By K. Vijaya Kumar, Former Jt. Director of Information & Publicity
The first desire of any visitor to Canada is to see the World’s wonder Niagara Falls which we also did. No description satisfies its glory. Twenty minutes away from the great booming of Niagara Falls nestled here a historic and heritage tiny town called Niagara-on-Lake which has become famous for the Theatre lovers from overseas because of annual Shaw Festival held there April to Oct. staging mainly Shaw’s plays. They are so popular one has to book tickets months in advance. The big 856-seater Festival Theatre was inaugurated in 1973 when Queen Elizabeth, Indira Gandhi and Canadian PM Trudeau who attended and also watched performances. There are two other theatres with 300 seats each which also stage plays. There are several heritage hotels here to cater mainly for those who camp here for the Festival. This area is also described as Wine Country with large wine yards around. This Festival is traced to 1962 when one local Lawyer and Playwright Brian Doherty started staging plays for a small audience in the town and now it has grown to the present status.
