This season’s Shaw Festival programming on the Royal George Theatre’s iconic proscenium stage showcases a strong assortment of styles and themes ranging from trademark execution of a Shaw classic, to a freshly adapted childhood favourite, hyper-stylized Chinese fable, and a noir vision of a twisty whodunnit.

As current Artistic Director Tim Carroll continues to wrestle the company’s mandate, it’s a shame to see a reduction in Shaw texts become the principal consequence of essential programming diversification. At least two selections from the writer’s massive body of work would be welcome, especially considering the company’s status as specialists in GBS’ distinct style and complex ideas. Said expertise is perfectly captured in this season’s lone Shaw text Candida, one of the writer’s most lean and focused works and, to the best of my memory, the first to get a second production since we began covering the festival in 2011 (that year’s version of the play lives vividly in my memory as an introduction to soon-to-be favourites Wade Bogert-O’Brien and Claire Jullien). Directed with emotional specificity by Severn Thompson and featuring a serene and charming performance by the wonderful Sochi Fried in the title role, Candida is, like so many Shaw texts, a heady idea play but it’s also a tender story about feeling feelings and guarding others’. A more energetic physical performance from Johnathan Sousa as enthusiastic young suitor Eugene Marchbanks would help pull the energy up in some of the wordier passages but the technique and understanding the cast has for the work and the high standards of Shaw’s technical artists is on full display in a classic text on the likes of which this house was built.

Witness for the Prosecution, on its surface, is a similar kind of play- period costumes, British accents- but the Agatha Christie thriller lacks Shaw’s intellectual vigour and director Alistair Newton’s concept further simplifies the text. Though his film noir vision is a thrill of lighting (Siobhán Sleath) and costume (Judith Bowden) magic, the broadening of archetypes flattens Marla McLean‘s leading lady into a memorable but less complicated femme fatale whose motivations and inner life become far less consequential than her, admittedly iconic, swagger. The great Patrick Galligan‘s character enjoys a bit more nuance but as written is fairly matter of fact. Some of the supporting players, meanwhile, struggle where Shaw players nearly never do- with the execution of their accents. While stunning to look at and led by reliable stars, Witness for the Prosecution fails to leave the audience much to reckon with.

Billed as “a play with songs”, Jay Turvey and Paul Sportelli’s original adaptation of The Secret Garden is a sort of semi-musical staged by Turvey with creative restraint and moving visual metaphor. The intensely likeable cast is led by Gabriella Sundar Singh who dares to begin the play as unlikeable to give her contrary Mary room to grow alongside her garden. Beyata Hackborn’s set and Kevin LaMotte’s lighting under-deliver expectations slightly though the resulting demands on the imagination are, perhaps intentionally, rewarding. Shaw’s children’s programming has found a really lovely balance in recent years wherein kids are challenged to engage with classic material with fewer bells and whistles and bright flashing things than many TYA projects. The Secret Garden is a low-key and sweet production that refuses to talk down to its audience, carrying us through the simple and kind story with a gentle hand.

The Shaw’s annual lunchtime one-act is one of my favourite traditions, a clever way to work shorter form storytelling into the season and allow for stylistic experimentation and ambition without the commitment of a full evening timeslot. Michael Man’s translation/adaptation The Orphan of Chao, adapted from a classical Chinese drama and directed with bold strokes by the ever-thoughtful Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster, is the perfect use of that slot. Though the bold Brechtian performance style and design didn’t quite work for me, they are a refreshing new vibe to introduce to the sometimes staid festival environment. The cast is a mixed bag highlighted by the always great Jonathan Tan but hindered a bit by the casting of young Eponine Lee in the titular role when the already present distancing would have easily allowed the casting of a more experienced performer. Man’s play is an ambitious adaptation of a work well known by the Chinese diaspora but new to much of the festival audience, making it an intriguing draw for both groups looking to see something new at the Shaw.