Port Perry’s Theatre on the Ridge will premiere Sketches of Leacock this month on the grounds of the Scugog Shores Museum, bringing Stephen Leacock’s fictional world of Mariposa to the outdoor summer stage in the Scugog Region.
Adapted and directed by Andy Massingham, the production marks his fifth season working with the company. Massingham said his ongoing connection to Theatre on the Ridge has been shaped by its artists, its leadership, and the experience of creating theatre outdoors.
“It was a tentative first year in trying some stuff, but working with the company and astonishing young and youthful actors each season, and hanging out with Carey and Andy [Williamson, the theatre company’s Venue and Technical Manager], has brought me back.”
Massingham has credited Artistic Director Carey Nicholson and Venue and Technical Manager Andy Williamson with helping foster a creative environment that keeps drawing him back to Port Perry. Over five summers, he has described the company’s work as part of a broader investment in the culture and community of the Scugog Region.
Theatre on the Ridge has continued to program Canadian work, including off-beat, lesser-known, and regionally resonant plays. That focus aligned with Massingham’s longstanding interest in Canadian novelist and humourist Stephen Leacock.
“I’ve been dreaming of Leacock for about twenty years. I don’t know why. I read him, and there’s something there. Bless [Carey Nicholson’s] heart when she said let’s do it.”
According to Theatre on the Ridge, Massingham’s adaptation brings together the eccentric residents of Leacock’s fictional Mariposa. The production features characters ranging from angry customers and bank managers to neighbours, romantic complications, and other comic figures drawn from Leacock’s satirical world.
The staging is expected to rely on physical comedy, musical elements, and ensemble work. Massingham has described the material as an opportunity to lampoon social habits and recognizable human behaviour while inviting audiences to see echoes of people they may know.
The production also arrives amid broader conversations in Canadian theatre about programming Canadian plays and stories alongside American work. Massingham said his own career has been rooted primarily in Canadian material.
“I wish I could speak on anyone else’s history other than my own. My own experience has been purely Canadian. I’ve had forty-one years of almost completely Canadian work, self-generated, Canadian classics or new plays.”
Massingham said he was brought up on Canadian theatre and recalled seeing workshops of new Canadian plays at Canadian Stage, including work by writers such as Paul Quarrington and Norm Foster. At the same time, he said the value of theatre is not limited by national origin, pointing to its capacity to build connection between audiences and performers.
He cited Leacock’s observation that “laughter is the shortest distance between two people” as a guiding idea behind the production.
In returning to Sketches of Leacock, Massingham has emphasized Leacock’s continuing relevance for contemporary audiences. He views Leacock’s humour as theatrical, sharply observed, and rooted in embarrassment, whimsy, and a distinctly Canadian point of view.
The production also places Leacock himself onstage. Massingham said the show imagines the writer looking around in 2026 and asking, “Really??? This again???”
Massingham distinguishes between comedy and humour in approaching the work. He describes Leacock not as a comedian, but as a humourist whose ideas become comic through performance. That perspective has shaped rehearsals, where the cast has explored both the form and the physical demands of the material.
Massingham first became interested in Leacock partly through American humourists and performers including Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, S. J. Perelman, and Robert Benchley, who read Leacock’s work while travelling and performing. Groucho Marx has been cited as saying that Leacock made him laugh more than any other writer.
Rehearsals for the five-member cast have been demanding, with Massingham noting that full rehearsal days can leave the company exhausted. He said the process has also allowed the material to move in unexpected directions as actors discover new possibilities in the text and staging.
He compares the ensemble less to a conventional group of actors than to a rock band, with each performer contributing as an individual soloist while working within the larger rhythm of the production.
Following the production, Massingham is expected to return to teaching at The Toronto Film School. He also teaches movement twice a year at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre and continues to develop his own work, including a sequel to Nightwood Theatre’s Rough House.
“I’m still working on a sequel to [Nightwood Theatre’s] Rough House, which is now twenty years old. I’m getting just old enough that I’d better do it now.”
Massingham has also begun auditioning again after several years away from that process.
“I’ve started auditioning again. It’s been years, and I’m enjoying that.”
Andy hopes casting directors are paying attention. He’s even willing to take Sketches on the road if there might be interest.
Sketches of Leacock runs August 5–23 on the grounds of Port Perry’s Scugog Shores Museum, 16210 Island Road, Port Perry.
For the cast list: https://theatreontheridge.ca/sketches-of-leacock-theatre-on-the-ridge-2026/
For tickets: https://theatreontheridge.thundertix.com/events/255648, call the Box Office at (905) 242-9343, or email info@theatreontheridge.ca.
To learn more about Theatre on the Ridge, visit theatreontheridge.ca.
