Identity Crisis By Bus

A fun outing during the good weather is to attend a theatre production. There are lots of summer festivals around Ontario, but the 2 best-known have made themselves easily available for older folks who don’t like to drive.

Both the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford and the Shaw Festival in Niagara now have express bus service. The busses depart and arrive at convenient times and a reasonable cost. The seats are comfy, candy is passed around during the trip, and there is a bathroom at the back! You have no expensive visits to the gas station and no stressful driving on the QEW or the 401. Just sit back and enjoy the gossip from the couple behind. Oops I mean the scenery. Or the nap!

I made such a visit to Stratford in early July and met my daughter Jennifer there for an afternoon show. She lives in Orangeville so she drove there directly, and I took the bus from Union Station. We met at a local patio for lunch. We shared an appetizer, a main course, sticky toffee pudding for dessert and lots of talking in between. When the patrons began to arrive at the theatre across the street, we paid our bill and joined them.

You may have seen the show La Cage Aux Folles, which was first staged on Broadway in 1983, followed by a Robin Williams film, The Bird Cage. In this production the costumes are outstanding, partly because of the eye-catching quick changes, but also becanse the ruffles, feathers, and sequins are worn by burly men. We grow to love the modern family – 2 men, and their adult son who wants them to lie about their sexual identities. The “wife” does try, with exaggerated costuming and hilarious results. Jen and I laughed out loud on several occasions, imagining our own husbands, both burly men, flirting and prancing in these sexy feminine outfits.

Encouraged by my positive comments, Peter agreed to join me the next time, on a trip to the Shaw Festival in Niagara. This was a slightly different trip because it was the day of the big rain storm in Toronto. The torrential downpour began as soon as we had boarded the bus. After our driver had rounded the corner at Hamilton, the rain slowed down and by the time we were in Niagara, it had stopped. We were able to enjoy lunch at the Niagara Golf Club with a view of the river, and then we walked down the main street to the theatre while eating ice cream cones.

This show, My Fair Lady, echoes the theme of La Cage Aux Folles: identity. A lower class flower girl has an opportunity to try life as part of the upper class, by changing her accent as well as her costume. Unlike the wife in La Cage, this character does a good job with her identity change, but then what? Her acting is brilliant and we began to feel great empathy for her predicament. The ending left us speculating as we went to board the bus for home.

It was good to have something to think about because the return bus had broken down. We waited for over an hour for a replacement to appear. Then the driver changed his identity into Mario Andretti in order to make up time. When we arrived at Union Station, it was flooded and there was more waiting for the GO train to take us home. When we did get home it was dark and the power was out.

Now dear readers, this is not meant to discourage you! Both shows were excellent and the bus service, under normal circumstances, is efficient and smooth. As climate change continues to take hold of the world, we need to be flexible. So, as you head out to the bus, just be sure to pack an umbrella and some reading material.

Sue