This December we have a festive First Friday Art Crawl in downtown Peterborough on December 7th, including a Christmas show at Acme Art and Sailboat Company as well as new work in various downtown venues. The Art School of Peterborough will launch their holiday show and sale ‘The Art of Gifting’ on the same evening.

Also in Peterborough, the Kawartha Artists’ Gallery & Studio presents ‘On the Move: Travelling Through The Ages’, and the annual Focus Fair relocates to The Theatre on King’s new downtown space for its annual Holiday Arts and Craft Sale on December 15th and 16th.

If you happen to be in the Bancroft area, the Art Gallery of Bancroft’s annual juried show also opens on that evening. In Cobourg, the Art Gallery of Northumberland in Cobourg is showing ‘Daemon & Saudade’ by Colleen Schindler-Lynch and ‘Women’ (a selection from the permanent collection). And in Minden, the Agnes Jamieson Gallery presents ‘Landscapes of the North; A Contemporary Vision’ by Jennifer Churchill.

Art School of Peterborough hosts The Art of Gifting

The Art School of Peterborough is hosting “The Art of Gifting” in the Launch Gallery on Friday, December 6th and Saturday, December 8th.

The one-of-a-kind gift sale showcases local artists. A number of smaller works will be on display, with a wide selection to choose from.

So mark your calendars for the first Friday in December and get some holiday shopping done! The event runs from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday (coinciding with the First Friday Art Crawl) and again from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Admission is free of charge.

The Launch Gallery is located at the Art School of Peterborough (174A Charlotte Street, Peterborough). For more information, visit artschoolptbo.org/launch/ or call 705-742-3221,

Art Gallery of Northumberland features ‘Daemon & Saudade’ by Colleen Schindler-Lynch

‘Daemon & Saudade’ by Colleen Schindler-Lynch is a sculptural show that uses garments as art objects, alongside a series of photographic prints.

The series is a reflection on loss, grief, memory and experience: feelings which are part of everyone’s life, yet often concealed from plain sight, happening under the surface as we move through life. ‘Daemon & Saudade’ captures the beauty and pain of emotion.

Currently on display at the gallery, this show continues until Sunday, January 13th.

The Art Gallery of Northumberland is located at on the third floor of the west wing of Victoria Hall (55 King St. W., Cobourg). Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The gallery is closed on Mondays. For more information, visit www.artgalleryofnorthumberland.com.

Art Gallery of Northumberland presents ‘Women: Selected Works from the Permanent Collection’

On now until Sunday, January 20th, this show highlights women in a carefully curated selection from the Art Gallery of Northumberland’s permanent collection.

The gallery has their entire permanent collection online, which is a wonderful way for people interested to see what is stored there. You can peruse the collection at artgalleryofnorthumberland.com/agn-collection/.

The Art Gallery of Northumberland is located at on the third floor of the west wing of Victoria Hall (55 King St. W., Cobourg). Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The gallery is closed on Mondays. For more information, visit www.artgalleryofnorthumberland.com.

Kawartha Artists’ Gallery & Studio presents ‘On the Move’ members’ show

‘On the Move: Travelling Through The Ages’ is a members’ show at the Kawartha Artists’ Gallery & Studio dedicated to the history and modes of transportation.

On now, with an opening reception from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 2nd, the show will continue until Sunday, January 20th.

Please make note that the Gallery will be closed for a holiday break from December 22nd until January 1st.

Kawartha Artists’ Gallery and Studio is a not-for-profit artist’s co-operative, located at 420 O’Connell Road in Peterborough. Hours of operation are Wednesday to Sunday from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. The gallery is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Admission is free. For more information, visit www.kawarthaartists.org.

Art Gallery of Bancroft hosts Annual Juried Show

The Art Gallery of Bancroft’s 36th Annual Juried Show will be on display at the gallery beginning Wednesday, December 5th, with an opening reception on Friday, December 7th at 7:30 p.m.

This show highlights the work of selected artists in the area and will include a wide variety of styles and techniques. The juror for this year’s exhibition is Caroline deMooy.

The exhibition is on display until Saturday, January 26th, so there is plenty of time to drop by when you are in the area if you can’t make it out on opening night.

The Art Gallery of Bancroft is located at 10 Flint Avenue in Bancroft. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday (note the gallery will be closed on Tuesday, December 4th for the preparation and hanging of the juried show). For more information, visit www.artgallerybancroft.ca.

Acme Art & Sailboat Company presents a group ‘Xmas Show’

This December, Acme Art & Sailboat Company in downtown Peterborough is presenting a group ‘Xmas Show’, featuring a number of artists from the area.

The exhibit will include works by John Climenhage, Alex Bierk, Shannon Taylor, John B. Boyle, Chey Creig, Paul Oldham, Gwyneth Fishcer, Beth McCubbin, indi, Laurel Paluck, Teresa Anne Van Neste, Robert Atyeo, and Joe Stable.

The show will be opening on Friday, December 7th as part of the First Friday Art Crawl, which will also be happening at adjacent galleries in the downtown.

Acme Art and Sailboat Company is located at 129-1/2 Hunter Street West, 3rd floor, in downtown Peterborough. Hours of operation are variable, please check Acme’s Facebook page.

Annual Focus Fair Holiday Arts and Craft Sale relocates to The Theatre on King in downtown Peterborough

The Focus Fair has been bringing a market of handmade local goods to Peterborough every Christmas season since 2005. It was held at The Spill every December and, now that The Spill is no longer in operation, the event will be held this year at The Theatre on King at 171 King Street in downtown Peterborough.

This busy theatre company just opened the doors at their new location this summer! Drop in and see the new space in person while getting a bit of Christmas shopping out of the way.

The Focus Fair Holiday Arts and Craft Sale runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, December 15th and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 16th.

Agnes Jamieson Gallery presents ‘Landscapes of the North; A Contemporary Vision’ by Jennifer Churchill

Jennifer Churchill’s latest series of bold and bright contemporary landscapes depicting the Canadian North is currently on display at the Agnes Jamieson Gallery.

“I have always wanted to live in a small country cabin, close to water and under a tall canopy of trees,” the Toronto-based artist writes.

The show continues until Saturday, December 22nd.

The Agnes Jamieson Gallery is located at 176 Bobcaygeon Road in Minden. For more information, call 705-286-3763 or visit mindenhills.ca/agnes-jamieson-art-gallery/.

Every Thursday, we publish live music and performance events at pubs and clubs in Peterborough and The Kawarthas based on information that venues provide to us directly or post on their website or social media channels. Here are the listings for the week of Thursday, November 29 to Wednesday, December 5.

If you’re a pub or club owner and want to be included in our weekly listings, please email our Nightlife Editor at nightlife@kawarthanow.com.

From November 29th to December 1st, The Theatre On King (TTOK) welcomes back Planet 12 Productions’ with their presentation of Ian McWethy’s Appropriate Audience Behaviour.

With Ryan Kerr taking over directorial duties, the production is an amalgamation of the Planet 12 performers alongside a collection of TTOK players in an often clever script that pokes strong jabs at terrible audiences in an immersive theatre experience.

A fairly obscure show by emerging American playwright Ian McWethy, little information exists about the origins or production history of Appropriate Audience Behaviour.

The show was discovered by Planet 12’s Derek Weatherdon on playscripts.com, an independent publisher of new plays and musicals where McWethy (who is also an actor) has more than 30 scripts published.

Appropriate Audience Behaviour is a cleverly crafted play where the audience and actors become merged, and a sort of metaphysical experience takes place. The show becomes a criticism by the playwright about his personal issues with bad audience members. While he airs his beefs through humour, there is a hint of aggressive cynicism just under the surface. The play invites you to watch a performance of Hamlet with the worst audience in the world but, instead of watching Hamlet, you are actually watching the audience.

High school students Ashley (Emma Meinhardt) and Carol (Sam Weatherdon) are at the play for an English project, but find it impossible to enjoy the performance due to the constant interference of the eccentric and annoying audience members around them.

There is the texter (sorry … talxter) in the back row (Emily Keller), the overzealous Claudius fan (Eddy Sweeney), the Shakespeare snob (Kelsey Gordon Powell), the confused older couple (Sheila Charleton and Andrew Root), the food guy (Derek Weatherdon), the girls getting too involved in the show (Abbie Dale and Aimee Gordon), the orgasm woman (Shannon McKenzie), and the creepy guy in the back row (Nathan Govier).

As Ashley and Carol battle in vain for silence in the theatre, the tables are eventually turned as they become victims of the things that are driving them the craziest.

Appropriate Audience Behaviour opens with an interesting pre-show experience, an exercise in endurance all of its own when the audience is left in silence with the cast sitting across from them for what seems to be a much longer length of time than it actually is.

As members of the cast mutter their own improvised dialogue, some of the most entertaining moments of the show emerge. Primarily entertaining is Andrew Root, who comes up with some hilarious bits about Hamlet, and his arguments with Kelsey Gordon Powell and Sheila Charleton are comedic gold.

After a while the barrier between the audience and performers begins to break down, and I’ll admit that at one point I forgot I was even watching a show at all and actually checked my phone. Was I becoming part of that bad audience behaviour, or just victim of a very immersive experience?

Once the actual play begins, it becomes a series of vignettes where the audience is taken from character to character, witnessing their bizarre and often bad behaviour. Sometimes it really works. Derek Weatherdon’s food gags are pretty funny, and the way that sound is used to create conflict is really clever. Andrew Root and Sheila Charleton’s characters Benny and Ruth have some very funny bits as a couple experiencing Shakespeare for the first time.

It is also worth noting that, with the permission of the playwright, Derek Weatherdon added one major vignette featuring Kelsey Gordon Powell as a Shakespeare snob who patronizes the two young audience members. It is an interesting commentary in toxic and privileged fan behaviour, a current concern in fandom today.

But Appropriate Audience Behaviour isn’t without its challenges. In an opening monologue by Lindsey Unterlander, as Hamlet’s stage manager, she seems to speak through the voice of Ian McWethy, revealing all of his pent-up rage against the bad audiences he has encountered. Although the monologue is supposed to be comical, it becomes more of an attack and threatens to alienate the audience in the first few moments of the show. Thankfully, once the show begins it becomes much funnier and less patronizing.

As annoying as some of the play’s audience characters are, I find Ashley and Carol — the two high school students attempting to enjoy Hamlet — the most aggressive characters in the show. I’ve dealt with audience members like them in real life and, in my experience, they can be the most infuriating. Due to their frustration, Ashley and Carol soon become the rudest characters of all.

Perhaps this is the playwright’s intention: to show how even the most well-meaning people can become terrible audience members without even knowing it. From that perspective, watching the tables get turned on the two girls is interesting.

Appropriate Audience Behaviour has some interesting meta moments, and it’s good to experience work from a new playwright for the first time. The premise is unique, and Ryan Kerr has made some interesting directing choices, especially in breaking the third wall by merging players and audience.

But the most interesting thing about the play is the merger of players from Planet 12 Productions and TTOK. It’s no secret that I have a soft spot for the young players in the Planet 12 company, and I always enjoy watching them perform. Seeing them interact with a different group of adult performers, and being directed by a different director, is a new experience.

Appropriate Audience Behaviour runs from November 29th to December 1st at The Theatre on King (171 King St., Peterborough). Shows begin at 8 p.m. and tickets are $10 at the door or pay what you can.