gala will be held in the Aria Ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel, Toronto. The evening will include tributes, music and entertainment featuring Stratford Festival artists and special guests.

We hope you can join us for this spectacular evening supporting the key artistic priorities of the Stratford Festival.

Honouring Lucy Peacock
In the 40 years of her distinguished career, Lucy Peacock has been featured in more than 80 productions at the Stratford Festival. After graduating from the National Theatre School in 1983, she made her debut as Hermia in the inaugural Dream in High Park, toured with Regina's Globe Theatre, and played Mary Snow in Saltwater Moon at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal. She then joined the Stratford Festival Young Company in 1984, and her portrayal of the role of Mrs. Sullen in The Beaux’ Stratagem captured the attention of both audiences and critics alike; she subsequently reprised the role to much acclaim in 2014. 

Since then, she has journeyed through the stories of Ophelia, Rosalind, Viola, Portia, Desdemona, Lady Macbeth, Titania, Beatrice, Gwendolyn, Helena, Duchess of Malfi, Masha, Mary Stuart, Volumnia, Queen Elizabeth and Satan. She has explored leading roles in Three Tall Women, Bakkhai, All My Sons, John Gabriel Borkman, Private Lives, Hello, Dolly!, The King and I, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, and a two-year run of her sold-out cabaret, Late Night with Lucy. As well, Ms Peacock played two seasons at the Festival with her acclaimed, sold-out, one-woman tour de force show, The Blonde, The Brunette, and the Vengeful Redhead, which also toured to Vancouver. Her portrayal of seven characters ranging from age 4 to 84 garnered rave reviews.

Ms Peacock has shared the stage and worked with some of the most iconic actors, directors and artists of this generation, including Christopher Plummer, John Neville, Richard Monette, Martha Henry, Antoni Cimolino, Brian Bedford, Sir Jonathan Miller, Cary Perloff, Robin Phillips, Susan H. Schulman, Brent Carver, Susan Wright, Janet Wright, Goldie Semple, Peter Hinton-Davis, Jackie Maxwell, Colm Feore, Seana McKenna, Peter Donaldson, Jillian Keiley and Robert Lepage.

She has captivated audiences at major cultural institutions such as the National Arts Centre, The Segal Centre, Centaur Theatre, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Citadel, The Globe Theatre, Canadian Stage, Vancouver Playhouse, The Coalmine Theatre, The Winter Garden and Broadway’s Lincoln Centre. She has several film and television credits, and is a four-time recipient of Stratford's Tyrone Guthrie Award.  She is, as well, the published author of Limericks by Lucy Peacock as the Duchess of Malfi: Written as She Lay Dead on the Stage.

Known for her compassion and commitment to the Stratford Company, Lucy mentors, guides and teaches young actors and works with both production and artistic management to accomplish common goals of dignity and respect in service to the work. Her generosity to the Stratford community is always appreciated as she has helped raise over $200,000 for Performing Arts Lodge Stratford with her multi-year commitment to directing and hosting their annual fundraiser at the Festival Theatre.

For more information please email Jana Gordon, jgordon@stratfordfestival.ca.