Created by stage actors Susan Coyne and Bob Martin, with former Kids in the Hall star Mark McKinney, this finely judged and occasionally moving comedy presented the politics and lunacy surrounding a Shakespearean stage troupe in the (fictional) Canadian town of New Burbage.
Actor and Artistic Director Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross) was recovering from a very public mental breakdown and couldn’t escape the ghost of his deceased mentor, director Oliver Welles (Stephen Ouimette).
Other key characters included the passive-aggressive actress Ellen Fanshaw (Martha Burns), who is Tennant’s on-and-off lover; Richard Smith-Jones (Mark McKinney), the shallow Executive Director of the New Burbage Shakespeare Festival; Associate Executive Director Anna Conroy (Susan Coyne), and the young hopeful actress Kate McNab (Rachel McAdams).
Through three seasons, the series followed the cast through productions of Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear.
Despite initial critical misgivings that the show might not appeal to anyone outside Ontario – the site of the annual Shakespeare-oriented ‘Stratford Festival’ – Slings & Arrows proved a smash hit.
Geoffrey Tennant
Paul Gross Oliver Welles
Stephen Ouimette Ellen Fanshaw
Martha Burns Anna Conroy
Susan Coyne Darren Nichols
Don McKellar Richard Smith-Jones
Mark McKinney Kate McNab
Rachel McAdams Jerry
Oliver Dennis Cyril
Graham Harley Frank
Michael Polley Maria
Catherine Fitch Brian
Leon Pownall Nahum
Rothaford Gray Basil
Seán Cullen Sloan
Matt Fitzgerald Jack Crew
Luke Kirby
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Actor and Artistic Director Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross) was recovering from a very public mental breakdown and couldn’t escape the ghost of his deceased mentor, director Oliver Welles (Stephen Ouimette).
