The Festival Theatre is the largest of the Stratford venues and the spiritual home of the company. The 1,800-seat house, built in 1957, replaced the original canvas tent and retains the same Elizabethan thrust stage — actors enter from the audience, with no proscenium between them and the front row.
The building sits in parkland above the Avon River, ten minutes' walk from downtown along a path lined with oaks. Backstage tours run in the morning before matinees and are worth the time if you are curious about how a 28-week repertory season actually works.