My favourite Stratford production so far* this year is undoubtedly The Diviners, Verne Thiessen & Yvette Nolan’s grand adaptation of Margaret Laurence’s novel of the same name.

Staged with beautiful fluidity by Krista Jackson with Geneviève Pelletier, the production contains some of the season’s grandest celebration and its quietest tenderness. The great Irene Poole anchors the piece by never leaving the stage, playing the leading role of Morag as the story transitions seamlessly and clearly but never obviously back and forth in time and place across decades.

In an incredibly strong cast, Jonathan Goad stands out with a warm and wonderful portrait of unconventional fatherhood (and a pitch perfect Scottish brogue) and Anthony Santiago plays the titular water-seeker Royland with grounded and funny kindness. In their Stratford debut, Jesse Gervais is a charming love interest with an entrancing voice and, in his 11th season, Josue Laboucane feels like a totally new performer. Out of his usual hit in goofy Shakespeare roles, Laboucane gives the performance of his career full of subtle sadness and poignant character specificity.

The large chorus features many performers sharing a track with Something Rotten!, their tap skills put to evocative use in crowd work that shapes the piece with a beautiful sense of space, crowd, and community. Like many productions this season, the Diviners design is sparse but the directors rely on human effects to tell a story that at first glance you’d assume would need every prop and set piece in the warehouse. A great testament to innovation through limitation, the bells and whistles aren’t missed for a single moment.

A hard, complex, uniquely Canadian story adapted with sensitivity for a new medium and staged with stirring creativity and moving performances, The Diviners represents the very best of modern work at the Stratford Festival. A true achievement I sincerely hope doesn’t get overshadowed.

*at the time of writing, I’ve yet to see Salesman in China and London Assurance.