The Fools are best known for our summer family-friendly Torchlight Shakespeare in the Park series. Our shows pair Shakespeare’s text with techniques of slapstick, mask, and puppetry; our foolish approach to storytelling helps audiences discover their love for theatre.

With a reputation for a foolish style of physical interactive theatre, a Company of Fools has been bringing Shakespeare back to life across the National Capital Region and beyond for over 30 years. 2020 was our 30th anniversary - and what a year that was! Lockdowns saw Torchlight suspended for 2 years. Instead, we worked online and, in the Fall of 2020, mounted a very special “Window” tour to Long Term Care residences where we performed outside windows and pumped the audio in via radio. The reaction to our Window Shakespeare mash-up was so positive that we reworked it for a wider audience and, as soon as lockdowns lifted, started planning a short public tour - Love from Afar.

Central to our organization is the belief that it doesn’t matter where you live, how much you make, or how old you are: professional theatre should be accessible to everyone. Restrictions mean that we won’t be able to visit all our usual communities, and we have to pre-ticket and restrict our audiences, but we are doing everything we can as safely as we can. Half of our shows on this tour are open to the public, and half are presented free to non-profit organisations such as schools and support organizations for vulnerable populations.

We are a professional theatre, which means that we pay our creative and production team a living wage. We’re a member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres and a registered charity. If you’re passionate about our organization, consider becoming a donor. With your support, we can keep theatre accessible to everyone, and you get a charitable tax receipt!

Keith Jackson
General Manager