Stratford is a tradition in our family. This adorable city in Ontario, Canada, is home to an annual, summer-long Shakespeare Festival that is just really great theater (sorry, theatre). My one high school trip and a couple of childhood trips of Jon's nontwithstanding, we first attended the festival in 2012. That year Calvin and I tagged along when Jon gave pedagogy lectures in New York and Ontario. Along the way we took in sites like the Christmas Story house, Niagara Falls, and, for our last trick, a showing of The Pirates of Penzance in Stratford. Calvin was six at the time, and he loved it. They had booster seats for the kids and wine in sippy cups for the parents, and the show was wonderfully engaging and professional. We were hooked.
In the years since we have discovered a favorite family-owned motel (As You Like It Motel), and a favorite place for ice cream (Jenn and Larry's). We have enjoyed countless pool days, walks along the river, strolls through the city shops, and dips into the small Saturday art show. Though we started with just one show a year, that quickly became two, and then graduated to three. After the Pirates of Penzance; we have seen Romeo and Juliet; A Midsummer Nights Dream; Alice Through the Looking Glass; The Sound of Music; As You Like It; The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe; Treasure Island; The Tempest; The Music Man; and To Kill a Mockingbird. We have attended some pre-show family meal entertainments (like lunch with Alice), and even once received a very special, very private, backstage tour of the Festival Theatre.
Obviously, we love our annual trip to Stratford, but this year there was even more to love when we got to share the experience with more of our family. And because it was the big family experience, we did more days, more plays, and had more fun altogether. We were gifted with beautiful weather, luck with parking, and really great seats for really great shows.
Day 241: The Neverending Story and The Merry Wives of Windsor, plus pizza by the pool
Day 242: Billy Elliot (perfect for our dancing boy), plus ice cream after dinner
Day 243: an afternoon in town, followed by an evening of Othello
Day 243: Henry VIII for some of us, pool and play for the others, followed by dinner in town