Summer Theater for Solo Travelers – the drama of my dreams.
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
I have always loved theater. My husband and I actually started a theater once but it wasn’t gong to feed the kids so we had to go in another direction. Fortunately, that direction fed our desire to attend theater. But that’s another story. This one is about the joy of seeing great theater. And the great theater that I have yet to see.
The Drama of my Dreams
Here are the summer theaters that top my list.
- The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland, August 4 to 31st.
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is one of the largest arts festivals in the world. It is the mother of all Fringe Festivals starting when eight theater groups showed up uninvited to the Edinburgh Arts Festival in 1947 and staged performances themselves. This year there will be 2,453 shows of original comedy, theater, dance and physical theater, events, exhibitions, children’s shows, music, musicals and opera. It’s a marathon. - Westport County Playhouse, Westport, Conneticut, runs to October 30th
This regional theater started in 1930 and has become a mecca for actors and interns as well as established actors wanting to return to their roots in theater. It’s famous for it’s famous patrons, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward – Woodward was artistic director and oversaw the rejuvenation of the theater which started in 2003. I want to go for the history as much as for the quality of production for which it’s known. - The Globe Theatre, London, England, runs to October 3rd
I toured this replica of the original Globe Theatre when I was in London last fall. Unfortunately, it was off season and I couldn’t see a production. Viewing a replica was interesting but not moving. I think, however, that seeing a play in that space would be very moving. I would want a spot on the floor, amongst the rabble, to see how the drama feels when the actors are close and modern conventions are broken. - Shakespeare in Central Park, New York, running to August 1
Here we are, back to Shakespeare again – but then, who can argue with the bard. This year they’re playing The Winter’s Tale and The Merchant of Venice. I’ve never seen the former and, while I will be in New York later this month, I won’t be able to see it as I’ll be tied up at TBEX, a travel bloggers conference. - Festival Puccinni, Torre del Lago, Tuscany, Italy, July and August
Who can resist Tuscany and, if you want an introduction to opera you can’t do better than Puccinni. Tosca, Madame Butterfly, La Boheme… while I’m not a big opera buff, his are operas I have always enjoyed. The festival attracts 40,000 people to this small Hamlet near Pisa where the performances are held in Teatro dei Quattromila, an open air theater.
Theater festivals close to home – I go every summer.
On my trip around Lake Ontario in April I got my first taste of the 2010 summer theater season at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake. While the Shaw Festival’s focus may be the works of George Bernard Shaw, I saw a performance written by his equal in wit, humor and social satire, Oscar Wilde, a production of An Ideal Husband.
It was a great show and a wonderful afternoon. The woman sitting beside me was there with her daughter and her amazing mother who is in her nineties. I got to chat with them during intermission. As I’ve said before, I’m rarely solo for long.
If you’re in Ontario for theater I can also highly recommend both the Stratford Festival and Soulpepper Theatre.
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