One of my yearly summer highlights are my trips to the Lakeview Arts Barn in Bobcaygeon to attend performances by Globus Theatre. Only a short scenic drive away, it’s a beautiful space I return to year after year, where I not only see some of the best theatre performed in the Kawarthas, but where I reunite with people and performers I have come to think of as friends.
Although not the only professional theatre company in the area, Globus Theatre has the distinction of producing the most professional shows per year, staging five shows per summer season. However, this year artistic producer James Barrett and artistic director Sarah Quick have put together their biggest season yet.
Beyond the normal five shows, this year Globus has added an additional three kids’ shows and have extended their operations outside of the barn and into the greater Bobcaygeon community itself. The result is an ambitious summer season designed to draw more people into Globus’ devoted family of subscribers.
While Globus always picks a number of Canadian shows to produce each season, this year Sarah and James have decided to produce only shows by Canadian playwrights.
“The whole season is a Canadian season to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary,” Sarah explains. “We always look at Canadian plays first every year, and we want to hire Canadian artists and playwrights. It’s kind of the equivalent of shopping locally. We’ve obviously gone and chose the best plays internationally as well, but this year we decided to just strictly pick Canadian shows.”
Real Estate (June 28 – July 8)
Globus’ season opens on Wednesday, June 28th with Allana Harkin’s play Real Estate. Running until July 8th, the play is about Emma, an inexperienced realtor who is attempting to sell a home owned by Joel, a mystery writer who finds himself bogged down in back taxes. The already complicated task of selling the house get more sticky when Joel’s soon-to-be-ex-wife and Emma’s new boyfriend arrive on the scene.
“It’s a very funny play,” Sarah says of Real Estate. “It’s quite topical because of all the realtors out there and the hot property market.”
“We are doing that show in the round, so we are very excited about that,” James adds. “We didn’t do one last year, so we are excited to do one this year We enjoy doing theatre in the round, but you’ve got to make sure you have a show that will work, and this one does.”
Oh, Canada! We Sing For Thee (July 11 – 22)
From July 11th to 22nd, Globus Theatre welcomes performer Leisa Way back to Globus for her latest show Oh, Canada! We Sing For Thee! For the past number of seasons, Leisa’s performances have become a yearly event at Globus. A gifted singer with a spirited stage presence, Leisa’s show are more concert than drama, but are truly amongst the most delightful performances I see each year. I can honestly say I have become a huge fan of her shows, but it’s not only me — audiences return year after year to see Leisa.
In previous years, Leisa has performed her unique tributes to Judy Garland, Dolly Parton, and Patsy Cline at Globus. However, in her new show, Leisa and her band The Wayward Wind Band are celebrating a plethora of Canadian artists including Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, k.d. Lang, Anne Murray, The Barenaked Ladies, Leonard Cohen, Shania Twain, Stompin’ Tom Connors, Joni Mitchell, and tons more in a special celebration of Canada’s most beloved musical icons.
“It’s just spectacular,” James says of Oh, Canada! We Sing For Thee!. “We’ve had subscribers who have seen it already elsewhere who have said to us ‘You have to bring that show here.’ It also features her band a lot more as well. It’s a great piece.”
Raising the Barn (July 26 – August 5)
July 26th to August 5th will see what may not only be Globus’ most ambitious show of the season, but possibly the most unique show they have featured at the Lakeview Arts Barn to date.
James and Sarah will be presenting Raising the Barn, a brand new show they are writing that pays tribute to the history of the Lakeview Arts Barn as well as the community of Bobcaygeon. Furthermore, with a cast made up of seven returning performers from some of Globus’ previous shows, as well as three cameo performances from another Globus project, Raising the Barn will have a cast of 10 actors, making it the biggest production Globus Theatre has yet produced.
Originally a working cattle barn, the Lakeview Arts Barn was transformed into a dance hall in 1967 by its owner Fabian O’Neil. For years the community of Bobcaygeon used the barn for weddings, celebrations, and dances until James and Sarah transformed it into a theatre after they purchased it.
By maintaining it as a restaurant and bar space, they still rent the barn out for weddings and dances, continuing its long tradition as being a place wjere the community can celebrate.
This year marks the barn’s 50th anniversary as a community space, and Sarah and James are producing Raising the Barn as a way to celebrate the unique role the Lakeview Arts Barn holds in the community.
“Fifty years ago this barn went from being a cattle barn to a dance hall,” Sarah says. “Since then, it really been the central hub of the community. Many generations of families have been married here, there have been big dances, and people have fallen in love, and now we have theatre happening which continues the social aspect of it.
“So we thought we’d write a play which is purely fictional, but involves all the different characters that you’d imagine would have come to this barn in the last fifty years.”
The Fixer Upper (August 8 – 19)
From August 8th to August 19th Globus welcomes Lorne Elliott, host of the long-running CBC radio show Madly Off in All Directions, who will be starring in his play The Fixer Upper.
Taking place on Prince Edward Island, the play tells the story of one man’s attempt to rent his decaying cottage to summer tourists.
“It’s a really good play,” Sarah says of The Fixer Upper. “And it’s also very suited to cottage country as well because so many people are all involved in renovations, even if a small amount. This is a cottage that requires a complete overhaul, and the character in the play is someone who is not particularly able to do that.”
Halfway There (August 23 – September 2)
Globus’ final production of the season is popular playwright Norm Foster’s newest production Halfway There, which runs from August 23rd until September 2nd.
Making its debut at last year’s Forster Festival in St. Catherines, Halfway There is about Dr. Sean Merrit who comes to the small town of Stewiackle, Nova Scotia in search of a new start after a devastating break up. There he meets four local women, each of whom have their own stories to tell.
“Halfway There is set in Nova Scotia in a little town which is half way between the equator and the North Pole,” Sarah explains. “It’s basically a love story about a doctor who comes to town and falls in love with one of the residents there. It’s gossipy and dramatic and hilarious and it’s really about friendship.”
“It’s a beautiful story,” James adds. “It’s very funny and it’s touching. It’s a really great play.”
Although final casting to some of the shows has yet to be announced, James and Sarah will be welcoming back a number of Globus’ regular performers, but will also a lot of new faces to the theatre.
“This summer we have a ton of new actors starting with us,” Sarah states. “Actors who are firmly established in the acting community in Toronto, but new to Globus.”
2017 Children’s Series: The Dog Pound (July 8), Raising the Barn – Kid’s Style (August 8), Peter Pan (August 26)
While producing five professional shows is a huge enough task for one season, this is only a fraction of the unique theatrical projects Globus is working on for the summer. Globus is also opening its doors to a series of productions aimed toward children ages six to 12 throughout the summer.
Each show runs for one performance only and costs only five dollars plus HST —, thanks to sponsorship from Stewart Morrison Insurance and Business for the Arts for their matching funds through the artsVest Kawartha Lakes program.
The first of these special shows is presented by Toronto-based group Bad Dog Theatre and is an improv show called The Dog Pound, which will be performed on Saturday, July 8th.
“It’s an improvisation show which is the same if you went to see Who’s Line is it Anyway, but it’s for kids,” Sarah says. “So it’s the kids who give the suggestions, and who get up on the stage with the performers. It’s so hilarious. Even the performers are laughing half of the time because the kids often come out with the most random things. So that’s fun.”
On Saturday, August 5th, James and Sarah will be presenting a children’s version of Raising the Barn featuring many of the actors from the regular production, and inviting a younger audience to explore Bobcaygeon’s past through the Lakeview Arts Barn.
The children’s summer season will wrap up on Saturday, August 26th when Toronto-based company Dufflebag Theatre brings its production of Peter Pan to the Lakeview Arts Barn.
Globus Theatre in the streets of Bobcaygeon
But Globus Theatre’s theatrical projects continue outside of the barn throughout the summer and into the streets of Bobcaygeon. Teaming up with the Boyd Museum, Globus is hiring three performers who will be walking about the streets of downtown Bobcaygeon this summer, interacting with people and putting on a daily street show. This is a repeat of a successful theatrical experience that Globus and the Boyd Museum undertook in 2010.
“Seven years ago we partnered with the Boyd Museum in Bobcaygeon and we did a living history with three actors who walked through town and sang and interacted with each other,” Sarah explains.
“They got the attention of people who were shopping downtown and then they acted a short play about the history of Bobcaygeon, and the logging industry and the people who lived there. It was a really fun experience and the merchants in Bobcaygeon liked it. It was just an interesting thing to look at. The museum applied for some funding this year in part with the Canada 150 celebrations, and we are going to reprise the living history.
“It is scripted, but also interactive. It’s loud and energetic. You might be shopping in Foodland, and all of a sudden a woman wearing clothes from 1850 will be standing next to you and you will be caught up in this. It’s to publicize the museum and downtown Bobcaygeon and to also let people know that, just out of town, there is this theatre that has exciting things going on.”
Sarah also reveals that the three actors in the living history performance will also be appearing in Raising the Barn, in a unique way.
“I thought it’d be nice to bring in these three historical figures from town into Raising the Barn,” Sarah says. “They’ll play the next generation of the characters they are playing in town.”
In addition to the living history performance, James and Sarah are bringing one of their most beloved creations from the Lakeview Arts Barn to Bobcaygeon Farmers’ Market every Saturday throughout the summer.
Sarah’s famous Sticky Toffee Pudding has become the most popular item on Globus’ already decadent dinner theatre menu — almost as popular as the plays themselves.
Believe me when I say that Sarah’s Sticky Toffee Pudding is truly something to be desired, and it is the type of desert that deserves to be legendary.
By making the dessert available to the public outside of the theatre for the first time, this gives residents who have not visited the theatre to connect personally with James and Sarah.
“The Sticky Toffee Pudding was on our first theatre menu twelve years ago using a recipe I cobbled together from a number of different ones,” Sarah says. “With some other various experimentation, I managed to land on a successful recipe. Straight away, it was everybody’s favourite. People would come back every year and ask ‘Which play has the Sticky Toffee Pudding on the menu? That’s the one I’m coming to!’
“I wouldn’t tell them which one had it on the menu, so they’d have to come to all the plays,” Sarah jokes. “We always toyed with doing the farmers’ market so we could be out there telling people about the theatre, so it occurred to me that a way of doing that would be to retail this thing that everybody wants to get their hands on. That way I can tell them about the theatre while they are buying it and eating it.”
James says selling the dessert at the Bobcaygeon Farmers’ Market is proving to be a great way to promote Globus Theatre.
“The first weekend was very successful, with talking to people about the theatre,” he says. “People kept telling us they enjoyed the Sticky Toffee Pudding.”
With the summer season opening only a few weeks away, 2017 be a landmark season for Globus Theatre, filled with theatre, food, music and celebration. If you haven’t visited the Lakeview Arts Barn before, this is the summer you need to make the trip to this wonderful place.
There’s a reason why I regard this theatre as one of my favourite places in the Kawarthas. Not only is it a warm and inviting space presenting high-caliber entertainment, but it’s also a place filled with good people.
This year, make Globus Theatre and the Lakeview Arts Barn part of your summer. Just like me, you will want to go back.
