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The Three Musketeers (November 20 – December 6, 2003)

  By admin | August 2, 2003 - 3:12 am | ,
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A Comedy by Peter Raby, adapted from the Alexandre Dumas novel

A rousing, rollicking and eminently stage-worthy version of the classic “swashbuckler,” first presented by Canada’s Stratford Festival. Everyone is familiar with the renowned adventures of D’Artagnan and his three fellow musketeers, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, as they fight for king and country with frequent detours involving wine, women and song. The entire panoply of action is captured here with brilliant inventiveness and theatricality; the devious trickery of Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter; the sad plight of the beauteous Constance Bonacieux; attempted assassinations; plots and counterplots; and the final triumph of virtue over the forces of evil. Moving swiftly from scene to scene, the play captures all the colour and excitement of the original serialized novel, and provides a memorable and unashamedly romantic experience for audiences of all ages!

Night Must Fall (September 18 – October 4, 2003)

  By admin | August 1, 2003 - 3:13 am | ,
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A Thriller by Emlyn Williams

It is no secret that Danny, a bellhop who arrives at the Bramson bungalow, has already murdered one woman and there is little doubt that he will soon murder another, the aged owner of the house. He carefully insinuates himself into her affections while preventing her niece, who has guessed his history, from giving him away. Although the niece firmly believes she hates him, she becomes fascinated with this dashing young assassin. Danny is a self-centred psychopath with no feelings and a vast imagination. For his own edification he is perpetually acting the part of a murderer and is only unhappy because he cannot share his secret with the world!

She Stoops to Conquer (May 1-17, 2003)

  By admin | August 5, 2002 - 3:21 am | ,
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A Farce by Oliver Goldsmith

“Witty . Charming! . Entertaining!”

A wonderful rollicking Restoration comedy! Eighteenth century England comes to life in this riotously funny comedy of manners. Two well-to-do young gentlemen, Marlow and Hastings, mistake the baronial country home of Squire Hardcastle for a roadside inn. As they meet the family so they treat them as employees of a common public house. The ensuing situations become hilarious. In retaliation, Kate, the beautiful and clever daughter of the house, disguises herself as a servant, and in so-doing becomes a true conqueror when she acquires a handsome and wealthy young husband.

An Inspector Calls (March 6-22, 2003)

  By admin | August 4, 2002 - 3:23 am | ,
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A Thriller by J.B. Priestley

“A psychologically adept work and a most engaging play!”

Though ostensibly a remarkably clear and effective drama, an air of mystic unreality underlies An Inspector Calls. When a young girl commits suicide in an English industrial city, an eminently respectable British family is subject to a routine enquiry in connection with the death. An inspector calls to interrogate the family. All are to some degree implicated, but what was a friendly and closely-knit family at the beginning of the evening is reveled as selfish, self-centered and cowardly before the night is over. And who was the “inspector”? Why was no suicide reported to the police? How did he know?

Sweet Bird of Youth (January 9-25, 2003)

  By admin | August 3, 2002 - 3:24 am | ,
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A Drama by Tennessee Williams

“Once again, a bolt of thunder has been hurled by Williams, and the theatre reverberates to its roar!”

The Princess, an aging motion picture actress in flight from her latest screen disaster, picks up Chance Wayne, a young hustler. Taking advantage of her drunkenness, and his own youth and good looks he lures her to the Southern town of his birth to see a young girl with whom he has had an affair and still loves. He hopes to use the Princess to promote a movie career for himself and his girl. What Chance does not know is that he has unwittingly infected the girl. Boss Finley, political despot and father of the girl, and his sadistic son and toadies lay in wait for his return and their revenge. Chance is deserted by his patroness, and far worse, his youth!

A Christmas Carol (November 20 – December 6, 2002)

  By admin | August 2, 2002 - 3:26 am | ,
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A Pageant by Charles Dickens, adapted by John Mortimer

“And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!”

Dramatized with wit and flair in a version first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1994, this adaptation of the ageless story beautifully captures Dickens’ ironic point of view while creating a panoramic view of Victorian London. All of the beloved characters are in place. Ebenezer Scrooge and the ghost of his former partner, Marley; Bob Cratchit and his loving Tiny Tim; the Fezziwigs; and, of course, those vaporous spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. Wonderful family entertainment filled with laughter, tears, and beloved seasonal music. An amazing opportunity to introduce young members of the family to one of the English-speaking world’s great authors, and to the magic of live theatre!

Plaza Suite (September 19 – October 5, 2002)

  By admin | August 1, 2002 - 3:28 am | ,
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A Comedy by Neil Simon

“A wonderfully happy and gratifying evening of sheer entertainment. Richly funny!”

“Stage Centre Productions gives us a fine ‘Plaza Suite’ … The actors’ energy never flags” – Mirror/Guardian

Hilarity abounds in this portrait of three couple successively occupying a suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. A suburban couple takes the suite while their house is begin painted, and it turns out to be the one in which they honeymooned. This wry tale of marriage in tatters is followed by the exploits of a Hollywood producer who, after three failed marriages, is looking for fresh fields. Enter a childhood sweetheart! The last couple is a mother and a father fighting about the best way to get their daughter out of the bathroom and downstairs to the ballroom where her wedding guests await.

The Scarlet Pimpernel (May 2-18, 2002)

  By admin | August 5, 2001 - 3:32 am | ,
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A Drama by Baroness Orczy, adapted by Beverley Cross

First performed in 1903, The Scarlet Pimpernel was the most successful play of its day – archetypal Edwardian theatre and the precursor of romantic Hollywood historical epics. This new adaptation, first presented at England’s Chichester Festival and then as a long-run West End production, brings to modern audiences the tale of the elusive English hero who snatches helpless innocents from death during the French Revolution, and rescues the Comte de Tournai with the enemy hot on this trail. The Scarlet Pimpernel works in the shadows, his identity unknown even to his immediate followers. He stands for English stability and against chaos and passionate fanaticism.