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| Jesse Green, the co-chief theater critic for The Times, just spent a week in Stratford, Ontario, where Canada's best known theater festival is now in its 67th season. |
![The cast of]()
The cast of "The Merry Wives of Windsor" at Stratford.
David Hou |
| In his "Critic's Notebook, a terrific read, Jesse wrote that there is no way to escape the theater when in Stratford — in the best sort of way. |
| [Read: At the Stratford Festival, Sexual Power and Paranoia] |
| He also offered this broad take on Stratford's venerable theater group: |
| Even if the individual productions are often B-plus efforts — rarely as good as the best versions you've ever seen but almost always among the better — the variety and cleverness of the programming more than make up for it. Under the artistic directorship of Antoni Cimolino, the mix of Shakespeare, classics, musicals and new work demonstrates the continuity of theater through the ages, as well as the continuity of injustice that makes it necessary. |
| While Stratford's season now runs from the spring until well into the fall, it's one of several theater companies, performing indoors and out, that are summer traditions across Canada. The Professional Association of Canadian Theatres counts 27 summer companies but Jeremy Stacey, the group's interim executive director, said that its list is far from complete. |
| Like Stratford, attending performances at Winnipeg's Rainbow Stage is a long-time summer tradition for many Canadians. Specializing in musical theater with a full orchestra, Rainbow officially opened in July 1954. (The name came from the colored lights strung along the top of its outdoor stage.) |
Downtown Stratford, Ontario where the theater world and real world mingle.<br /><br />
Ian Willms for The New York Times |
| In a city of 750,000, Rainbow sells about 20,000 tickets each season, typically at 40 to 50 Canadian dollars. |
| Julie Eccles, Rainbow's executive director, told me that beyond sheer numbers, Rainbow's success is measured in how it attracts audiences that range from elementary school children to people in their 80s. That, she said, is partly the result of making the shows as informal as possible. Its concessions offer popcorn, for instance, not canapés. |
| "For young people, Rainbow Stage is quite often their first musical theater experience," she said. "We welcome, with open arms, first-time theater goers." |
| And while many of Rainbow's productions are light musicals, that doesn't mean it's all Cinderella, all the time. This year's schedule includes "Strike! The Musical," a commemoration of the centennial of the Winnipeg General Strike during which about 30,000 workers left their jobs and the government's response left two people dead and 30 injured. |
| Other summer theater traditions are even less structured. Fringe festivals, particularly the Edmonton International Fringe Festival, are now a staple in many cities. Earlier this month in Ottawa, my wife and I attended a production of "Romeo and Juliet" by A Company of Fools, a tiny group that's been performing Shakespeare in parks in and around the city for nearly 30 years. Like many small theater groups, the cast passes a hat rather than sell tickets. (I should note that Norah Paton, who is performing Juliet, is the daughter of friends.) |
![Alec Guiness performing in]()
Alec Guiness performing in "Richard III" at the Stratford Festival in the 1950s.
Peter Stackpole/The LIFE Picture Collection, via Getty Images |
| While it's beyond the Canada Letter to come up with a comprehensive list of summer theater groups across the country, we would very much like to learn about companies and festivals that have become part of your tradition. Please email them, with your full name and location, to nytcanada@nytimes.com. We may use edited versions of your replies in an upcoming newsletter. |
| Both the Canada Letter and I are taking a summer break. There will be no newsletter on Aug. 3. But it will be back and written by Dan Bilefsky, my colleague based in Montreal, on Aug. 10. |
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