SOURCE: "Master Hamlet and Saint Viola," in The Saturday Review, New York, Vol. XL, No. 29, July 20, 1957, p. 26.

The fifth summer of the Shakespeare Festival Theatre of Canada is notable, not only because the most unique and exciting theatre in North America has moved from a temporary tent to a beautiful permanent building, but also because it presents two stars many consider the finest classic performers of the younger generation. One, twenty-eight-year-old Christopher Plummer, is instantly recognizable as a potential Sir Laurence Olivier. He is even recognizable as such in this, his first Hamlet, which, though deficient in some important respects, courageously explores the softer side of the role and its opportunities for humor.…

The second star, whose Saint Joan has already earned her stage immortality, is Siobhan McKenna. As Viola in Tyrone Guthrie's production of Twelfth Night, Miss McKenna successfully applies some of the qualities that made her...