When talking Shakespeare, it is hard to compare with the productions mounted in that charming small town two hours west of the city. But Shakespeare’s works do not begin and end alongside the Avon River in Stratford. Two examples of low-budget and easily accessible productions right in Toronto are Driftwood Theatre and Dream in High Park where you can get your Bard on without breaking the bank.
I am charmed and intrigued by Driftwood Theatre’s Bard’s Bus Tour production of Macbeth. It begins with previews July 7 and July 8, at Todmorden Mills on Pottery Road off the Bayview Extension, and shows follow throughout the GTA including stops in Oshawa, Pickering and Ajax as well as four more performances in Toronto’s Withrow Park: on July 27 and 28 and then again on Aug. 13 and 14.
The Scottish Play has the most exquisite poetry in all of Shakespeare’s canon. (I still weep, after five decades of productions, when Macduff, an enemy of the evil king, hears of the slaughter of his wife and children. And who watching and hearing this devastating study of cruelty and power-run-wild does not?
I don’t expect Stratford-level acting, but I love the fact that the Driftwood comes to us rather than having to drive for several hours. Know that every one of Driftwood’s less than three dozen performances are “pay what you can,” although audience members can reserve blanket/lawn chair seating in advance by paying the recommended $15 admission — a fine touch.
A word to the wise: all performances of Macbeth begin at 7:30 p.m. and offer a 100 per cent performance guarantee, moving the show indoors should the need arise. For more information, go to www.driftwoodtheatre.com.
The Bard under the stars in High Park
CanStage’s annual Dream in High Park productions have become a midsummer tradition in Toronto, and this month’s premiere of The Winter’s Tale marks the company’s 29th season under the stars in nature’s amphitheatre.
I urge everyone to see this little-known, very late and quite unique mix of romance, comedy, farce and, yes, tragedy.
Not only because it stars some of our finest Canadian actors, including George Masswohl, Sanjay Talwar and David Jansen, but because Canadian Stage usually edits the Bard’s five-act, often three-hour plays to a tidy production in the 90-minute range.
This may not thrill university English professors, but I am rarely disappointed with the High Park productions.
Yes, the Stratford Festival did a superlative job with The Winter’s Tale less than two years ago. But if you missed it, how can you miss getting to arguably the most beautiful, bountiful park in the Greater Toronto Area to experience one of Shakespeare’s most moving — and, yes, funniest — plays?
And what a play this is. True, it contains the craziest stage direction in all of Shakespeare’s plays (“Exit, pursued by bear” comes to mind), but it also contains a quite literal resurrection of a previously thought dead main character that just may be the most moving moment in all of the Bard’s magnificent writings.
Dream in High Park is also a pay-what-you-can production, but the suggested minimum donation is $20 with children 14 and under free. CanStage also offers special Family Day Sundays, featuring free, all-ages, pre-show activities.
For more information, go to www.canstage.com.