It's a sunny, cool day at the farmette. Yesterday was soooo windy and it felt like March when I was out in the early morning watering the new front bed.
We finally cashed in on the birthday present I gave Rob in the dead of winter when his actual birthday was February 1. Lunch and a matinee in Stratford. Yay!
We booked for noon at the Revival House restaurant. It's a converted church, as you can see by the stained glass windows behind the birthday boy.
The decor was lovely, the weather was lovely, although quite cool and the meal was great! Rob splurged out on eggs benedict with roasted potatoes, and I got a scrumptious salmon salad with smoked cheese and these little tiny fried potato slivers that kind of reminded me of the Hickory Sticks from the olden days.
Stratford is such a treat if you're a tourist. Tons of restaurants and cool shops in the downtown area and of course there's the three theatres. The hustle and bustle of the crowds was a welcome change from the pandemic, lockdowns and closed businesses.
At the theatre, they hadn't lifted their mask mandate - they're planning to do that on Monday. I was just as happy wearing mine, since we were cheek by jowl in a packed house.
The Tom Patterson theatre had just gone through a huge upgrade, and the results are truly stunning.
It's all undulating walls and lots and lots of glass to let in the light. They completed the work last year, and, as you can see, it is a triumph.
The play, too, was a triumph. Colm Feore played Richard III. I don't know how he sustained that twisty-legged limp through the whole three hours. Or the amount of energy it took because, as the main star, he was in almost every scene. He had me completely convinced he was the dastardly duke who murdered his way to the throne.
They pulled out the stops for this production. Lucy Peacock was Queen Elizabeth, Seana McKenna was Queen Margaret and Diana Leblanc was the Duchess of York. Andre Sills put in a stellar performance as the shifty Duke of Buckingham. Plus the whole thing was directed by none other than Antoni Cimolino, who's also the entire festival's artistic director. The production was dedicated to the memory of Canadian acting icon Martha Henry and playwright John Murrell.
All in all, it was a fantastic adventure. We're lucky to have such talented people putting on great meals and spectacular theatre just over an hour's drive away from the farmette. Looking forward to more culture vulturey trips over the summer.
Gratuitous cat photo courtesy of Fred (top) and Calvin (seat) who like to kick the birthday boy out of his chair on a regular basis.
