Traditional Anne vs. Modern Anne

Reviewed by Mary Alderson

It’s the year of redheaded orphans at the Stratford Festival. While Annie is on the Festival Stage, Anne of Green Gables graces the Avon Stage. At Saturday’s opening, a gentleman volunteer met us at the door, saying “Welcome to Anne of Green Gables.” A woman going in ahead of us said “No, I’m going to Annie.” She was redirected to the Festival Theatre. A reminder to double check those tickets.

Another note: This Anne of Green Gables is NOT the musical. Anne and her classmates are non-singing, non-dancing. I love the musical; I believe I have seen it eight or ten times. Written by Don Harron, with music and lyrics by Harron, Norman and Elaine Campbell, and Mavor Moore, it premiered on CBC TV in 1956, later becoming an annual stage production at the Charlottetown Festival and spreading to theatres across Canada and then around the world. I also loved the TV mini-series starring Megan Follows and the late Jonathan Crombie.

I have read the book many times, starting at about age 10, the first time at my mother’s insistence. Fun Fact: My maiden name was Blewett. In the book, because Anne wasn’t a boy, Marilla looks into giving the orphan girl to a rather nasty woman named Mrs. Blewett. “I wouldn’t give a dog I liked to that Blewett woman,” says Matthew. I was devastated, and ran to my mother asking why she didn’t tell me that there was a horrible character in the story with our name. My mom smiled and said that wasn’t her name when she read the book so she didn’t remember that.

All this is to say that I am very much a life-long Anne fan. I love all the Anne books, I love Prince Edward Island, I loved the mini-series, and I love the musical. So, this new adaptation is up against some tough competition.

The play begins with Stratford actor Maev Beaty coming on stage, nervously telling us to turn off cell phones. She is dressed for the 1890s, the setting for Anne of Green Gables. She leads the audience in singing O Canada to open the show. And finally, we learn that she is dressed for her book club, where the group is reading Anne of Green Gables. It’s a fun addition to the show to be in 2025 reading the book, and it there are many laughs created around the book club concept.

The story of Anne comes from Lucy Maud Montgomery’s book, first published in 1908. Aging brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert live on the family farm. They decide they need a boy to help Matthew with the work, and send word to an orphanage. But instead of a boy, shy Matthew finds a very talkative girl waiting at the train station. Anne gets into various scrapes growing up at Green Gables. She hates her red hair, and when Gilbert Blyth calls her “Carrots” she breaks her school slate over his head. The book follows her school years as she gets in and out of trouble, en route to becoming a fine young woman.

The play covers all Anne’s familiar trials and tribulations – offering a dramatic apology to Mrs. Lynde, wanting stylish puffed sleeves on her dress, serving her friend Diana wine by mistake, to falling off the roof when she was dared to walk the ridgepole.

The characters are based in the 1890s, with book club members moving in and out of the story, sometimes as Avonlea characters.

But in Act II, everything changes. Anne and her friends, along with Marilla and Matthew become 2025 characters. It’s a look at who Anne would be if she were alive today. This is where they leave the original story behind. Maybe it’s just me, but I also think they left behind the charm that makes Anne Anne of Green Gables. Taking off Anne’s long skirt and apron to wear overalls doesn’t seem right. Instead of applying to Redman College in Nova Scotia, Anne applies to Oxford, which doesn’t quite fit the narrative.

Despite my reservations, I must add that the cast was excellent. Caroline Toal is a wonderful Anne Shirley. She demonstrates all Anne’s energy, her head-strong behaviour and her love of chatter. Sarah Dodd is a perfect Marilla, reserved and curt at first, but later able to verbalize her love of Anne. As Matthew, Tim Campbell shows us a shy and awkward man who soon comes into his own, sharing Anne’s joys. Maev Beaty is the perfect Mrs. Lynde, gossiping and rudely commenting about Anne, but later defending her. The rest of the cast is wonderful portraying the Avonlea children, even the obviously male Steven Hao, who leaves the book club and dons a dress to play Jane Andrews.

The enduring and endearing charm of Anne of Green Gables is knowing that this fictional little girl lived over 130 years ago, and yet each generation of readers/theatre goers can still identify with her. My mother, born in 1914, loved Anne and passed that on to me. I passed it on to my daughter, and now to my granddaughter. I came home from the Avon Theatre gift shop with one of those darling straw hats with red braids attached for her.

The play is definitely reaching out to a new audience of Anne fans. Many little girls attended the opening, wearing their long Anne dresses with pinafores and those sweet straw hats. It doesn’t seem necessary to modernize it to get their attention.

Anne of Green Gables continues in repertory until October 25, 2025 at the Avon Theatre, Stratford. Tickets are available at the Stratford Festival at 1-800-567-1600, or check www.stratfordfestival.ca

Photo: Julie Lumsden as Diana Barry (left) and Caroline Toal as Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables, Stratford Festival 2025. Photo by David Hou.

Anne of Green Gables
A new adaption by Kat Sandler
Based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Directed by Kat Sandler
Performed by Caroline Toal, Sarah Dodd, Tim Campbell, Maev Beaty, Julie Lumsden, Jordin Hall, Jennifer Villaverde, Josue Laboucane, Helen Belay, Steven Hao.
Produced by the Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ontario
Schulich Children’s Plays
Avon Theatre, Stratford
April 25 to October 25, 2025
Opening May 31, 2025