Last week I met my friend Carolyn at Stratford. It was the first time I had seen her in close to two years. There we were, both double dosed, able to hug and watch a performance. It was both weird and blissful.
The festival has just reopened with all sorts of COVID restrictions. They have set up stages under huge tents - but they still only accommodate about 250 people. Everyone is very socially distant. What is on the stage is impacted as well - there is no full orchestra, the number of people on the stage is limited - so limited in fact that the festival had to create new material for this season. They aren't running your favourite Shakespeare plays.
Anyways. I arrived earlier than I needed to but later than I had intended. As a result there was no shopping for me. I parked in the big parking lot close to the theatre thinking if I parked early I'd get a prime spot. I need not have worried since in the end there were only two cars parked in the entire lot.
I wandered along the rive and visited with the ducks and swans.

The gardens in front of the theatre were particularly lovely this year.



Around the back of the main theatre they have a sculpture commemorating Shakespeare.

Carolyn cut it close but we were seated in time to catch up a bit before the show started.


After the play we couldn't figure out what we wanted to do. I had heard of a new retail space on the outskirts of town so we went there, grabbed some lunch and chatted for what seemed like an eternity but clearly wasn't. How nice to be among good people once again. I've missed that.