Many of Toronto’s theatres don’t close up shop and go home once the mercury rises. Soulpepper has a full summer season planned, and Mirvish is premiering their big summer show Matilda. But often audiences prefer their stage shows with a side of summer breeze. And that means a road trip. Here are a few top spots worth the gas money.
STRATFORD FESTIVAL
Canada’s oldest classical theatre festival has been making incremental changes over the past few years, incorporating more Canadian work (in particular, the development of musicals) into its repertoire. But the work of Shakespeare is still its primary focus. This season, the casting of Araya Menghesa as Henry V in Breath of Kings: Redemption has been making news. The Toronto-born actor and his cousin, director Weyni Mengesha, are both descendants of Ethiopian royalty. And three shows have recently been extended due to demand: Arthur Miller’s drama All My Sons; an adaptation of C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; and the infamous “Scottish Play,” Macbeth. Stratford also offers Torontonians an express bus service.
https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/
SHAW FESTIVAL
This is longtime artistic director Jackie Maxwell’s final season at the helm (British director Tim Carroll is taking the reins by season’s end). In the 14 years Maxwell has run the festival, it has also diversified its offerings to include musicals (this season’s Sweeney Todd) and adaptations such as Lisa Codrington’s of G. B. Shaw’s own book of short stories, The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search For God. Classics, like Chekov’s Uncle Vanya and Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, round out Maxwell’s final season. Shaw’s proximity to Niagara Falls and the surrounding vineyards also make the trip attractive.
https://www.shawfest.com/
1000 ISLANDS PLAYHOUSE
Although a three-hour trip away, we’re including 1000 Islands because of their rising star artistic director, Ashlie Corcoran. This is Corcoran’s third season as AD, and she has collaborated with several Toronto-based companies on the 2016 season, remounting Canadian Stage’s Das Ding (The Thing) (which she directed) and premiering the new musical You Are Here in collaboration with Acting Up Stage. Other shows in the season include the jukebox musical A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline and perennial comedy favourite Blithe Spirit.
https://www.1000islandsplayhouse.com/
DRIFTWOOD THEATRE
For more than two decades, the travelling outdoor Shakespeare company Driftwood Theatre has brought classical theatre to the small-town masses, staging their packed-in-a-van shows in parks and outdoor spaces across Ontario. From July 8 to Aug. 14, Driftwood will be performing a 1980s take on The Bard’s Taming of the Shrew. The run includes a week in Toronto’s Withrow Park, as well as performances in St. Catherine’s, Peterborough, Belleville and more. All shows are pay what you can.
https://www.driftwoodtheatre.com/
PORCH VIEW DANCES
Kaeja d’Dance is in its fifth year of performing small-scale outdoor performances in their Porch View Dances project. The conceit of the project: enlisting local storytellers and performers, many with no dance training, to create unique pieces that move from house to house for a walking and dancing tour. Porch View Dances will be in the Seaton Village neighbourhood of Toronto to perform Flock Landing from July 13-17. All shows are pay what you can.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1147348021951597/
