PAST PRODUCTIONS
Based on the beloved Frank Capra film, this Holiday Tradition comes to life on stage in this charming adaptation.
Set just before, during and after World War II, Bedford Falls, NY comes to Niagara, where George Bailey, a dreamer who yearns to see the world, finds himself stuck in his small town running his father's Building and Loan company. When plans take even more unfortunate turns, George wishes he'd never been born. Cue Clarence the angel on assignment to finally get his wings, and George get his wish. He is shown what the world would be like if he had never been born.
This classic tale of redemption is based on the short story, "The Greatest Gift" by Philip Van Doren Stern, which ITSELF was loosely based on the beloved tale "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens.
Ranked number ONE on the list of America's most inspirational films of all time, this story is the perfect way to celebrate this Holiday Season with family and friends, because the main message of this uplifting tale is just how many lives we affect and impact in our journey on this earth.
Twins are separated in a shipwreck, and forced to fend for themselves in a strange land. Viola thinks her brother is dead. He thinks that she is dead. Everyone thinks that she is her brother. Everyone thinks that her brother is her. Shenanigans ensue.The first twin, Viola, falls in love with Orsino, who dotes on Olivia, who falls for Viola but is idolised by Malvolio. Enter Sebastian, who is the spitting image of his twin sister… Lots of confusion and hilarity follows around the mistaken identity of Sebastian and Cesario, and exactly who is promised to whom.
Shakespeare's company was invited several times by Queen Elizabeth to provide entertainment for the annual Twelfth Night celebrations on January 6, and in 1600 it is thought that the troupe presented this play at court on this occasion.
The play consistently ranks among the greatest plays ever written and has been dubbed as "The Perfect Comedy".
Patrick Barlow's The 39 Steps is a parody adapted from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock.
The play's concept calls for the entirety of the 1935 adventure film The 39 Steps to be performed with a cast of only four. These four actors play more than 150 roles! This requires lightning-fast quick-changes and occasionally for them to play multiple characters at once!
Containing every single legendary scene from the award-winning movie — including the chase on the Flying Scotsman, the escape on the Forth Bridge, the first theatrical bi-plane crash ever staged and the sensational death-defying finale in the London Palladium, the play is full of allusions to (and puns on the titles of) other Alfred Hitchcock films, including Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Psycho, Vertigo and North by Northwest.
Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have the intriguing, thrilling, riotous and unmissable comedy. But will they save Britain from a den of devious spies?
A VERY different approach to telling this famous tale, yet one that still keeps to the traditional Dickensian portrayal. Sections of the audience are called upon to provide some of the sound effects (bells, howling wind, toasts of good cheer)! A truly interactive production with many other surprises!
Timothy Westerby is overworked, underpaid and stressed out – and his daughter Judy is getting married in what he considers an overly lavish and expensive ceremony. Ripe for a nervous breakdown, he finally has one on the morning of the wedding, when he hits his head and meets Polly, a gorgeous young woman who finds him irresistible. Trouble is, Polly is just a hallucination! Convinced that Polly is real, Timothy delights in welcoming the alluring guest to Judy's wedding. Meanwhile, he and his wife, Ursula – who is less than thrilled over Timothy's obsession with Polly – contend with a host of complications and a barrage of colorful guests.
The first in the ‘Inspector Pratt’ trilogy of spoofs of the Agatha Christie ‘whodunnit’ genre by Peter Gordon. This hilarious spoof of the best of Agatha Christie traditions is set in a country manor house in the late 1930’s, with an assembled cast of characters guaranteed to delight --- Bunting, the butler; a shady French art dealer and his moll; the bumbling local inspector and more — they’re all here, and all caught up in the side-splitting antics which follow the mysterious death of the house’s owner. It soon becomes clear that the murderer isn’t finished yet, but will the murderer be unmasked before everyone else has met their doom, or will audiences die laughing first?
The Canterville Ghost is a humorous short story, and was the first of Wilde's stories to be published. It is a study in contrasts, simultaneously parodying the traditional ghost story and satirizing American values. While Wilde most obviously satirizes American materialism, English traditional culture is also fair game.
An American family buys the old, haunted Canterville Chase from Lord Canterville who warns them of the ghost, Sir Simon, that haunts the mansion. The Americans are undaunted, and the ghost’s efforts to terrorize the family are done in vain. Aside from the humourous satire, Wilde does include a serious message through the actions of young Virginia who learns what life and death truly are, and why love is stronger than both.
It has been adapted for the stage and screen several times, and many famous actors took on these roles, including; Charles Laughton, Stephen Frye, Hugh Laurie, John Gielgud, David Niven, and Patrick Stewart.
This wonderful adaptation is aimed at audiences over the festive season, and was re-worked to take place at Christmas. It includes carols, which the audience can join in with if they so wish. Full of Holiday “spirit”, this show is comedic and touching!
Dickens isn’t the only one who can do ghosts at Christmas!
The classic 1938 Hitchcock film ‘The Lady Vanishes’ was based on a novel called ‘The Wheel Spins’ by Ethel Lina White. The film took various liberties with the plot, including introducing a propaganda element involving Nazis.
Derek Webb's stage adaptation goes back to the original novel and tries as much as possible to capture the 1930's feel of White’s novel.
Iris Carr is a wealthy socialite and we first meet her as she faints with sunstroke waiting for a train to take her back to the UK after holidaying in Eastern Europe. Iris befriends Miss Froy who tells her that she was a governess for an important family in Moldavia, but is now between jobs and is journeying back to England to spend some time with her parents. Shortly after, Iris falls asleep and, when she wakes, is surprised to find that Miss Froy is no longer there. But, when Iris asks the others where Miss Froy has gone, she is astonished when they deny she was ever there. Unable to comprehend this, she goes in search of Miss Froy and meets up with Max Hare and his friend, a Professor, also from Britain. Together they agree to help Iris find Miss Froy but soon begin to doubt her word as they are met with denial from everyone they talk to.
Who is lying? Who is telling the truth? Does Miss Froy even exist?
Once again, this will be the Canadian Premiere of this adaptation of the unfinished work by one of England's most celebrated novelists, Jane Austen.
Poor Emma Watson. Raised in luxury by a wealthy aunt and destined to be an heiress, but she comes down to earth with a bump when forced to return, penniless, to her impoverished birth family. And what a family!
Chauvinistic brother Robert and his appalling social-climbing wife, Jane; garrulous spinster Elizabeth and man-mad Margaret. Not to mention their curmudgeonly pseudo-invalid father and eccentric family retainer, Nanny.
With no option but to join her hilariously unsuccessful sisters in their hunt for husbands, Emma soon comes to the attention of charming local playboy Tom Musgrave and his suspiciously shy friend Lord Osborne, as well as Lord Osborne’s former tutor-turned-clergyman, Mr Howard. But the path of true love runs anything but smooth and it is a local scandal which finally paves the way for Emma’s - and her family’s - future happiness.
Jane Austen abandoned her novel The Watsons in 1805, possibly due to the death of her father that year. Described as a ‘sparkling adaptation’ of Austen’s work, critics praised this ‘sharp and witty’ script and its ‘beautifully differentiated characters’.
This will be the Canadian Premiere of a brand-new adaptation of the classic Conan Doyle mystery - probably the most famous of all the Sherlock Holmes thrillers. The Baskerville family have long been haunted by the tale of a terrifying and spectral hound that wanders the bleak moors surrounding the ancestral home. Following the death of Sir Charles Baskerville, and the imminent arrival of the new heir, Sherlock Holmes is assigned to investigate. Does this Hound of Hell exist? Is it a supernatural entity that Haunts this cursed family? Or is there something far more sinister occurring that puts the new owner of Baskerville Hall in grave danger?
A beloved story told as a radio drama, complete with sound effects and music cues, A Christmas Carol begins with the storyteller and his friends discussing the tale they will tell. They decide on an opening line, and the storyteller begins, transforming into the mean and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge as he speaks. Throughout, the storyteller remains in the Scrooge characterization as the other actors narrate in their natural voices while assuming new voices and dialects, becoming every character in the tale.
Featuring some of his most famous works: "The Tell-Tale Heart"; "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Raven"; and "Ligiea", these four stories from Edgar Allan Poe are told in the form of a staged radio drama, complete with sound effects and music. AND EACH of them just happen to reference WINE!