We have 2 world-class theatres performing every summer in southern Ontario. And now they both have their own bus service! The buses operate every morning and afternoon, with time for lunch and a show in between. It’s perfect for us older folks who don’t like the stress of driving on our busy highways.

This year I was able to visit both of them. First up was the Stratford Festival. A friend, Beth, was visiting form New Zealand and wanted to check out this well-known festival. The bus ride there was uneventful and we had a chance to catch up on family gossip, the perfect prologue to the play we were seeing.

After lunch we had a cold and windy walk to the theatre, not at all the opportunity for us to walk along the picturesque Avon River that I had been hoping for. But our seats at the show were good and Beth was suitably impressed with the theatre. We settled in to watch Sense and Sensibility, a play based on the Jane Austen novel of 1811. It tells the story of 2 women, one sensitive and sweet, the other sensible and a feminist. Both are searching for the perfect, and wealthy, match for marriage.

Presenting this universal story is complicated by the Shakespearean thrust stage. But the adaptation is brilliant. Characters called “the gossips” flit around the stage, in and out, upstairs and downstairs, spying and commenting on everything, The 2 sisters whirl around on parlor chairs with wheels, from living room to dining room where they pull napkins and cutlery from their pockets, and pretend to eat. Then they roll back to the living room for more gossip.

Like most good theatre, the play has a satisfying ending, and we happily headed back to the bus. Unfortunately the trip home was not so satisfying. The Gardiner Expressway was reduced to 2 lanes for ongoing construction. In addition, the Honda INDY race track was being erected on Lakeshore Road and all that traffic was diverted to our 2 lanes. This caused a major back-up and our trip home lasted 3 hours instead of 2.

Undaunted by this bad luck, I took the bus two weeks later to Niagara for the Shaw Festival, with Peter and another couple. We chose a restaurant that was close to the theatre and had a patio brimming with flowers: near the entrance, on the railings, and on the tables. The setting was perfect for a summer day and the food was excellent.

The play we saw, Anything Goes, is a musical from the Shaw era,1934, with music from Cole Porter. This story line is also about pairing off. This time the 2 women are: a successful nightclub singer, Reno, and an heiress, Hope. Both are independently wealthy, but Hope has feelings for a stowaway and Reno loves Hope’s fiance. The couples have plenty of space to chase each other around on the set enhanced with stairs and balconies.

After many plot twists, with a gangster posing as a priest, and an interfering older mother, there is a glorious happy ending; the audience on our feet clapping and singing. We sang all the way to the waiting bus, steeling ourselves for the long ride home. Fortunately it was not to be. Despite a couple of slow-downs, we made it home in only 2 hours.

Both theatres, Stratford and Shaw, operate until the late fall, with bus service continuing on most days. You still have time to enjoy these local gems.

Sue