Relaxed Performances Port Colborne

Theatre is for everyone

What is a relaxed performance?

A relaxed performance (RP) is a theatre experience that incorporates universal design by offering accessibility and inclusion practices that meet the physical, social, and environmental needs of patrons of all abilities, within a dramatic arts setting. We welcome you to be yourself!

Below are some of the accessibility and inclusion principles that are a part of a relaxed performance at Lighthouse Festival Port Colborne.

Personal space seating
Each ticket booked equals 2 seats. This guarantees that there is an empty seat on both sides of your booked seat. Groups and families can sit how they like within the seats they booked.
Freedom to move around
The theatre will be dimly lit during the show so it is easy to get up and leave the theatre if you need. The door to the theatre will remain open so you can easily come in and out.
High sensory adjustments
Lighting and sound cues during the play are adjusted to limit or remove anything that might be jarring to audience members.
Soft landing zone
Available through the whole performance and during intermission is the soft landing zone. Bean bag chairs, couches, a brown/white noise machine and more available for anyone who needs.
Play introduction
Prior to the play starting a short introduction about what a relaxed performance is, the plays themes, notes about light or sound cues and the cast will introduce their characters.
Pre-visit resources
Before coming to watch the play you can read through our resources including a visual guide of the theatre, parking and seating guide and a storyboard of the play itself.

Show Descriptions

Doris and Ivy In The Home

June 22nd

Performance Start Time: 2:00pm
Show Run Time: 2 Hours and 10 minutes
Intermission: 20 minutes

Retired prison guard Doris Mooney has just moved into Paradise Village, a retirement home in Canmore, Alberta. She quickly befriends Ivy Hoffbauer, a former world champion skier who’s taken aback by Doris’s cheerful brashness. Rounding out the trio is dapper Arthur Beech who has designs on Ivy. Love, gossip and sex behind the compost heap, this is Foster at his hilarious best.

Murder At Ackerton Manor

July 13th

Performance Start Time: 2:00pm
Show Run Time: 2 Hours and 10 minutes
Intermission: 20 minutes

Get ready for a laugh riot, jump scare, whodunnit, murder mystery, comedy extravaganza. In this Agatha Christie murder mystery spoof, three actors play seven roles as we move through Ackerton Manor trying to solve a riddle of a murder…or two… It’s a little 39 Steps, a little Play That Goes Wrong, and whole lot of fun. Inspired by his love of murder-mystery, popular Canadian playwright Steven Gallagher created this love story to the genre based on his memories of classic murder mysteries. Murder, Mayhem,and of course… a plot twist or two!

Mary’s Wedding

August 3rd

Performance Start Time: 2:00pm
Show Run Time: 2 Hours and 10 minutes
Intermission: 20 minutes

On the night before her wedding, Mary dreams of a thunderstorm, during which she unexpectedly meets Charlie sheltering in a barn beside his horse. With innocence and humour, the two discover a charming first love. But the year is 1914, and the world is collapsing into a brutal war. Together, they attempt to hide their love, galloping through the fields for a place and time where the tumultuous uncertainties of battle can’t find them. A play with a heart as big as the skies that serve as its stage, Mary’s Wedding is an epic, unforgettable story of love, hope, and survival.

The Sweet Delilah Swim Club

August 24th

Performance Start Time: 2:00pm
Show Run Time: 2 Hours and 10 minutes
Intermission: 20 minutes

Five Southern women, whose friendships began many years ago on their college swim team, set aside a long weekend every Augustto recharge those relationships. Free from husbands, kids, and jobs, they meet at the same beach cottage, the “Sweet Delilah” on North Carolina’s Outer Banks to catch up, laugh, and meddle in each other’s lives. As their lives unfold and the years pass, these women increasingly rely on one another, through advice and raucous repartee, to get through the challenges (men, sex, marriage, parenting, divorce, aging) that life flings at them. A hilarious and touching comedy about friendships that last forever…

Lakefront

September 21st

Performance Start Time: 2:00pm
Show Run Time: 2 Hours and 10 minutes
Intermission: 20 minutes

Seventy year-old Robert and sixty-eight year old Christina have just met. In fact, they are practically strangers. They are both single, and at their ages, both have doubts about their appeal to the opposite sex. So, they decide to test out their appeal, by boldly renting a lakefront cabin and spending a ‘wild’ weekend together. What can go wrong?