Stage Door News

Stratford: Live viewing party tonight for “Viral Transmissions” – five experimental plays

Thursday, April 29, 2021

Viral Transmissions is a project of the Laboratory, the Stratford Festival’s R&D arm. The shuttering of theatres forced artists to rethink how they tell stories and create art. In response to that shift, the Festival commissioned five brand-new short works, conceived and created for the digital platforms that stand in for our theatres. We selected Canadian creators who would experiment with the digital medium in exciting and surprising ways – and they delivered. These pieces are fresh, intriguing, and as different from each other as the people who made them.

Viral Transmissions is a project of the Laboratory, the Stratford Festival’s R&D arm. The shuttering of theatres forced artists to rethink how they tell stories and create art. In response to that shift, the Festival commissioned five brand-new short works, conceived and created for the digital platforms that stand in for our theatres. We selected Canadian creators who would experiment with the digital medium in exciting and surprising ways – and they delivered: 


In a little plastic bag, in a tiny little jar, on a mantel in the house by Keith Barker

Two brothers connect in the only way available after the untimely death of their father.

Shi by Jeff Ho

Shi is an exploration of translation, poetry, and the artistic possibilities of language as music, through the lens of Sonnet Eighteen filtered through Cantonese, Chinglish, and Chinese Canadian identities.

Just Look by Christine Quintana

Just Look is a short audio piece to be listened to while looking out a window in your home. Sit with us, and just look.

Men Explain Things to Us... and We Like it! by Davis Plett and Gislina Patterson

This episode of the iconic 1980s talk show Men Explain Things to Us… And We Like It! was discovered on an unlabeled VHS and is now available for the first time in 35 years! In this episode, special guest Matthew Paris-Irvine explains basketball.

Floating Life by Carmen Aguirre

In Floating Life a young girl cares for her family and, in so doing, finds her calling.


YouTube Première: Thursday, April 29, at 7 p.m. EDT [streaming free for 36 hours]. 

Watch at www.youtube.com

Then available at STRATFEST@HOME.