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Hamilton Spectator
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
10 of the most promising theatre productions this summer outside of Toronto, Stratford and Shaw
The Toronto theatre season might be winding down, but that doesn't mean there's nothing happening on stages this spring and summer. And I'm not talking about the Stratford and Shaw festivals, which should obviously already be on your to-do list. Just a couple of hours from the GTA you'll find plenty of entertaining plays and musicals, including a few world premieres. Here's a roundup of some buzzy shows in Ontario that, combined with a picnic lunch or B&B stay, would make a perfect day trip or weekend escape. Who: Emma Donoghue Where: Blyth Festival in Blyth The Dublin-born and now London, Ont.-based Emma Donoghue is best known as the author of the bestselling novel 'Room,' which was made into an Oscar-winning film and adapted for the stage several years ago. Now she's debuting a folk musical about Henry and Jane Johnson, a real-life couple who left the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s to settle in Southwestern Ontario. Landon Doak ('Peter Pan,' 'Alice in Wonderland') and Shelayna Christante (Bad Hats Theatre's 'Narnia') star as the couple, and both will sing traditional songs and Irish ballads in this poignant work, directed by Blyth's artistic director, Gil Garratt. From June 26 to Aug. 12. Visit for details. Who: Cale Crowe and Genevieve Adam Where: Capitol Theatre in Port Hope Toronto theatregoers will recognize writer/actor Genevieve Adam from her historical dramas 'Dark Heart,' 'Heartless' and 'Deceitful Above all Things.' Now she's teamed up with Anishnaabe singer/songwriter Cale Crowe for 'Rez Gas,' a musical about a man (John Wamsley from '1939' ) who leaves his reservation to pursue a music career, only to return home. Young People's Theatre's Herbie Barnes directs a cast that includes Cheri Maracle, Jonathan Fisher and Dillan Chiblow. From Aug. 22 to Sep. 7. Visit for details. Who: Rebecca Northan Where: Here for Now Theatre in Stratford Is there anything Rebecca Northan can't do? The Dora Award-winning creator of international hit 'Blind Date,' alum of both Stratford and Shaw festivals, and one-third of the recent Toronto Theatre Critics' Award-winning ensemble for 'Goblin:Macbeth' now presents a new comedy. 'Stick Around' is about a woman in her mid-40s who seeks life advice from her mother, who's been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Directed by Kevin Kruchkywich, the play is loosely inspired by Northan's own personal experience during the last eight weeks with her mother. So expect a mix of laughter and tears when the play helps inaugurate the company's brand new venue. From May 28 to June 8. Visit for details. Who: Norm Foster Where: Orillia Opera House in Orillia Back in the early aughts, Norm Foster — considered Canada's most prolific and most produced playwright — wrote 'The Love List,' about two middle-aged men who were searching for the ideal woman. Now Foster is creating gender parity in 'A Woman's Love List,' a new comedy about two women who write down all the qualities they want in a man … and he suddenly appears. From July 3 to 18. Visit for details. Who: Megan Murphy Where: 4th Line Theatre in Millbrook Audiences at the outdoor 4th Line Theatre know to expect works that draw on the history and heritage of the rural region just southwest of Peterborough. Megan Murphy's 'Wild Irish Geese' tells the story of Irish people who left poverty in the old country (see also 'The Wind Coming Over the Sea,' above) to settle in Scott's Plains, later renamed Peterborough. The company's managing artistic director, Kim Blackwell, directs this premiere production. From July 29 to Aug. 30. Visit for details. Who: Robert Harling Where: Capitol Theatre The film adaptation is a beloved classic, so why doesn't Robert Harling's comedy drama — about a group of women in the American South — get more professional revivals? Well, never you mind. Just take the 401 to Port Hope to see Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster's production, featuring Raquel Duffy, Belinda Corpuz, Carolyn Fe, Brenda Robins and — as the play's mother/daughter combo — Deborah Drakeford and Charlotte Dennis, who are mother and daughter in real life. Remember to bring tissues. From July 18 to Aug. 3. Visit for details. Who: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice Where: Huron Country Playhouse in Grand Bend and Hamilton Family Theatre in Cambridge Even if you caught the recent 50th-anniversary revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's groundbreaking musical, you might want to check it out again in this Drayton Theatre production. Especially with stars like Stratford leading man Robert Markus as Jesus, Shaw Fest vet Emily Lukasik as Mary Magdalene and original 'Come From Away' Broadway cast member Lee MacDougall as Pontius Pilate. They're joined by Christopher Ning (a standout in the recent off-Mirvish production of 'Titanique' ) and Jade McLeod ('Jagged Little Pill' North American tour). From June 11 to 28 and July 3 to 27. Visit for details. Who: Mark Crawford Where: Thousand Islands Playhouse in Gananoque Like Foster, prolific actor/writer Mark Crawford's comedies are hugely popular yet rarely get produced in Toronto. (The only professional production we've seen is 'Bed & Breakfast' at Soulpepper .) So it might be worth the trek east to the gorgeous Thousand Islands area to see this side-splitting comedy about the lead-up to a wedding, with a cast that includes Shaw regular Emily Lukasik, Amelia Sargisson ('Red Velvet') and 'Come From Away' actor Kyle Brown, all directed by the Dora-winning Cherissa Richards. From Aug. 22 to Sept. 14. Visit for details. Who: Annabel Fitzsimmons, Alison Lawrence and Mary Francis Moore Where: County Stage Company in Prince Edward County I was a huge fan of Annabel Fitzsimmons, Alison Lawrence and Mary Francis Moore 's play 'Bittergirl' when it premiered way back in 1999. The show, about finding the humour in getting dumped, was turned into a book several years later and then, eventually, a musical featuring songs from the 1960s and '70s. Even the Mirvishes helped develop it. The show has been produced across the country, but never in Toronto. Prince Edward County isn't too far from the GTA. So grab your besties, order tickets and hope you don't run into your exes during intermission or at the neighbouring wineries. From July 18 to Aug. 13. Visit for details. Who: Anne Chislett Where: Blyth Festival Anne Chislett's moving drama set in a small Amish community on the eve of the Second World War premiered at the Blyth Festival in 1981 and won the Governor General's Award two years later. Productions of this Canadian classic are rare, so don't miss this opportunity to see it performed at the festival's atmospheric outdoor Harvest Stage, directed by Severn Thompson and with a cast headed by two of stalwarts of the theatre scene, Randy Hughson and Michelle Fisk. From July 3 to Aug. 23. Visit for details.
RTÉ News
16-05-2025
- Health
- RTÉ News
How changes in height show health effects of the Great Irish Famine
Analysis: New research shows how the long‑term health impacts of the Great Irish Famine varied by region and socioeconomic conditions We set out to understand how a disaster as terrible as the Great Irish Famine (1845–1852), one of the worst famines in history, can affect the long‑term health of the people who survived it. Logically, one might think that a famine would simply leave everyone in poor health. But we found something surprising as we examined the data. In the hardest‑hit areas, the survivors did not display the expected stunting in height usually associated with malnutrition and disease. In some regions, the survivors' average adult height was comparable to—or even slightly greater than—that of individuals born before or after the Famine. This unexpected outcome led us to ask: How can a disaster that kills so many also leave behind survivors who appear physically "healthier" in one key way? Scarring vs selection When a famine strikes, two distinct processes may affect those growing up during that period. First, there is "scarring". This refers to the lasting damage that insufficient nutrition and widespread disease can cause during early childhood. With scarring, children born during a famine may not reach their full genetic potential for height because they were malnourished during a key developmental stage. In our study, this would show up as a drop in the average adult height of the Famine-born generation. From RTÉ Radio 1's Arena, Breandán Mac Suibhne talks about his book The End of Outrage: Post-Famine Adjustment in Rural Ireland The second process is "selection". In an extremely severe famine, only the strongest children survive. In other words, if the Great Irish Famine was harsh enough that many vulnerable children did not make it to adulthood, then the group of survivors would be composed largely of more physically robust individuals. In that case, even if the Famine created extreme hardship, the surviving population might not show the expected stunting because the frailest never survived long enough to be measured. Our research set out to untangle these two effects by comparing the heights of individuals born before, during, and after the Famine across Ireland. What prison registers tell us about height To get a clear picture, we turned to an unusual yet valuable source of data: prison registers from Dublin and Clonmel. These records were kept by prison administrators in the 19th century to keep track of the prison population and include detailed information on each prisoner's height, age, birthplace, occupation, religion and the nature of their crime. Importantly, the registers provide us with individual‑level data for over 14,500 subjects born in the years surrounding the Famine. In the absence of other historical sources of individual-level health data, these prison registers are a surprisingly valuable to historians, economists and epidemiologists. Adult height is widely accepted by as a measure of early‑life health. The period that human biologists have found to have most impact on adult height is what happens in utero. For our purposes, height serves as a proxy for the nutritional and health conditions during the crucial period from conception to the age of two. By comparing cohorts born before, during, and after the Famine, we can assess how early‑life conditions affected survivors in the long run. Urban Dublin versus rural Tipperary One of our most striking findings emerged from comparing different regions of Ireland. In urban areas like Dublin, where the Famine's direct death toll was much lower, the surviving children experienced what appears to be a clear scarring effect. In Dublin, those born during the Famine were, on average, about 0.7 centimetres (0.27 inches) shorter than those born before or after. This is a large number and suggests that insufficient nutrition and disease led to long‑term stunting in Dublin, where most vulnerable children survived. By contrast, in rural areas such as Tipperary, the Famine was much more severe: excess mortality there was 35 per 1,000 population. With significantly higher mortality, most of the frail or vulnerable children did not survive. In these regions, selection effects dominated: only the healthiest children survived, and as a result, there was little or no detectable drop in average population height. In fact, some of our statistical analyses even suggest that survivors from these severely affected rural regions were slightly taller than expected. In other words, the extreme nature of the Famine in Tipperary meant that the survivors were a highly selected group. The role of migration to the city Many families in rural areas attempted to escape the harsh conditions by moving to cities or emigrating abroad. This movement further "selected" the survivors in each region. In Dublin, net immigration meant that the urban population included many rural migrants—those who were forced to migrate because of malnutrition, and who were therefore less healthy than those who could remain in rural areas and who then survived into adulthood. This contributed to the overall drop in height among urban survivors. Our study shows that the long‑term health impact of the Great Irish Famine is not straightforward. In regions where the Famine was less deadly, most vulnerable children survived into adulthood but suffered lasting effects, such as stunted growth. Meanwhile, in the most severely-affected regions of Ireland, the extreme loss of life meant that only the fittest survived, masking the damage by creating a population that, on average, appears healthier in terms of height. In essence, the Famine produced both scarring and selection, with the balance between these two forces varying by region and socioeconomic conditions. From RTÉ Radio 1's The History Show, Blighted Nation explores how the Great Famine swept through Ireland in the mid 1800s and changed the country forever Stunted growth is all we can measure from our archival sources, but we know from other works in the field of human biology that stunting has severe health consequences, is correlated with reduced cognitive abilities, and is also associated with worse mental health. Economists have also shown that shorter individuals earn less than taller individuals within the same population group. These findings are important for how we understand catastrophic events today. When assessing the long‑term consequences of disasters—whether they are natural, man‑made, or climate‑related—we must account for the fact that survivors are not a random sample of the pre‑disaster population. Instead, the surviving group is "selected" in ways that can obscure underlying health deterioration. Our work uses a well-known historical context to provide a framework for disentangling these effects, which can inform future studies on the impacts of extreme events on population health and human capital.
