THESPIAN "All the world's a stage". You all recognize that from Shakespeare's play As you Like it, (Act.1, Scene V11). My personal experience being a thespian (actor) was very lim- ited indeed. 1 and several other students in Grade X11 Latin class read, under the direction of the teacher, a play using Latin as the language in a modern setting. This read- ing was directly recorded unto a vinyl disc (quite a few years ago) and used by the teacher to demonstrate that the 'dead' language could in fact convey 'modem' situations. I also acted in a High School play, the name and contents of which are long lost in my memory. Although I never felt 'called' to the stage I did love plays. Amateur, professional, modern, old, Shakespeare, all sizes and contents. I can recall going to the Public School grade 7 play where my son Allan played the lead as Tom Sawyer and a number of others in both High School and Church concerts in which Allan and my daughter Ann participated. This all came to mind when Valerie and I took a few days in October to go to Stratford. We wanted to see William Hutt in his last year performing as Prospero in Shake- speare's The Tempest. This play was not especially one of my favourites but as staged in the Festival Theatre with Hutt, who owns the lead role, as well as others such as King Lear, I knew it would be marvellous. We had to book in August to get reasonable seats for Octo- ber 5™ and even then we were in the last row centre bal- cony. We were fortunate , on friend's advice, to book a room in a delightful B & B within 10 minutes walk to downtown Stratford and a 15 minute walk, along the shores of the lake, to the Festival Theatre. The B& B turned out to be about 10 houses away from Mr. Hutt's private residence. The show, a matinee, was marvellous, the theatre packed and the audience obviously enthralled with Ariel and the other spirits, Prospero, of course, and the rest of the cast. There was as expected, a standing ovation, especially for Mr Hutt, who at 85 years of age, seemed, at least to me, to be able to go on for many years. I had not seen Stratford for a number of years. I began go- ing when it was newly established and enjoyed many plays in the tent and subsequently when the Festival Theatre was built. My favourite Shakespeare play is Julius Caesar. I saw the performance in the tent with Bruno Gerussi playing Mark Antony. The excitement as the soldiers ran down the aisles and on and off the stage has kept the memory fresh. I also started going to the Shaw Festival when it just started and the plays were performed in the Court House. Valerie and I continued to attend the Shaw, often sailing over in the summer and participating as members in the "members spe- cial days" that included information on the behind the scenes operations. Which did we like the best? I hear you ask. There is no best really since Shaw and Shakespeare are so different in the ages they represent (The Tempest was first played in 1611) and the messages they included in their various plays. We, of course, saw other plays at the respective fes- tivals by other playwrights and really looked on these Festi- vals as an opportunity to see professional theatre near our home. Valerie and I were also members of the Blum Appel Thea- tre in Toronto and enjoyed the varied program usually in- cluding at least one new experimental play per season. Some were interesting others truly demonstrated the adage that " a successful event takes much experimentation". We have decided that we must make an effort to see more theatre since we have Stirling, Belleville, Picton, Kingston and Gananoque within an hour or so from home that have active theatre groups. We were active a few years ago with the Regent Theatre and felt, somewhat naively, we could have another Stratford or Niagara on the Lake here in Picton. Interestingly the Re- gent Theatre stage is the same size as the Royal Alex in To- ronto and has the fly tower which opens up great opportuni- ties for staging all kinds of theatre, After the theatre was refurbished and the tower opened the stage curtains for the first 'Festival' were loaned to us by the Stratford Festival. Over the years diligent volunteers have worked very hard to make the Theatre successful and with membership increas- ing, perhaps a viable operation will be developed. 1 wish the current board success as they search for the 'correct' mix of programming that will make the Theatre an attrac- tion and destination in its own right. Just think how Ariel and the other spirits could soar over the stage. I think we take the Regent far too much for granted and if such a facility did not already exist we would have groups fund raising to create one. - John A Jackson