Slings and Arrows (2003–2006)

In the fictional town of New Burbage, legendary theatrical madman Geoffrey Tennant returns to the New Burbage Theatre Festival, the site of his greatest triumph and most humiliating failure... See full summary »

Creators:

Susan Coyne, Bob Martin, Mark McKinney

Stars:

Paul Gross, Martha Burns, Stephen Ouimette

22 wins & 28 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Paul Gross	...	Geoffrey Tennant (18 episodes, 2003-2006)
Martha Burns	...	Ellen Fanshaw (18 episodes, 2003-2006)
Stephen Ouimette	...	Oliver Welles (18 episodes, 2003-2006)
Susan Coyne	...	Anna Conroy (18 episodes, 2003-2006)
Don McKellar	...	Darren Nichols (18 episodes, 2003-2006)
Mark McKinney	...	Richard Smith-Jones (18 episodes, 2003-2006)
Graham Harley	...	Cyril (17 episodes, 2003-2006)
Michael Polley	...	Frank (17 episodes, 2003-2006)
Catherine Fitch	...	Maria (17 episodes, 2003-2006)
Rothaford Gray	...	Nahum (11 episodes, 2003-2006)
Oliver Dennis	...	Jerry (11 episodes, 2005-2006)
Sean Cullen	...	Basil (9 episodes, 2003-2005)
Matt Fitzgerald	...	Sloan (8 episodes, 2003-2005)

Storyline

In the fictional town of New Burbage, legendary theatrical madman Geoffrey Tennant returns to the New Burbage Theatre Festival, the site of his greatest triumph and most humiliating failure, to assume the artistic directorship after the sudden death of his mentor, Oliver Welles. When Geoffrey arrives he finds that Oliver is still there, in spirit anyway, and with his guidance (and often in spite of it) Geoffrey attempts to reconcile with his past while wrestling the festival back from the marketing department. Despite a bitter leading lady, a clueless leading man, and a scheming general manager, he manages to stage a remarkable production of Hamlet -- the play that drove him mad.

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Plot Keywords:

theatre festival | mentor | theatre | theatre group | sitcom | 

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Taglines:

The real show is backstage.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

Movie Central - Season 2 Movie Network

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 November 2003 (Canada)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rhombus Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Paul Gross and Martha Burns, who play on-again, off-again lovers Geoffrey and Ellen, have in their real lives been married since 1988. They have two children together.

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Quotes

Cyril: [about Geoffrey] He's doing the rounds. He saw the Chekov on Tuesday. He was at the Dream last night.
Frank: No!
Cyril: Yeah. There he was. Third raw from the back. Head burried in his hands like he lost a brother in the war.
Frank: Crikey. He wouldn't recast, would he?
Cyril: Not the Dream, no. But God knows what he'll do with Oliver's Hamlet. Play the lead himself.
Frank: You think?
Cyril: Oh, why not? It was the play that drow him mad. Seven years ago. I saw it all with me own eyes. Halfway through the gravedigger scene he suddenly ...
[...]

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Connections

Remade as Sound & Fury (2009)

User Reviews

Simply well done

I quite enjoyed watching 'Slings and Arrows' on TMN this past season, and must say - it was a delight to finally see something strikingly original and drop down funny on the telly. It was well received, by the audiences who knew of its existence, but lacked any sort of advertisement and flare that HBO shows get. It's been too long since something like this has been tried, and it sure as hell stacks up to the HBO shows any day. Paul Gross has finally shown he as as good an actor as he is a looker. The characters are thoughtfully developed and the plot line is kept alive by the fast-moving pace of this Stratford-like festival. A perfect score all the way.