Stratford in sound, movement and flavours

We are sitting at the small counter at El Cactus Taco Shop in Stratford. The decor is bright and fun like the neon set of wings on the wall. The service is cheerful. It’s a contrast to the grey outside. Pouring rain. I resist the Mezcal Negroni artfully scrawled on the chalkboard menu and order the Agua Fresca instead, a blend of watermelon and blueberry juice. I need to stay sharp for the theatre. This is the reason we are in Stratford of course. Yet the intriguing flavour combinations in this little taco shop hint at another reason to enjoy a visit to Stratford. We are off to a great start food wise.

As we wait for our tacos, my husband reads an email he just received about the matinée performance we are going to see at the Avon Theatre: Frankenstein Revived. He picked the show. Something different than the usual Shakespeare. We see so much Shakespeare. Kidding, it’s our first time in Stratford. The email is as follows:

Please note, Frankenstein Revived is a movement and sound-based piece that features no dialogue, but offers a richly moving theatre experience through movement alone.

Huh. “Did you know that when you booked the tickets?” I ask.

“No.” He looks slightly panicked.

“At least we don’t have to worry about understanding fast dialogue,” I suggest. At home we are accustomed to reading subtitles when we watch TV. My attempt to look on the bright side doesn’t seem to reassure him. We’re already out of our comfort zone. We’ve seen one play together at the Bancroft summer theatre many years ago.

I have a second suggestion. “Those Mezcal Negronis are looking good, eh?”

They would have likely been tasty. Everything at this little taco shop was. But I resisted. My senses were duly awake for show. And I quite enjoyed it. It was dark and evocative, with a touch of gruesome and unexpectedly touching. I liked that the author Mary Shelley was a character in the play. It felt like a glimpse into her creative process. She observed, nudged, and conducted the story but also at times was surprised or shocked by the unfolding tale.

Mary Shelley wrote the book in 1818. According to the program notes she was inspired by the experiments conducted by European doctors at that time to reanimate animal and human corpses with electricity. Sounds like a good springboard for a horror movie, right? In the play, we see her fictional scientist Victor Frankenstein obsessed with experiments with electricity to birth a creature made of disparate body parts. I also learned in the program notes her book Frankenstein pioneered the horror and science fiction genres. She was 18 when she wrote it.

I didn’t miss the absence of dialogue in the play. I was quite content to watch the story unfold with dramatic movement, dance, sound and stirring music.

My husband preferred the food component of our Stratford trip. We did eat very well. For dinner, we went to the South African inspired Braii House where food is cooked over an open fire. I could smell the wood fire walking up the stairs to the restaurant on the second floor. The careful attention to the preparation of vegetables in my masala coconut curry made for a spectacular plant based meal. The steak tartare was also incredible. We enjoyed our lunches over the two days – fresh and tasty bowls at the Bowl Bar in an array of flavour combinations and the aforementioned tacos on soft and savoury corn tortillas.

We got a chance to enjoy the outdoors in Stratford on our second day. The rain cleared. We took a nice long walk on the shores of the picturesque Avon River, spotting a heron, two swans and a whole lotta ducks along the way. We also took our time strolling the star studded sidewalks of this theatre town. It was a lovely day. A nice ending to our sensory experience in Stratford, in sound, movement and many delectable flavours.