Before coming to the Shaw Festival, my girlfriend and I pored over brochures and guides. Via phone calls and e-mails, we plotted an action-packed agenda. Napping wasn’t included.
Seeing four plays in three days was hardly penance or a day at work, we reasoned. No minute would go wasted. So much for plans.
So much for long walks and cycling, visiting wineries, a spin on the fabled Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls or overspending on gifts and bookstores. After this whirlwind escape where our most pressing concerns were being on time for the shows and meals — and wading through British accents in order to untangle the plots — we were ready to go home. But excited to return.
The Shaw Festival is a 37-year-old culture show, located in this manicured town some 84 miles south of Toronto. If you’re here for the main event — theater — it’s an experience that demands spurts of concentration, the kind we wished we had in college.
The festival showcases the works of Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) and his contemporaries. Plays are staged in three theaters, all within walking distance of the town’s flower-lined midway, Queen Street.
My friend and I were neither theater experts nor avid theatergoers, unlike our other friend who met us at the Toronto International Airport. But our lack of knowledge didn’t get in the way of enjoying the productions and the experience of being at Shaw. Instead, the quality of the acting and intimacy and scale of the theaters hooked us, as did the diversity of the plays in our series.
“Rebecca,” a thriller by Daphne du Maurier, kept us on the edge of our seats. One of the characters, the evil Mrs. Danvers, reminded me of a math teacher in high school. Another play, “You Can’t Take It With You” by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, made us laugh when we weren’t dabbing our eyes. “Getting Married” by Shaw — described in the stage bill as a “discussion” play — tossed off so many opinions on love and matrimony that an extra long nap was necessary. To help us savor the one-liners from Shaw’s “Heartbreak House,” our friend bought us the paperback at the theater gift shop.
The gentility of Niagara-on-the-Lake, home to 13,000 residents spread over 50 square miles, casts a surreal spell. Though much of the town is devoted to tourism, tour buses are kept out of sight in favor of horse-drawn carriages. Signs are sweet, not garish. Sidewalk widths allow room for handholding or pushing strollers. And the pedestrians’ primary pursuits appeared to be squinting at menus posted on picket fences, grappling with dripping ice cream cones and arranging shopping bags on park benches.
The rental car barely budged during our stay except for a visit to the Butterfly Conservatory in the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and a foray to a vineyard cafe for a sunset dinner on its patio. Here, visitors mostly walk, cycle or roller-blade for transportation. In fact, walking from our bed-and-breakfast to the theater and restaurants — all no more than 12 minutes away — became our main aerobic activity.
Between meals, it wasn’t easy deciding on snacks. British baked goods — like Cornish pasties (savory meat pies), treacle tarts, shortbread and scones slathered in Devon cream — abound. Ales and lagers compete with local wine (Ontario’s 35 wineries produce 80 percent of Canada’s wine). Icewine, a sweet, decent cousin to sauterne, is not to be missed.
Shopping for souvenirs was just as challenging. We didn’t fall for the temptation of tartan berets and books on golf courses in Scotland at the Wee Scottish Loft gift shop. Nor for the acrylic salad tongs or dinnerware at the Dansk factory outlet shop. But credit cards came out at Greaves Jams & Marmalades, a 72-year-old, squeaky-floored emporium. And the samples from yawning jars and crackers tided us over until another sweet shop.
Finding a room here was easy. I did it with two free phone calls to the accommodation booking service (see If You Go) run by the local tourism bureau. For $77 (U.S.) per night, my friend Barb and I shared a twin room with bathroom in the home of Margaret Currie, one of 250 members of the local B&B association.
The owner of the Georgian-style three-bedroom house (named Taigh-Na-Mara — “house by the sea” in Gaelic, though we didn’t see a sea) endeared us with bottomless cups of coffee served with homemade scones and jam. Currie, a native of Glasgow in Scotland, recently retired from the art consulting business in Toronto, and we could see her penchant for collectibles everywhere.
The house rules were framed on the dressing table: Shoes are kept by the front door; use of telephone is discouraged; towels, unless requested, are changed every three days.
Concern about cholesterol at a ham-and-eggs breakfast was waved off by our hostess with a chipper “you’re on holiday.”
The lamp between the beds did make me vow to pack a mini-flashlight next time, and the wire pedestal holding the toilet paper toppled over more than once. Looks and spotless housekeeping ruled. Whisking dirty dishes away didn’t stop guests from lingering.
Serendipity added some magic moments to our weekend.
In checking out the Kiely Inn and its highly respected Tapestries Restaurant, we discovered its rear veranda; there, overlooking an acre of lawn and flower beds, we were graciously served soup, salad and wine.
And at the Butterfly Conservatory, an indoor pleasuredome of waterfalls and jungle-like flora covering 11,000 square feet, more than 2,000 fluttering creatures doing touch-and-goes on petals and leaves made taking a bad picture almost impossible.
IF YOU GO
– GETTING THERE
The Shaw Festival is held in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, about a 9 1/2-hour drive from Chicago. Or you can take a 1 1/2-hour flight into either Toronto, as we did, or Buffalo. Because of highway construction, our drive from Toronto, which is 85 miles to the north around the tip of Lake Ontario, took about two hours.
– IMMIGRATION
Although Canada does not require U.S. citizens to show a passport (a driver’s license or birth certificate will do), if you have one, bring it — it will speed up the formalities.
– THE FESTIVAL
The Shaw Festival runs through November in three theaters: the Festival, Court House and Royal George.
Plays for the remainder of this season are George Bernard Shaw’s “Heartbreak House,” “Getting Married” and “Village Wooing”; Daphne Du Maurier’s “Rebecca”; Noel Coward’s “Easy Virtue”; George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s “You Can’t Take It With You”; Harley Granville Barker’s “The Madras House”; Charles Vildrac’s “S.S. Tenacity”; George and Ira Gershwin’s “A Foggy Day”; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Waterloo”; and Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya.”
Prices range from about $24 to $48. Discount and ticket/lodging packages are available.
Contact: Shaw Festival, Box 774, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada LOS 1J0; 800-511-7429 or 905-468-2172 (9 a.m. to 8 p.m.); fax 905-468-3804 (24 hours); shawfest.sympatico.ca.
– LODGING
Taigh-Na-Mara, 508 Mississauga St., Niagara-on-the-Lake.; 905-468-4646. We found our room at this B&B through the visitor bureau’s free reservation service (see below). We asked for something funky, no smoking, twin beds with bath and under $100 U.S. The house was spotless. The three rooms were decorated in Victorian and Louis XIV period styles. Upon arrival, the owner’s dogs announced their turf, but otherwise, disappeared. No credit cards accepted.
Moffat Inn, 60 Picton St., Niagara-on-the-Lake; 905-468-4116. Our friend, opting for privacy over the communal bonhomie of a B&B, stayed at this terrific 22-room, knotty-pine midtown inn with 10-table restaurant and a fireplace in the skylight-lit foyer. It is a stroll away from theaters, shopping and dining. Rooms start at about $58.
– DINING
Tiara Restaurant, Queen’s Landing Inn & Conference Resort, 155 Byron St.; 905-468-2195. Hong Kong’s best hotel restaurants have a cousin here in this CAA/AAA “Four-Diamond” award winner. No wonder. The 143-room complex is owned by China-born businesswoman-turned-hotelier Si Wai Lai. If you eat on the patio, you miss the polished marble and Cecil B. DeMille-like floral arrangements. The Niagara River and marina provide moving scenery, but food steals attention. Plate presentation shows a flair for architecture. Side dishes can feed two. The wine list respects local vintners yet embraces the globe. Dinner for two with drinks and wine, about $112.
The Buttery, 19 Queen St.; 905-468-2564. At twilight, the porch is inviting with its flickering lights, while during the day flowers spilling from hanging baskets grab the eye. Sandwiches, salads and gooey desserts. Lunch or snacks for two with drinks, about $34.
Kiely Inn & Restaurant, 209 Queen St.; 905-468-4588. This inn (circa 1832) also is home to Tapestries, one of the town’s highly touted restaurants. But both dining rooms looked starchy compared to the laid-back veranda where a hammock would have been lethal. Lunch for two with wine, about $41.
– AMUSEMENTS
Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory, Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens, 2565 Niagara Parkway, Niagara Falls, Ontario; 905-358-0025. Open 9 a.m. until dusk daily, except Christmas. Tickets about $4.75 for adults, $2.40 for children (ages 6-12). Children under 5, free. Keep your mouth shut — for obvious reasons (and besides, butterflies are frightened by loud sounds).
– INFORMATION
Niagara-on-the-Lake Visitor and Convention Bureau, 153 King St., P.O. Box 1043, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario L0S 1J0; 905-468-4263; fax 905-468-4930; www.niagara-on-the-lake.com. The bureau has a free reservation service. Rooms from about $37 (in homes) and about $48 (in hotels).
