You were lost and gone forever, oh my darling Clementine

Canadian Border Patrol: Where are you going?
Me: Niagara-on-the-Lake.
CBP: What are you doing there?
Me: Seeing a play at the Shaw Festival.
CBP: Are you importing anything?
Me: Nope.
CBP: Who are you meeting there?
Me: No one...
CBP...
Me: I'm just... going by myself...

Awkward.













That exchange at the border pretty much sums up my experience at the Shaw Festival. But I love the Shaw Festival. Just not so much when I have no one to share it with. Niagara-on-the-Lake is this uber-charming little town in Cananda with three theaters along its main street. Fountains of flowers, beautiful parks surrounding it, British candy, and black squirrels. Charming shops. Working as an actor there is one of my dream jobs, I just looooove this place.

The drive there is pretty, especially once you're in Canada. Once you've gotten off the highway it's a dream. The first day I was seeing a matinee production of " A Month in the Country" by Turgenev, translated/adapted by Brian Friel. Very Chekhovian. I really liked the play, and it was a good production. There were a couple of people I didn't like but the cast was mostly solid. I really enjoyed the play, except that about 4/5ths of the way through I just could not stand the protagonist anymore. Not the actress, the character. I was so done with her and her selfish, manipulative ways. So, once you're totally sick of the protagonist you kind of just wish the play would end. But all in all, a very satisfactory experience.

At this point, I was STARVING. But didn't want to buy anything, so I decided to go for a walk in the park and eat my Clementine tangerine. Here's what happened:

Alone in Canada from Lola on Vimeo.

The second time I went up was for an evening production of "Summer and Smoke" by Tennessee Williams. I LOVE this play, it is Beautiful. It was quite a bit colder than the previous trip, but it put a nice October sharpness in the air, and if you imagine the most delicious Autumn smell, that's what it smelled like. It was a beautiful day in an overcast way. I got up there at about 6, just the time when everyone retreats into restaurants, tucking themselves into corners with friends and food. Several of the shops were closed, so I window shopped. The windows of the shops and restaurants glowed with warm light, and I looked in at all the happy people, feeling more alone and cold than ever with my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I love Summer and Smoke, but I did not love this production of it. The actress who played Alma was loud and said everything super fast. It was... an interesting choice, but I don't think the right one. I kind of felt like the doctor was phoning it in a little, and I was also troubled by his choices at the end-- he was pretty much making out with his fiance right in front of Alma! I was not ok with that. I really don't think he would do that, because he did care for her and that is just cruel. And I hated a few of the secondary character actors. But it was nice to see the play on its feet instead of on the page so that's something.

I love the Shaw Festival, but don't go there by yourself.