Slings and Arrows 

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

23 wins & 31 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
Oliver Dennis	...	Jerry 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
Leon Pownall	...	Brian 12 episodes, 2003-2005
Rothaford Gray	...	Nahum 11 episodes, 2003-2006
Seán Cullen	...	Basil 10 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 | magical realism | reference to william shakespeare | canadian | backstage | 

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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)

Also Known As:

Пращи и стрелы

Filming Locations:

Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts, Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rhombus Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Michael Polley (Frank) and Sarah Polley (Sophie) are real-life father and daughter. In 2012, Sarah Polley directed a documentary called Stories We Tell in which she reveals that Michael Polley is not actually her biological father, but she still considers him to be her real father.

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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

Referenced in In Depth: Ben Shapiro (2013)

User Reviews

Who says Canada can't compete with the HBO mini-series?

I'm amazed to see no comments about Slings and Arrows. It was simply the best thing I've seen on television in the past few years. Every now and then something comes along that changes the way you look at television. Maybe it's The Prisoner, or Twin Peaks. This year for me it was Slings and Arrows. Easily the best thing to come out of Canada since Atom Egoyan and The Kids In The Hall, it's so well written, acted, and edited, that it blows shows like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and Carnivale out of the water. That's asking a lot, considering there are very few well written television shows anymore. It's not just well written, it's hillarious from start to finish. It's great to see Rachel McAdams getting a good role for once as well. Perhaps destined to play the dumb blonde highschool teen, she shines in this role - obviously she's meant for better things. The same could be said about every other member of the cast. This series is simply perfect, from start to finish - dying to see how this gets received abroad or when it'll see a DVD release.