Blyth Festival opens 'entirely outdoors' for its 47th season

The final touches are being put on opening night of the 47th season of the Blyth Festival, which will take place under the sun and stars of Huron County.

“To be able to have the trees, the sky, the sunset over the poplars in the second act, it’s an incomparable experience,” said Blyth Festival Artistic Director, Gil Garratt.

The Harvest Stage, which opened last year in response to indoor gathering limits due to the COVID-19 pandemic will host a remake of ‘The Drawer Boy’ to kick off the summer theatre season.

It’s centred around the making of ‘The Farm Show’ where a group of Toronto actors converged on Huron County to learn about farm life, in order to write a play about country living. It’s what ultimately sparked the creation of the Blyth Festival nearly 50 years ago.

Blyth Festival’s Harvest Stage as seen on June 22, 2022. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

“It’s incredible to bring this play back. This is a piece that was commissioned by Blyth. We developed it here, and it has gone on to have an incredible life,” said Garratt, who is directing this year’s addition of ‘The Drawer Boy’ after starring in it in 2000.

After much discussion, ‘The Drawer Boy’ and the rest of Blyth’s 2022 season will be presented entirely outdoors at the Harvest Stage. There was some talk of adding some plays back indoors at the Blyth Memorial Hall, but uncertainty around the pandemic scuttled those plans.

“This summer season is going to be out here, on our beautiful Harvest Stage, where we have the best ventilation system that nature ever conceived of,” said Garratt.

To learn more about ‘The Drawer Boy’ and Blyth’s three other plays this year, you can visit the Blyth Festival website.