Looking Ahead To The 2027 Season
So what joys does the 2027 season have in store? The crystal ball is still a bit hazy with only a few companies announcing their 2027 seasons. Here’s what we know so far.
The Shaw Festival
The Shaw Festival’s 2027 season should prove to be quite entertaining if slimmer than some seasons past. There will be just eleven productions during the main season.
Just as the Stratford Festival did this season, Shaw is mounting two musicals, South Pacific and The Color Purple, on its main stage. It seems that the ability of musicals to pack the house (and provide much needed box office income) hasn’t been lost on either festival.
Also at the Festival Theatre will be Tom Stoppard’s Jumpers, directed by Artistic Director Tim Carroll, and Arsenic and Old Lace, directed by the wonderful Jackie Maxwell.
Once again, the single play by the Festival’s namesake, the superb Arms and the Man, has been relegated to a smaller venue, the Court House Theatre. At least it’s not suffering the indignity of being crammed into the Studio!
And speaking of the Studio, it will host J.M. Barrie’s What Every Woman Knows, a pre-suffrage chestnut from the man who gave us Peter Pan. It doesn’t get revived that often and is on my must-see list.
I feel compelled to note the virtual absence of plays created by Canadians in Shaw’s 2027 season. Surely a major Canadian theatre festival should be showcasing the work of Canadian playwrights.
The one shining exception is Goblin:Pygmalion from Spontanous Theatre. If you saw Goblin:Oedipus at the Stratford Festival or Murder on the Lake at Shaw, you won’t want to miss this.
A complete list, including a few shows not mentioned here, can be found in Shaw’s press release about the 2027 season.
The Foster Festival
The Foster Festival in St Catherines has announced a five play 2027 season that curiously contains just two plays by Norm Foster, The Gentleman Clothier and Ship To Shore.
One of the non-Foster offerings is Barb Scheffler’s very funny The Beaver Club, which is very much in the Foster spirit.
There will also be a new play by Artistic Director Emily Oriold and a revival of Artistic Associate Jamie Williams’ Niagara Christmas Carol.
Here’s a video of Oriold announcing the 2027 season.
Drayton Entertainment
Drayton Entertainment’s 2027 season offers the usual potpourri of popular musicals and plays across its seven venues.
I would call my American readers’ attention to the remount of The Odd Couple at the Huron Country Playhouse, July 29 to August 14. If it stars Randy Hughson (and it should!), it will be well worth the trip.
Also of note are a revival of Norm Foster’s hilarious Doris and Ivy in the Home and a new (to me) play, Home To Roost by Kristen Da Silva, whose Sisters of ’78 at Blyth so impressed me.
For the rest, I have learned that casting tends to be my main indicator of whether I will book.
Of the musicals, I will be awaiting casting notices for Come From Away, School of Rock, and Ghost.
A number of straight plays show promise, again depending on casting. They include the Agatha Christie potboiler And Then There Were None, Miracle Worker, and Shear Madness.
Another note for you Americans. If you have never seen a “panto,” you might want to try out Drayton’s Rapunzel: A Panto.
You can browse Drayton’s entire 2027 season for dates and venues here.
Lighthouse Festival
I have become something of a fan of the Lighthouse Festival which proudly announces “Comedies by Canadians, about Canadians, and for Canadians.” Fortunately, visitors like me are tolerated.
They have two venues along the Lake Erie shore, in Port Dover and Port Colborne. I’ve found it worth the long drive from Stratford.
Among the highlights of their 2027 season are Mark Crawford’s The Golden Anniversaries, and Norm Foster’s Mending Fences, which I look forward to seeing.
Also tempting is the world premiere of Mark Weatherley’s Steeplechasers, about an effort by four women to raise money to restore their church’s steeple, a plot that seems to have borrowed a few ideas from The Full Monty.
You will find full information about Lighthouse’s 2027 season here.
The Stratford Festival, the Blyth Festival, and Here For Now have yet to announce their offerings for the 2027 season. Stay tuned.
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