The Classic Theatrre Festival is pleased to announce a new, expanded season for the summer of 2016, running June 24 to September 11 with three signature shows from the golden age of Broadway and the London Stage, as well as a return of the much-loved Perth through the Ages morning walking tours and the Friday evening Lonely Ghosts Walk.
The season opens with Neil Simon’s I Ought to Be in Pictures (June 24 to July 17, 2016), a heartfelt 1979 comedy about a father and daughter rebuilding their relationship after years of disconnection. It was hailed as “a mature, touching, memorable play that brings great joy to the season” (Clive Barnes, New York Post) and “Neil Simon’s best play since The Odd Couple” (Women’s Wear Daily). It also became a hit film starring Walter Matthau, Ann Margret and Dinah Manoff.
The summer’s second show is Arms and the Man (July 22 to August 14, 2016), George Bernard Shaw’s delightfully witty comedy that satirizes the futility of war and inspired the operetta, The Chocolate Soldier. George Orwell called it “the wittiest play” Shaw ever wrote, and one whose message needs to be told so long as men insist on taking up arms against one another.
In the season’s closing play, the Festival returns with its annual mystery/thriller, An Inspector Calls (August 19 to September 11, 2016), J.B. Priestley’s nail-biter of a mystery in which a body has been found and everyone is suspect. Considered one of the true classics of mid-20th-century English theatre, it has received numerous revivals and adaptations, the latest a BBC-TV film slated for broadcast in 2016.
The Festival is spending the month of September auditioning performers for these classic plays, while it also develops new stories for the Perth through the Ages theatrical historic walking tour (which will run five mornings a week, Wed. to Sun. at 11 am, June 22 to August 28). This annual family favourite staged with the Festival’s youth theatre training program, brings to life characters and stories from Perth’s 200 years.
Following the success of its first year, The Lonely Ghosts Walk (July 8 to August 26), featuring new stories about the ghostly beings of Perth who insist on hanging around until their stories are told, returns for Friday nights from 8 to 9 pm.
As Perth celebrates its 200th anniversary in the summer of 2016, all of these events are officially playing roles in the party. Tickets are now on sale, with significant savings for purchases before December 31. As always, the Festival allows audiences to purchase now and pick their dates later (with no charge).
Tickets are available at classictheatre.ca or 1-877-283-1283.
