Shaw Festival Spiegeltent
Shaw Festival 2025/August in the Spiegeltent
Introduction
My August viewing in the Spiegeltent was comprised of a trio of small-scale, character-driven pieces — in some cases mounted under sweltering heat and sudden relocation. Though less overtly musical than July’s offerings, these performances demonstrated the tent’s role as a space for intimacy, experimentation, and — in one case —literary romance. There was even a game.
Dear Liar by Jerome Kilty, adapted from the correspondence between Bernard Shaw and Mrs. Patrick Campbell, created and performed by Marla Mclean and Graeme Somerville, closes Sept. 27.
Dear Liar, Jerome Kilty’s 1957 stage adaptation of the real-life correspondence between George Bernard Shaw and Mrs. Patrick Campbell, was the premiere event for the Spiegelent this season.
Starring Marla McLean and Graeme Somerville — two of the Shaw Festival’s most seasoned actors — the piece was mounted with minimal trappings but maximum charm. In fact, it could easily have held its own on one of the Festival’s mainstages.
What made this production all the more remarkable is that it was staged by the actors themselves. The program listed Dear Liar as “created and performed by Marla McLean and Graeme Somerville” so presumably they chose the material, coordinated the staging and design, and brought the show fully to life.
I did not see it in the Spiegeltent itself. About half an hour before curtain, it was relocated to a rehearsal hall — Ontario was in the middle of a paralytic heatwave, with the temperature nearing 40°C. The chairs in the rehearsal hall were set up exactly as they were in the Spiegeltent so we did see the identical performance which was an utter delight. Somerville played Shaw with a kind of gruff romantic bluster, while McLean gave Stella (Shaw’s pet name for Mrs. Campbell) both femininity and formidable clarity. Their rapport was electric.
The letters show Shaw as deeply — even obsessively — in love with her, while Campbell maintained a more platonic affection. She eventually married George Cornwallis-West, a move that devastated Shaw, who even followed her to her honeymoon in despair, despite being married himself. And of course, he wrote Pygmalion for her. At first, she scoffed at the idea of playing a Cockney. but twenty years later, she performed the role of Eliza Doolittle brilliantly.
Their relationship was intellectual, erudite, brilliant— and heartbreakingly mismatched in emotional pitch. All of that complexity came through in McLean and Somerville’s tender, incisive staging. The evening was a treat.
Ella and Louis, directed by Kimberley Rampersad, with Alana Bridgewater and Jeremiah Sparks, accompanied by pianist Michael Shand, closes Sept. 28.
The people who came to see Ella and Louis knew exactly why they were there. They came to relive the magic of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong — to hear the great American songbook and the iconic duets that these two great jazz legends recorded together. The format was lots of songs and a little bit of biography.
The singers reminded us that Fitzgerald and Armstrong first joined forces in 1956, and what’s more, they recorded with none other than Canadian piano great Oscar Peterson — a fact I didn’t know myself. In this tribute concert, pianist Michael Shand was on hand as the show’s Oscar Peterson — and could he ever play.
Alana Bridgewater sang Ella, while Jeremiah Sparks took on Louis Armstrong, complete with trumpet. He also channeled the essence of Satchmo’s gravelly voice beautifully. Bridgewater doesn’t sound like Fitzgerald —nor was she trying to — though I will say her voice, for me, had a bit too much vibrato and felt a little frayed at times. That said, this was an easy, enjoyable, what’s not to like evening.
Kimberly Rampersad directed the show using the space in and around the Spiegeltent so everyone got a chance to connect with the performers. Shand was given ample space to emulate Peterson at the keyboard, and he soared. The crowd loved it. They came for Ella and Louis — and that’s exactly what they got.
The Roii Of Shaw—Through the Wardrobe, created by Travis Seetoo, with Cosette Derome, closes Sept. 25.
My final Spiegeltent entry for August was a delightfully chaotic experiment in improvised theatre and audience collaboration: Roll of Shaw–Through the Wardrobe. Conceived by Travis Seetoo, who created a similar game last year, this participatory piece combined ensemble improvisation, audience-generated storytelling, and the world of Narnia into one energetic performance.
For each game, two actors from the Shaw ensemble —for my show it was Alexandra Gratton and Dieter Lische-Parkes who play Lucy and Edmund in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe— were chosen to undertake a narrative “journey,” filled with monsters and obstacles. The twist? The monsters were drawn and named by the audience before the show even began.
Travis Seetoo, aided by Cosette Derome, built the evolving story in real time with input from both actors and audience. The progression of the game was determined by dice. Each time it was the actors’ turn to face a challenge, they rolled. A low number meant a bad outcome — often resulting in a monster encounter — while a high number cleared the path. The audience, too, played a major role: they voted on settings and outcomes, determining whether the players had arrived at a castle, a river, a forest, or some other fantastical terrain. And so a new tale of Narnia emerged, made up entirely on the spot.
If the actors failed a task, one of the glowing candles placed in front of them was extinguished. Lose them all, and they were out of the game. What made this edition so delightful was how Gratton and Lische-Parkes leaned into the spirit of play — they found clever, rule-bending solutions, outwitting even Seetoo’s expectations. The show was full of laughter and creative energy, difficult to explain, impossible to replicate — and all the more magical for it.