Fools and Lovers

Dig back into London’s theatrical past with a double bill of comedies from the early 20th Century.

• Brothers in Arms
• Widows’ Scarlet

Widows’ Scarlet

The play is inspired by the life of Doctor Troyer who lived near Long Point and fancied himself a witch hunter.

Brothers in Arms

The play is a satire about a businessman and his wife who after a weekend in the bush are attempting to get back to the city in time for an important business transaction.

The Wind in the Willows

This play takes the story out of its original English setting and places it in a local Southwestern Ontario context. The play follows the cycle of a year in the life of the animals who live along the Antler River. Over this year a deep friendship builds between Mole and Ratty, who aided by the wise Badger, help the impulsive Mr. Toad get out of a series of sticky situations. This is a play created for both adults and children.

Welcome to Bon Echo

Flora Denison MacDonald, a revolutionary member of Canadian suffrage, has secluded herself in Bon Echo where she devotes her time to nature and the ideals of Walt Whitman. Life in Bon Echo is turned on its head when a mysterious young woman arrives and starts to unravel a complicated truth.
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The Boy With An R In His Hand

It’s 1826 and brothers Joel and Alex have just arrived in York, Upper Canada to live with their nasty Uncle John. Alex soon encounters the press rebel William Lyon Mackenzie and becomes an apprentice at his fantastical print shop.
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Dominion Day

Sixty-Seven

Chicken Feather

When Canadians were called to fight in The Great War in 1914, droves of Londoners rose to the challenge. But some of the men who chose not to enlist were publicly shamed by young women who pinned white feathers on them to show their disapproval. Chicken Feather follows the relationship of a young man who gets pinned and the young woman who pins him.

The Cheese Poet: A Dairy-ing Melodrama

The Cheese Poet will be in the style of a melodrama that would have been performed in 1900s Ontario. The play follows James McIntyre who has spent his life in Ingersoll working as a carpenter and writing poetry about cheese. Now in his twilight years he embarks on a quest, with his loyal assistant Sam, to bring peace to world through construction the fabled ten ton cheese. Complication arises when he is pursued by his greedy nephew Edwin and a curmudgeonly university professor intent on dispelling his dreams of peace through cheese!

The Manor Park Evening Post

A brand new variety show from the creator of Story Evening. Join Adam Corrigan Holowitz and friends for a night of story, songs and a delicious picnic style dinner!

The warmth of a kitchen party mixed with the fun of an old time variety show in the heart of the neighborhood of Manor Park. The night will feature a brand new story from Manor Park, a collection of favourite tunes played by Celtic Shift and classic Newfoundland songs from Vanessa Woodford.

The Angel of Long Point

The inspiring folk hero Abigail Becker serves as a leaping point for a hilarious and adventurous Souwesto Melodrama. A stir of melodrama and a dash of stage illusion will create an uproarious night of theatre.

When harbor worker Hector is prevented from marrying Nella Price by her father, adventure leads to a leaky schooner upon Lake Erie, almost walking the plank and an encounter with Abigail Becker—the Angel of Long Point.

The Big Lad

When Danny Gamble cannot join the army because of hearing loss he becomes fixated on ostracizing the local German citizens of the Southern Ontario town where he lives. The results reveal dark prejudices, galvanized by the war, that reside within the town. Juxtaposed to Danny is the Big Lad, a peaceful boy who looks bigger than his age and becomes an unwilling soldier and hero.

Story Evening

Story Evening will be a night of great stories old and new, original and classic. Back for its sixth annual installment, Story Evening will include a brand new story from Manor Park, along with nine other stories from an eclectic mix of Londoners. (more…)

Northern Daughter

Northern Daughter is the story of Josephine, a girl who grew up in the untamed Canadian north before escaping to the city. The story is set in a canoe. Josephine is returning to the lake of her childhood, armed with her paddle, a guitar, and the songs that punctuate her story. She recalls the colourful characters from her past and traces a sequence of pivotal moments in her life. Like the wilderness around her, Josephine is hardy and honest, at times poignant, then funny—quintessentially Canadian.

Grey Days Preferable

A vibrant portrait of one of Canada’s premiere painters of the 19th Century, Paul Peel, and his sister Mildred, who is now a forgotten, but great, artist in her own right.

Paul Peel was one of Canada’s first artistic exports. Through a fictional correspondence between Peel and his sister Mildred, Grey Days Preferable tells of Peel’s rise in the art scene of Paris, his family life and his philosophy of art. In turns exhilarating, pastoral and reflective, Grey Days Preferable is a celebration of art and the simple beauty of the arc of life.

The story follows Peel’s life from the age of seventeen when he was about to embark on a career as a professional painter and through to his rise to fame in the French art scene. His joy in the creation of art and the confines that family expectations can play on artistic ambition are at the centre of this theatrical sketch book. Along with the characters of Paul and Mildred, two additional actors act as a chorus creating movement based pieces inspired from Peel’s paintings.

Grey Days Preferable

A vibrant portrait of one of Canada’s premier painters, Paul Peel, and his sister Mildred, brought to life through a fictional correspondence between the two. Grey Days Preferable explores Peel’s rise in the Paris art scene, his family life, and artistic beliefs.

Story Evening

Story Evening will be a night of great stories old and new, original and classic; told by an eclectic mix of Londoners. Back for its fifth annual instalment, Story Evening will include a brand new story from Manor Park, along with nine other stories. Story Evening has become an audience favourite that is perfect for the whole family. Last year’s Story Evening was sold out. It is also AlvegoRoot’s main fundraiser for the season.

Tickets: $15; available at the door.
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Running Rude

Running Rude tells the story of Rudi and Boot, two hapless folks who have a strong interest in the environment. Rudi wants to take a direct approach with controversial activism while Boot wants to take the safer route by running in the federal election.

Tickets: $15 adults, $10 students and seniors; available at The ARTS Project box office, 519-642-2767.
Halloween ticket deal: Come on October 31 in costume and receive a $10 ticket. Special recognition goes to people dressed up as politicians.

Press Cuttings

Press Cuttings shows the other side politics: the people in power. Set a hundred years earlier than Running Rude, General Mitchener of England is trying to fight the war on suffrage while his colleague Prime Minister Balsquith wants nothing more than to stay in office. They both must sharpen up when they meet three very strong women, who do not care about votes, but want real power.

Tickets: $15 adults, $10 students and seniors; available at The ARTS Project box office, 519-642-2767.
Halloween ticket deal: Come on October 31 in costume and receive a $10 ticket. Special recognition goes to people dressed up as politicians.

Running Rude/Press Cuttings

These two very topical plays, written a hundred years apart, one local, the other a classic, are both comic gems and sobering calls to action, while asking just how one might do that?

Tickets: $15 adults, $10 students and seniors; available at The ARTS Project box office, 519-642-2767.
Halloween ticket deal: Come on October 31 in costume and receive a $10 ticket. Special recognition goes to people dressed up as politicians.

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The Easter Egg

The Easter Egg looks at Bethel Henry, who has inherited the estates of both her deceased husbands, who she may have had a hand in killing, her first a professor who taught at the town’s college and her second the bishop. With each estate, she has also become the stepmother of each of her deceased husbands’ children: Kenneth, who stopped speaking the day his father died and Polly who tries to teach and help bring Kenneth back to his former self. Bethel, who is hungry for power and respect, dislikes Kenneth being made something more than her slave. In the end she must face things being returned to their proper order.

A play that could be considered Canadian Gothic by London and Canada’s foremost playwright, James Reaney. The Easter Egg begins dark and thrilling but ultimately becomes a beacon of hope.

Tickets: $15 adults, $10 students and seniors; available at The ARTS Project box office, 519-642-2767.

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Story Evening

Story Evening will be an evening of great stories old and new, original and classic; told by an eclectic mix of Londoners.

Tickets: $15; available at the door.

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Colleening: The Poetry and Letters of Colleen Thibaudeau

Compiled from the works of the London poet, her letters and poems create a wandering journey through childhood memories, home life and the begging of Canadian culture. They take delight in the smallest of objects and look at them on a cosmic level, while peering back at the past.

Tickets: $15 adults, $10 students and seniors; available at The ARTS Project box office, 519-642-2767.

Endgame

Beckett, the father of abstract theatre, examines the ending of life in a beautiful and enlightening light. The play also takes inspiration from the physical comedy of the Marx Brothers and silent film. The play has no conventional plot. Instead the play shows Hamm, a man who is blind and confined to a wheel chair; and Clov, a man who can not sit down. Hamm can not let go of his two parents, Nell and Nagg, and so he keeps them in two waste buckets. They are all in a small room. Clov often says he is going to leave but he never does. In the end we see the characters grapple with and come to embrace the end.

Tickets: $15; available at The ARTS Project box office, 519-642-2767.

Story Evening

AlvegoRoot’s Story Evenings feature stories old and new told by an eclectic mix of Londoners. Also included will be a brand new story from Manor Park that did not appear in the hit Fringe production.

Tickets: $15; available at the door.

Manor Park

Absurd, beautiful, hilarious, melancholy and joyous are all words that have been used to describe the urban, but quiet, blue collar neighbourhood of Manor Park. A place where humanity and creativity reign. The neighbourhood revolves around the neighbourhood school, a small place that cares not for the pressures of the school board. Follow among others: a pair of very young lovers, a boy’s taxi service, an elderly woman in her last days on earth.

Tickets: $10; available at The ARTS Project box office, 519-642-2767.

Video by Andrea Edison

Beard: A Few Moments in the Life of Roy McDonald

Roy McDonald is one of London, Ontario’s most enigmatic and beloved residents. He is a poet. Known for his long beard and almost bursting shopping bags, McDonald can often be seen busking in the downtown core. That is where the play finds him. From there, Roy recounts his life: from a confined education system, from London to Woodstock, a maze of Montreal bars to Occupy London. Beard poetically tells of a rich life, the spirit of activism and the movement of life.

Beard tells the unique story of Roy and also tells the story of a generation whose hey-day was a time harsher than history remembers. While others were confined to jobs, they were confined to bars and now they can create something and live. In that sense, it is the story of every generation.

Beard premiered in 2000. This updated production will feature three new scenes and more of McDonald’s own poetry.

Tickets: $15; available at The ARTS Project box office, 519-642-2767.

Video by Andrea Edison

Macbeth

Macbeth is the most respected general in Scotland’s ruling clan. However, after an encounter with three Weird Sisters, who tell him that he will become king of Scotland, Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth plunge themselves and the entire state into a even darker and violent world than they were already in, through their thirst for power.

One of the greatest plays ever written, Macbeth is more relevant than ever. Set in a state of war, Macbeth examines the root of evil, suppression and war.

Tickets: $15; available at The ARTS Project, 519-642-2767.

Homegrown

A Toronto lawyer/writer meets a prisoner accused of “homegrown terrorism” in 2008. She continues to visit him over the next year and a half, and becomes obsessed with separating fact from hype in the face of the uncertainty, delays and secrecy in his case. A true story.

Theatre companies across Canada are hosting simultaneous staged readings of the play in support of the SummerWorks festival, which included Homegrown in its program last year.

Press release

Manor Park

Absurd, beautiful, hilarious, melancholy and joyous are all words that have been used to describe the urban, but quiet, blue collar neighbourhood of Manor Park. A place where humanity and creativity reign. The neighbourhood revolves around the neighbourhood school, a small place that cares not for the pressures of the school board. Follow among others: a pair of very young lovers, a boy’s taxi service, an elderly woman in her last days on earth.

A gentle comedic look at what a natural life might be and also examines the how we educate children. All in a gorgeous world created through a series of letters, performed by a sole performer.

Tickets: $10.

On the Harmfulness of Tobacco

A hen pecked husband gives a ten-minute speech for a charitable objective, that his controlling wife has forced him to give. Over the ten minutes he strays from the subject of the harmfulness of tobacco, to talking about how he is mistreated and his past hopes. All in a comedic whirlwind.
A funny little companion piece that you can see right before Uncle Vanya, as well as an opportunity to see a rarely performed short by Anton Chekhov, who was master of short plays along with his great expansive dramas.

Tickets: Free.

Uncle Vanya

Vanya Voynitsky and his niece Sonya have spent their lives supporting the life and costumes of Sonya’s father and Vanya’s brother-in-law Aleksandr Serebryakov, an respected Art professor. However now Aleksandr, aging, can no longer afford the life he has grown accustomed to and returns to the estate of his first wife, Vanya’s sister, with his new young and beautiful wife, Yelena. Their visit brings an un-welcome chaos to the estate’s inhabitants, who have grown accustom to monotonous work.

One of the great early plays of the 20th century, Uncle Vanya is a heartbreaking and humorous look into an era of an aristocracy that might be closer to home than we like to think, as well as exploring the levels and need of intellect and education in people.

Tickets: $15; available at The ARTS Project, 519-642-2767.

A Q&A session with cast members will follow the April 2 matinee.

Story Evening

An evening of London Arts celebrities reading and telling stories along with gorgeous music.

Tickets: $15. Available at The Village Idiot or at the door.

Rope

AlvegoRoot Theatre Company announces that its 2nd production of the 2010 Season, Rope by Patrick Hamilton, has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond AlvegoRoot’s control.

AlvegoRoot is exploring possibility of another production put in Rope‘s time slot which was Oct.15-23.

AlvegoRoot is looking forward to its second annual Story Evening on November 12 at the Landon Library the line up will include: Carol Beynon, Peter Janes, Bill Paul and Deborah Mitchell.

In the early fall AlvegoRoot will be announcing its 2011 Season.

If you have any questions or comments please ztiwoloH-nagirroC madA tcatnoc.

Stories and Songs

An afternoon of special stories read and performed by London theatre legend Don Fleckser, and folk songs and art songs performed by AlvegoRoot Theatre Company artistic director Adam C. Holowitz.

Tickets: $12 in advance, available at the Village Idiot and Tuckeys Home Hardware, or by calling 519-649-2060. $15 at the door. $6 for children age 12 and under.

Waiting for Godot

Two men wait by a desolate crossroads. They say they are waiting for Godot. As they continue to wait, they talk about past glories, philosophy, and religion, among other things, occasionally being interrupted by some unexpected visitors (not Godot). Dark and hilarious with so many rich, vibrant and relevant themes.

Tickets: $15, available at The ARTS Project, 519-642-2767.

Pre-Show chats:

• March 3 at 7:30pm with Susan Wallace
• March 4 at 7:30pm with David White

Story Evening

An evening of London Arts celebrities reading and telling stories along with gorgeous music

Tickets: $15
Tickets available at: Tuckeys Home Hardware, The Village Idiot, The Oxford Book Shop and at the door

Grimes of the Borough: A Society Play

Introspective Social Tragedy

Who are the victims of society? Are we all victims in some way? In this hauntingly powerful drama — based on the 18th century poems by George Crabbe, we see the constant struggle one man faces when he chooses to live outside of the limits of society. “Important ideas relevant to our time”.

Tickets: $9.00
Show length: 60 minutes