We’re back from a week-long sojourn into Canada, specifically Ontario and Stratford-on-Avon. We went for the Shakespeare festival, and ended up seeing five plays, two of which were also musicals. Unfortunately, it rained for a substantial portion of our trip, but since we were mostly indoors, we didn’t care.

Tuesday we had an evening show, Dangerous Liaisons which was quite good. It was set in the period just before the French Revolution, and as my daughter (who accompanied me) noted, it’s always fun to watch rich people screw each other over. Tuesday was also the only day it didn’t rain, so we explored Stratford a bit, buying tea and useless trinkets as souvenirs.

Wednesday we had two plays, MacBeth and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I’ll admit I wasn’t too sure about the setting of MacBeth (they set it in modern day as motorcycle gangs), but by the end it won me over. They tried to make it like a movie and nearly succeeded. The special effects were tremendous and I have no idea how they did some of them. There was a two-way mirror delineating the stage which lent the illusion of there being more actors on the stage than there were. And it also allowed for the witches and the ghost of Banquo to appear and disappear. The only downside was that we shared the audience with about five busloads of teenagers who really had no idea how to watch a live play. It was irritating at times.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was based on the movie which starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin. They made it into a musical which really made it hilarious. There were no teenagers at that play, thank goodness!

Thursday we also had two plays, As You Like It and Annie. I was a bit underwhelmed by both of them, but then again, I like Shakespeare’s tragedies far more than his comedies. They were both good in their own ways. We ended up seeing the understudy for Annie and found out her family was sitting a couple of rows below us. It was good, but I think they over-miked because some of the songs and noises were ear-splitting.

We stayed in Stratford at a little motel that had good ratings, but was seriously mediocre. The price was right, but I think if we go again I’ll pay a little more for a better hotel. We also found some really good food in Stratford, especially a little place called Romeo’s Corner Cafe where we ate breakfast and always left stuffed.

Thank goodness for exchange rates. We spent far less than I feared because the rates were so good. And my daughter got to compare Tim Horton’s with Dunkin’ Donuts, which was apparently on her bucket list.

I don’t know what we’re going to do for the holidays. It would be nice to have family here, since my surgery is two weeks before Thanksgiving and I’m not at all sure I’ll be up to riding in a car or a plane. We’ll see.

Our next real adventure is in April/May; our trip to Ireland, Scotland and England!