Early Bird Holiday Sales Offers Significant Ticket Discounts

November 3, 2010, PERTH – Following on its highly successful inaugural summer season presenting professional theatre in Heritage Perth, the Classic Theatre Festival returns in 2011 with an exciting lineup of Broadway hits and a new, accessible venue that will enhance audience enjoyment. As an extra bonus, anyone who purchases tickets before January 1st will be entitled to major discounts of up to 20% on the upcoming summer season.

Moving into the wheelchair-accessible, professionally equipped Mason Theatre (part of Perth & District Collegiate Institute, and the largest theatre space in Perth), located at 13 Victoria Street, the Festival is pleased to announce it has secured the rights to two classics that ran back-to-back at New York’s legendary Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1951.

Season Opener

The season will start off with John van Druten’s bewitching romantic comedy, "Bell, Book and Candle," running July 8-31. Tourists – who made up the largest share of the Festival’s first-year audience – and local theatregoers alike fondly remember the 2010 Classic Theatre Festival production of van Druten’s "The Voice of the Turtle," nomination as best performer by the Capital Critics Circle.

“John van Druten is a relatively unknown, and certainly underappreciated playwright, but his work certainly struck a chord last season, so we want to treat our audiences in 2011 with more of the same laughter, romance, and humanity that mark his works,” explains Artistic Producer Laurel Smith, who is directing the season opener.

Long thought to have inspired the mid-1960s television series "Bewitched" (which featured Elizabeth Montgomery), "Bell, Book and Candle," originally starring Rex Harrison and Lili Palmer, was later made into a film starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Elsa Lanchester, and Ernie Kovacs. It’s the story of a mysterious, independent woman who struggles to “have it all” in the post-World War II era when women found themselves no longer welcome in the workplace and were encouraged to go back to the home.

"Bell, Book and Candle" runs July 8-31, Wed.-Sat at 8 pm, with Wed., Sat. & Sun. matinees at 2 pm.

Loving Portrait of Marriage

The second show of the Festival is one of the most enduring portraits of a marriage in the 20th century theatrical canon, Jan de Hartog’s "The Fourposter." This chronicle of a couple through 35 years of marriage, from a nervous wedding night through to childbirth and parenting, mid-life crisis, and the final realities of aging – is, Smith says, “both a tender and at times hysterically funny exploration of an institution that most of us participate in and complain about a lot, but which ultimately represents the foundation for so many adult lives.”

The original Broadway production starred real-life couple Jessica Tandy and husband (and Canadian) Hume Cronyn, and a musical version of the play, "I Do, I Do," played on Broadway in the 1960s. Playwright de Hartog is also a noted novelist whose early work marked him as an enemy of the Nazi occupation force in the Netherlands, while his monumental chronicle of the Quaker faith won much critical praise.

"The Fourposter" runs August 5-28, Wed.-Sat at 8 pm, with Wed., Sat. & Sun. matinees at 2 pm.

Holiday Gift Certificates

Casting has yet to be announced, but the Festival has already received almost 300 submissions from some of Canada’s finest theatrical talents vying for spots on the summer roster.

The Festival is also pleased to be in a wheelchair accessible facility. “Making theatre available to everyone is a major goal of ours, and having a beautiful facility like this, with accessibility and comfortable seating, will ensure audience enjoyment in the years to come,” Smith says.

Individuals wishing to book early for the 2011 season can purchase a gift certificate before January 1st and receive a discount of 10% for one play and 20% for purchasing both plays. Order tickets online at www.classictheatre.ca, by calling 1-877-283-1283, or at Tickets Please, 39 Foster Street, in Perth.