This weekend we continued to celebrate Elizabeth's birthday with a day trip down to the Stratford Festival courtesy of Aunt Vicki (our chauffeur, chef and ticket purchaser for the day).
The Stratford Festival was established as a festival of Shakespearian theatre back in the 1950s as a way to boost the economy of the former railway town. Today, the festival and the Stratford theatre company are still going strong, and have expanded their repertoire to include a wide range of plays and musicals, from Greek tragedies to contemporary Canadian plays.
We decided to check out a matinee showing of Guys and Dolls at the Festival Theatre, so Vicki picked us up early on Saturday morning and we made our way out of the city, through rural Southern Ontario, to the small town of Stratford. Despite the traffic, and an accidental (though very scenic) detour, we made it to the festival with plenty of time for a picnic by the river, where we enjoyed some tasty sandwiches, tarts, and Portuguese green wine while admiring the swans and soaking up some sun. We were very relaxed then heading into the afternoon show.
We decided to check out a matinee showing of Guys and Dolls at the Festival Theatre, so Vicki picked us up early on Saturday morning and we made our way out of the city, through rural Southern Ontario, to the small town of Stratford. Despite the traffic, and an accidental (though very scenic) detour, we made it to the festival with plenty of time for a picnic by the river, where we enjoyed some tasty sandwiches, tarts, and Portuguese green wine while admiring the swans and soaking up some sun. We were very relaxed then heading into the afternoon show.
Elizabeth was maybe a little bit too relaxed.
We had decided to forgo some of the more intense plays on the go that afternoon and opted instead for the simpler pleasures of Guys and Dolls. The classic show did not disappoint, with a cast of incredibly talented actors and dancers, and some amazing on-stage action, telling the story of a couple of gamblers and their lady friends in New York.
When the show was all done we dropped by the gift shop for a quick browse of their various Shakespeare themed merch (Shakesperian Star Wars books? Manga Macbeth?) before starting the journey back to Toronto. The journey ended up being a little longer than expected as we encountered a surprising amount of traffic heading into the city, but we did pick up some tasty ice cream along the way, so we were happy, and it wasn't enough to dampen our enthusiasm for a great day out.
On Sunday, we had another mini day trip to see the Blue Jays (lose, again) with Jess and Steven. Despite the resulting asymmetric sunburn we both received, we had an awesome time hanging, feasting on footlong hotdogs, and watching Steven consume a beer the size of his head (responsibly). Unfortunately, none of us was young enough to take advantage of the free "Back to School" rucksacks they were handing out.
