Sharry Flett Is Reflecting on 34 Seasons at the Shaw Festival

About This Episode:

Sharry Flett has spent 34 seasons at the Shaw Festival - long enough to have watched the company evolve through three artistic directors, raise a daughter who appeared on its stages, and welcome back former students she once coached as the people now directing her. In this conversation with host Phil Rickaby, Sharry reflects on what keeps drawing her back to Niagara-on-the-Lake, and what it felt like to walk into rehearsals for Wind in the Willows and find Fiona Sauder, André Morin, and fight director Jack Davidson Rennie - all artists she had mentored at George Brown College, now in positions of leadership.

This episode explores:

What it was like for Sharry to be directed by three former students she had coached at George Brown College; and how she navigated that full-circle moment

Playing Rat in Wind in the Willows: how the original Kenneth Grahame book shaped her approach to the character

Why performing for children demands complete honesty and commitment; and how that discipline serves actors in any room

The Shaw Festival under three artistic directors: Christopher Newton, Jackie Maxwell, and Tim Carroll, and how the ensemble ethos has remained constant through each

Sharry's path from medicine to music to theatre, including the moment picking up a flute sent electricity through her arm

The importance of teaching; and what Sharry gains from students when she brings Shaw's language alive in the room

And much more!

Guest: Sharry Flett

SHAW 2026: Funny Girl, The Wind in the Willows; 34th season. FOR THE SHAW: Anything Goes, May I Have The Pleasure?, My Fair Lady, The Secret Garden, The Apple Cart, The Clearing, The Doctor’s Dilemma, Everybody, Cyrano de Bergerac, Man and Superman, Me and My Girl, Uncle Vanya, The Philadelphia Story, Enchanted April, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Come Back Little Sheba, Maria Severa, Age of Arousal, Sunday in the Park with George, The Little Foxes, Getting Married, The Magic Fire, Major Barbara, The Autumn Garden, Floyd Collins, Misalliance, Rebecca, Joy, The Seagull, Hedda Gabler, Berkeley Square. (Selected Credits) ELSEWHERE: leading roles in theatres across Canada, including Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew, Miranda in The Tempest, Stratford Festival. FILM/TELEVISION: Grey Gardens, Shades of Black, Full House with Sharry Flett, Jane of Lantern Hill. AWARDS: Gemini nominations (best actress), War Brides and Suicide Murders, CBC; Paul Reynolds award, Shaw Festival; Tyrone Guthrie award, Stratford Festival. TEACHING: Shaw Festival, National Theatre School, George Brown Theatre School, Queen’s University, University of Toronto, Brock University.