Colley Cibber was not well received. In the middle of the play, he whispered to fellow actor Benjamin Victor that he wanted to go home, perhaps realising he was too old for the part and its physical demands. Cibber also essayed tragic parts in plays by Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Dryden and others, but with less success. By the end of his acting career, audiences were being entranced by the innovatively naturalistic acting of the rising star David Garrick, who made his London debut in the title part in a production of Cibber's adaptation of "Richard III" in 1741. He returned to
Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan bilingual production of Romeo & Juliette co-directed with Robert Lepage. These productions celebrated the festival atmosphere and challenged approaches to Shakespeare. Henry Woolf, British-born actor/playwright/director and past Head of the University of Saskatchewan Drama Department, assumed the role of artistic director of the company in 1991. During Woolf’s years, the company grew to become a multi-faceted festival and theatre company that included music, dance, and workshops, presenting off-season and non-Shakespeare productions, including the North American premiere of Harold Pinter's Ashes to Ashes. His productions over the next ten seasons earned national acclaim and public notoriety. His production of Much Ado