John Milton’s Comus

A performance of John Milton’s masque Comus directed by Heather Davies with the original songs by Henry Lawes and dance music by his brother William played by Christopher Verrette and the MIO String Band.

Comus - Part one

Comus - Part two

Interview 1: Director Heather Davies

Interview 2: Actor Bethany Jillard

Interview 3: John Edwards on the Music 1

Interview 4: John Edwards on the Music 2

Interview 5: Prof. Deanne Williams

Pavan in D minor by William Lawes

Antic and Corant by William Lawes

Morris Dances by William Lawes

Pavan in F major by William Lawes

Alman 1 in F maj. by William Lawes

Alman 2 in F maj. by William Lawes

Corant 1 in F maj. by William Lawes

Alman 3 in F maj. by William Lawes

Corant 2 in F maj. by William Lawes

Saraband in Fmaj. by William Lawes

The Cast

Heather Davies - Director

Heather Davies was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and grew up in Toronto, Ontario. She’s trained as a dancer, singer, actor and musician and has worked professionally since her teens. Heather moved to the UK to continue her actor training; she lived and worked in theatre there for 18 years. In 2001 she began focusing on directing full-time when she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company as a resident director, working there for nearly three years. She returned to Canada in 2007 to attend the MFA- Theatre program at York University, graduating in April 2009. From September 2009 to February 2011 she was the Artistic Associate at The Grand Theatre in London Ontario. She continues to enjoy directing, writing, teaching and adapting in the UK and across Canada.

In 2017 Heather became the first Artistic Director of The Ryga Festival, (inspired by renowned Canadian writer, George Ryga) in Summerland, BC and directing Colours in the Storm at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario. In 2018, as well as returning to Summerland, Heather’s stage adaptation, Judith: memories of a Lady Pig Farmer, (based on the original novel, Judith, by Alberta writer Ardith Van Herk), will premiere at the Blyth Festival. Other projects in development include Silverfish (an original play about economic migration) and the stage adaptation of Night Desk, (novel by George Ryga).

Roger Honeywell - Attendant Spirit-Daemon

Canadian tenor Roger Honeywell studied at the Ryerson Theatre School in Toronto and began his career as an actor, working widely in his native country. He went on to become a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Young Artists Programme, and in 2008 made his Metropolitan Opera, New York, debut as James Nolan (Doctor Atomic). His many appearances in the US and Canada include Bob Boles (Peter Grimes) for Canadian Opera Company, Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos) for Pacific Opera Victoria, Gabriel von Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus) for Vancouver Opera, Loge (Das Rheingold) for Opéra de Montréal, Captain Vere (Billy Budd) and Peter Grimes for Des Moines Metro Opera and in Santiago, Captain Ahab (Heggie’s Moby-Dick) for Pittsburgh Opera and Utah Opera, Dick Johnson (La fanciulla del West) for Virginia Opera and Glimmerglass Opera, Veasey (Cold Mountain) for North Carolina Opera, Archbishop Roche (the world premiere of John Estacio’s Ours) for Opera on the Avalon, Leukippos (Daphne) for Glimmerglass Opera, Troilus (Troilus and Cressida) with Opera Theatre of St Louis, James Nolan for Lyric Opera of Chicago and Danilo (Die lustige Witwe) for Boston Lyric Opera. European appearances include Charlie (Mahagonny-Songspiel) and Father (Die sieben Todsünden) for Opéra national du Rhin and Leukippos (Daphne) for Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse.

Honeywell has also sung in concert with the Montréal Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic and with many other orchestras in his native Canada and the USA

Paul Hopkins - Comus

Paul Hopkins has played a variety of dynamic roles on film, television and stage. In theatre, Paul has performed on stages throughout Canada including the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Theatre Calgary and the Atlantic Theatre Festival. From 2007-2014, he was the Artistic Director of Repercussion Theatre in Montreal. In 2013, Hopkins was one of three finalists for the Christopher Plummer Fellowship Award of Excellence, for his exceptional contribution to the study of Shakespeare and/or the classics in performance. On television, he is best known for his portrayal of ‘Mouse’ in Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series, Officer Bouchard in CTV’s 19-2, and Dale in Disney’s Zombies: The Musical 1,2,and 3. Hopkins has made numerous television appearances on shows such as Suits and CBC’s Diggstown, Being Human, Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Nuremberg. His feature film credits include RED II, Art of War, Mambo Italiano, The Covenant, Highlander III, and My First Wedding.

Bethany Jillard - The Lady

As a company member with the Stratford Festival in Canada for five seasons, Bethany’s credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Beaux’ Stratagem, Othello, The Three Musketeers, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, The Little Years, Dangerous Liaisons and Peter Pan. Regional credits include Othello (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); The Seagull, After Miss Julie and the world premiere of Gone with the Wind (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre); How It Works, The Little Years and Cake and Dirt (Tarragon Theatre); My Name Is Rachel Corrie (Theatre PANIK); A Man of No Importance (Acting Up Stage Company); That Face (Canadian Stage Company/Nightwood Theatre) and Tough! (Factory Theatre). Her film and television credits include If I Were You with Marcia Gay Harden (Paragraph Pictures), Murdoch Mysteries (Shaftesbury Films), Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures (The Movie Network), Rookie Blue (ABC) and I Love You ... But I Lied (Lifetime). She is a graduate of the University of Toronto and The Birmingham Conservatory for classical theatre training. Ms. Jillard moonlights as a singer in the band Notes from Underground alongside her husband, Aaron, who is her rock, her inspiration and her joy.

Tracy Ryan - Elder Brother

Tracy Ryan is a Canadian Screen Award nominated actress best known for her roles as Helen in Young Drunk Punk and in the title role of the 90’s television series Nancy Drew. She’s most recently appeared in the sketch comedy tv series Kids in the Hall and TallBoyz. Tracy is also the voice of several animated characters, most notably Duck in Little Bear. She has also done numerous theatre roles, her favourite being Wendy, in One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre’s Letters to Wendy’s. She recently narrated several pieces by and about Sir Philip Sidney for the Musicians in Ordinary podcast. She has a degree in Theatre from University of Toronto and continues to enjoy studying with various teachers including early modern pronunciation with Hallie Fishel and Shakespearean monologues with Patsy Rodenberg.

Beryl Bain - Second Brother

Selected Theatre credits: Mother’s Daughter (Soulpepper), Bronte: A World Without, Paradise Lost, A Comedy of Errors (Stratford Festival), How Black Mothers Say I Love You (Factory Theatre/Girls In Bow Ties), The Mountaintop (Grand Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Theatre Northwest) The Living by Colleen Wagner (Summerworks 2015), Complex (Summerworks, 2014), The Mountaintop (Theatre Calgary- Betty Mitchell Award Nomination, Calgary Critics Award Nomination 2014), Dirty Butterfly (Bound To Create/Obsidian Theatre-Critic’s Pick, NOW Magazine), Nadia in Awake (Expect Theatre), Race, (Theatre Yes), The Women, Born Yesterday, The Stepmother, After The Dance (Shaw Festival), The Little Prince (Grand Theatre). Film/TV: Caught in the Act (webseries), Suits, Awake (Best Actress Nomination, Miami Urban Film Festival), Rogue, Warehouse 13, Ubisoft: Far Cry 5. B.F.A York University

Tahirih Vejdani - Sabrina

Tahirih Vejdani is a Toronto based actor, singer, composer, music educator and conductor originally from Regina, Saskatchewan. She graduated from the University of Regina with a Bachelor of Music double majoring in Vocal Performance and Music History. Select theatre credits include: HMS Pinafore, Treasure Island, The Pirates of Penzance, Elektra (Stratford Shakespeare Festival); Portia’s Julius Caesar (Shakespeare in the Ruff); The Men in White (Factory Theatre); Jungle Book (Young People’s Theatre); Taming of the Shrew (Driftwood Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (Tarragon Theatre); The Hobbit, Shrek The Musical, Honk! A Musical Tale of the Ugly Duckling (Globe Theatre); Paradise Lost (Summerworks Festival); Shakespeare Meets Hip Hop (Shakespeare in Action). Select film/TV credits: Receiver, Kim’s Convenience, Let it Snow, InSecurity.

Deanne Williams - Dramaturg and Advisor

Deanne Williams is a Professor in the English Department at York University in Toronto. She received a BA in English and Religious Studies from the University of Toronto, an MPhil in Medieval English Studies from Oxford University, and a PhD in English from Stanford University. Deanne was elected to the Royal Society of Canada, College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists, and in 2018 and was awarded a Killam Research Fellowship from the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2019 she received the President’s Research Excellence Award from York University.

She is author of The French Fetish from Chaucer to Shakespeare (Cambridge, 2004), which won the Roland H. Bainton Prize for best book in literature from the Sixteenth Century Society, and has published scholarly articles on a wide range of topics, including Anglo-French literary relations, Shakespeare adaptations, the history of feminist scholarship, medievalisms, and the reception of classical and medieval literature in the Renaissance. She is co-editor, with Ananya Jahanara Kabir, of Postcolonial Approaches to the European Middle Ages: Translating Cultures (Cambridge, 2005), and, with Kaara Peterson, of The Afterlife of Ophelia (Palgrave, 2012).

Her current research is devoted to early modern girlhoods. Shakespeare and the Performance of Girlhood (Palgrave, 2014) was published in Palgrave’s Shakespeare Studies series. 

She is currently at work on projects concerning girl actors in the Middle Ages and Renaissance and girls in early modern book culture.

The Musicians In Ordinary String Band

Christopher Verrette and Trish Ahern - Violins
Felix Deak and Laura Jones - Bass Viols
John Edwards - Theorbo 

Canadian Registered Charitable Organization Number: 87915 0712 RR0001

These podcasts are supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC),the Spem in Alium Fund of Toronto Foundation, and York University