Brand New Stages Festival brings 3 professional shows to Peterborough, Ont.

The inaugural Brand New Stages Festival runs in Peterborough, Ont. Feb. 27 to Mar. 3 and features three shows over the course of the four days.

“It is a festival of professional theatre that includes some brand-new work, some new plays with famous Canadian actors and more acclaimed plays with emerging faces,” said New Stages artistic director, Mark Wallace.

“So, we are mixing up this idea of ‘Brand New Stages’ to create a new festival in Downtown Peterborough.”

Wallace said they also hope the festival, run through New Stages Theatre company, will give people a burst of creative inspiration during winter.

“New Stages has been in Peterborough for 26 years, but this is the first time we are doing the festival and what we are hoping is that we can create a tradition of showcasing new work in the cool of winter and get people out of their homes and maybe you see a short play on a Tuesday and on Thursday you go to see something else.”

The three plays featured in the festival are Looking for Lear, a family-friendly show about the nonsensical work of 19th century poet and artist, Edward Lear; Life Without, a drama about children, grandchildren and the prospect of a life without; and Tuesdays and Sundays, a haunting play set in 1887 Prince Edward Island.

Creators of Looking for Lear, Brad Brackenridge and Dreda Blow, said the show combines a variety of creative elements.

“There is singing, puppetry, dance, live musicians, we both play different characters within it,” said Brackenridge.

“There is a lot of movement, a lot of different images, a lot of fun,” added Blow. “And even though Edward Lear was silly and playful and nonsensical and there is all that fun in his work, his personal life was quite sad so I think the older audience will connect to the depth of that as well in the show.”

The duo said original music for the show was done by multi-instrumentalists Susan Newman and Rob Fortin.

Wallace said the festival not only shines the spotlight on incredible local, professional talent, but also gives the area the chance to attract other well-known actors.

“Life Without, which is our second play in the festival, is a play by Steve Ross and he is a star at Stratford,” said Wallace.

“And in this play we have Fiona Reid, who most recently was on Broadway as Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter, so she is one of Canada’s leading ladies.”

“We have some fabulous talent coming to Peterborough and what an opportunity to not have to go to Toronto, that we can also present it here,” said Wallace.

For more information on the festival and to purchase tickets, visit the New Stages website. Tickets start as low as $10.