Wodehousean Fun at the Shaw Festival
As the second-largest repertory theatre company in North America, the Shaw Festival has been situated in beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario since 1962. Every year they present a variety of plays and musicals from early April into mid-October, in addition to holiday productions in November and December. It is a wonderful experience for both newcomers and old-timers.
This year one of its productions is Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, a farcical adaptation of The Code of the Woosters written by David and Robert Goodale that premiered in London in 2013. This is the first time the play has been produced in Canada, and it is an absolutely delightful production. The plot is narrated by Bertie Wooster, played with over-the-top charm by Jeff Irving. He is assisted in recounting the story by Jeeves (Damien Atkins) and Seppings (Travis Seeto), who take on a variety of other roles in addition to changing the scenery. Both the scenery and costume changes happen with astounding speed, and the actors are superbly funny and bang on target with their characterizations.
The Goodale brothers have retained much of Wodehouse’s original lines, which makes the play all the more enjoyable for us fans. Reviews have been laudatory—see, for example, this one in Niagara Now—and I can say from personal experience that this is a tremendously fun production from beginning to end (see previous paragraph). The show runs through October 10, so there is still plenty of time to buy tickets and yourself get to Niagara-on-the-Lake for an experience that is oojah-cum-spiff through and through. Go the Shaw’s website for more details and tickets.
But that’s not all! The Shaw also runs a series of seminars and educational workshops, and earlier this year they contacted The Wodehouse Society for speakers who could participate in three of their special events. Enter Lynn Vesley-Gross, Bob Rains, Sophie Delhaes, and yours truly. On June 12, Lynn spoke about Wodehouse, his theater work, and The Code of the Woosters to a group who were at the Shaw to see a number of plays. Bob and Sophie will be giving a similar talk on August 8. I, meanwhile, was asked to talk about Wodehouse’s golf stories at a special seminar on “The Art of Golf.” A blog reporting on these three talks will be posted following Bob and Sophie’s presentation.
Thanks to the Shaw Festival for all their wonderful productions—especially Perfect Nonsense!—and for allowing The Wodehouse Society these opportunities to speak on our favorite subject.
–Elin Woodger
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