This season we've immersed you in a search for a missing soldier, offered a daring new look at a musical theatre classic, and over multiple productions, provided new perspective on life as a performer pursuing dreams on and off the stage. 

What's next? 

A trio of plays about love: love of one another, love of country and of home, love of art, of self. 

You'll laugh, you'll cry… and cry harder if you don't get tickets!

First Métis Man of Odesa

by Matthew MacKenzie and Mariya Khomutova

a Presentation of the Punctuate! Theatre Production

February 22 - March 2, 2024

Five Points Theatre

1 Dunlop Street West, Barrie

This runaway hit production by Punctuate! Theatre has played to rave reviews across the country and is coming to the Five Points! Matt and Masha's love spans continents, but distance can't tame their passionate connection. After meeting on a theatre research trip in Kyiv, a Canadian Playwright and a Ukrainian artist spark up a romance that takes them from the beaches of the Black Sea to the banks of the North Saskatchewan River, through the onset of a global pandemic and the eruption of a brutal war, plus many moments of joy through it all including marriage and the birth of their son. Winner of three Dora Mavor Moore Awards including Outstanding Production, Outstanding New Work, and Outstanding Direction. Based on actual events, this captivating real-life love story is set against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Award-winning playwright Matthew MacKenzie joins forces with his wife, award-winning Ukrainian actress Mariya Khomutova, to tell the story of their COVID courtship and share an intimate perspective on the personal impacts of the war in Ukraine.

La Bête

Written by David Hirson

March 2 - 16, 2024

Harbourfront Centre Theatre

235 Queens Quay West, Toronto

Did you miss our production of La Bête last year? Long for a stroll along Toronto’s waterfront followed by some fantastic theatre? You're in luck! Our acclaimed production of David Hirson's zany play will hit the Harbourfront Centre Theatre in Toronto from March 2 - 16, 2024. In a comic whirlwind of high style, La Bête tells the story of Elomire, a 17th century French playwright, and his touring acting troupe who have come to lead the high life due to the patronage of the fickle Prince of Conti. Sparks fly when Valere, a swag- gering braggart with delusions of artistic grandeur, becomes the Prince's choice to join Elomire's troupe. It is a battle of wits and witticisms as the two face off in this outrageous commentary on the nature of art and the artist in society. 

"Nadajewski gives a virtuoso performance..." - Christopher Hoile, Stage Door

"Talk Is Free Theatre is a place that does this kind of work, beautifully..." - Lynn Slotkin, The Slotkin Letter

Cock

by Mike Bartlett

April 18 - 27, 2024

Five Points Theatre

1 Dunlop Street West, Barrie

Merriam-Webster definitions for COCK: Noun. 1-The adult male of a domestic chicken. 2-A device for regulating the flow of water. 3-A chief person. 4- The hammer in the lock position of a firearm. 5-That other thing you probably thought about first when you read the title (OK, that last one wasn't articulated quite like that in the dictionary). As for Bartlett's hilarious, tense and touching play about identity, fidelity and the overwhelming power of emotion, Cock contains no visual depiction of any of 1-5 above. This is not a show about farming, nor is it a new stage incarnation of “Magic Mike". (Sorry?) The British playwright wrote the piece while spending time in Mexico, where cock-fighting was legal and, apparently, very inspiring for his play about a gay man forced to contemplate what he really wants for his future: a continued relationship with his partner of seven years, or a new life with the woman who, somehow, swept him off his feet. So, we encourage you to say it loud and proud: I would like tickets to see COCK, please!

For tickets visit: www.tift.ca.