Canada's best theatre company, at Niagara-on-the-Lake

   Consider this as “other stuff” — definitely not complaint. We've just come back from a couple of days at Niagara-on-the-Lake and rediscovered yet again why the Shaw Festival is our favourite summer self-indulgence.
   So far we've seen only four of this year's 11 plays and I'll mention only two since this blog is meant to be brief, but take my word for it: If you come away from any production at the Shaw without having seen something wonderful — well, as someone else once wrote, we won't refund your money, but we will give you advice.
   The threadbare fellow taking tea here is Steven Sutcliffe, who stars in The Admirable Crichton, a sort of cross between Upstairs/Downstairs and Gilligan's Island. It's a lightweight piece but after director Morris Panych, musical director Ryan deSouza and designers Ken MacDonald and Charlotte Dean get through with it you'll leave the theatre wanting to dance. The performances are delightful.
   Drama at Inish is a mixed bag, but the best bits are as good as theatre gets. A classical repertory troupe arrives in an Irish seaside town, stimulating culture and stirring catastrophe. Thom Marriott and Corrine Koslo as the leading thespians sum up in their final exit all the reasons why I adore actors.
   The Shaw has so many great ones. David Schurmann plays a lord in one of the pieces, and a different lord in another. He's perfect  in both, as always. It would take far too long to explain why I adore David Schurmann. So I won't.