A new travelling troupe of actors and actresses is ushering in theatre wherever they go in Windsor and Essex County.
Like the travelling band of actors in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the Ghost Light Players won’t be limited by one location. So far the new troupe is performing in wineries and a brewery.
“We like to go places where people can drink,” artistic director Jeffery Bastien said this week. “I really enjoy the concept of putting theatre in non-theatrical spaces. It’s a great challenge and it opens up a lot of creative pathways.”
The roaming band started with The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged), a fun romp through Shakespeare in 90 minutes, and A Dramatic Reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at Cooper’s Hawk Vineyards in Harrow. Some of the players took on roles of Downton Abbey characters for two dinners at Viewpointe Estate Winery for an Evening at Downton.
Beginning Friday the players will be performing their first large production, Noises Off, at the Walkerville Brewery. It’s a challenging and high energy farce with a lot of physical movement, said Bastien who had been a director with other local theatre groups before he decided to form his own group. It’s about a year in the making.
The Ghost Light Players work on the set for the latest production at a warehouse in Windsor on Monday, April 18, 2016.
By changing venues, the players avoid high costs, they don’t have to stick to plays with mass appeal, and they can get out to perform in Windsor and Essex County. Bastien wants to take on challenging plays and build an audience.
“We’re not trying to be a community theatre per se. We’re trying to be a theatre for those who are really passionate about theatre.”
Ghost Light Players and its 43 members get their name from the stage light left on when everyone leaves the theatre. Some say it is to appease theatre ghosts. Bastien said it’s to honour those who have gone before you and symbolically light the way to where the players are going. The troupe has a wrought iron lamp that goes with them to performances.
Noises Off gets its title from the theatrical stage direction indicating sounds are coming from offstage. The 1982 farce is written by English playwright Michael Frayn. Tickets are $20 and are available at www.theatrewithoutfear.com or at the door.
The shows run April 22, 23, 24, 29 and 30 and May 1. The play starts at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday the show is at 4 p.m.
Upcoming performances include Fool For Love written by Sam Shepard set for June in Walkerville, A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare in August at Cooper’s Hawk Vineyards and Voices of Vimy by local teacher John Conlon in November in the Bank Theatre in Leamington.
