Perchance Theatre

Led by artistic director Danielle Irvine, Perchance Theatre produces and presents classical theatre with a focus on Shakespeare each summer in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

In 2010, the Akerman Family generously allowed the New World Theatre Company to set up its beautiful theatre in the backyard of their B&B and tearoom, Cupids Haven.  The theatre, built by Geoff Adams, Aiden Flynn and Brad Hodder as part of the Cupids 400 celebrations was inspired by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London and the first ship built in Newfoundland and Labrador, The Indeavour. This theatre venue was built to tour and what was meant as a one summer stopover grew into a much longer stay with audiences, cast, and crew all settling in to enjoy the food and welcoming atmosphere of the Haven.  The match was so successful that audiences grew in leaps and bounds, a summer camp sprang up, and cast and crew loved the opportunity to work in such a special space.  
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In the spring of 2021, the Haven was sold and the new owners began to plan for a new and exciting future of their own. Perchance began their search for a new home.  
 
Finding the right home for such a unique theatre with its ever-expanding audiences (over 2000 people in 2022), its schedule of performances (56 and growing), a summer camp for youth, and a large cast and crew (25) was a tall order. Throw in our astonishing array of props, costumes and set pieces, and it creates a real challenge.  
 
Cupids has been our home, and we have been blessed to have incredible supporters living all around us who made us feel welcome, came to our shows, helped us with our theatre, gave us beds when we needed them and fed us many a meal.  We have partnerships in Cupids Legacy Centre, The Plantation, the Loyal Orange Lodge, The Anglican Church of the Resurrection, Skipper Ben’s, and more.  We have participated in the Soiree and the Lobster dinners.  
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Just as we were losing hope, the opportunity to connect with the Sisters of Mercy and their beautiful home, the Immaculate Conception Convent, in Conception Harbour, dropped on us. The Sisters have been a part of the lives of the community for generations.  The first three young women, Sisters Mary Michael Gertrude Moore, Mary Theresa Slattery, and Mary De Sales Meehan moved from the convent in St. John’s to establish the first community of Sisters of Mercy, Conception Harbour, in 1869.  Since then, the Sisters of Mercy have been inspiring a love of education, music, drama, and social consciousness through their mission of teaching in schools, visiting people in their homes and being fully engaged in parish and community activities. 

​We had the great honour to meet Sisters Geraldine, Ellen Marie, and Ruth, the last of the Mercy Sisters living in the convent, before they moved into St. John’s.  Now, their home will become ours, and we hope to honour their spirit in the community through our work. 
 
Along with the convent, we have also acquired a companion property that once housed St Anne’s school.  This adjoining lot will become the new home of our theatre, gardens, box office and our back stage area which includes a large accessible parking area!  

Surrounded by trees, this new home allows us to maintain our unique outdoor experience with a true sense of arrival, all while creating a permanent home for our cast and crew. No more will we have to store our props and costumes all over St. John’s and Cupids, bring 30 plus costumes back and forth to the city to be laundered every single day or travel by car to find a kitchen.  We will not have to scramble for shared parking. We will have a home base, an office, storage, and room for our cast and crew to eat and rest between shows.  
 
The purchase of these properties was vital to the growth and sustainability of Perchance Theatre.  Having a home to call our own not only means a new performance space, but means having the time and space to dream of the future and how we can create for our community. 
 
For Perchance, community means Cupids, Conception Harbour and ALL the communities of our province.  We have performed in Cupids, Harbour Grace, St. John’s and Trepassey.  We have filmed our Power of One series of monologues and stories from all over the world, in multiple locations and languages. We've traveled from the Head of Bay D’Espoir to Port au Port to L’anse Aux Meadows to Nain and Labrador City. We've explored the depths of the mines of Bell Island to the rooftops of St. John’s with all points in between.  
 
We will continue our mission to celebrate the beautiful outdoors, the culture, the artists and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, from our long-held connection to Cupids to our new home-to-be in Conception Harbour. 
 
Please join us in sending a huge, warm wave of thanks to the congregation of the Sisters of Mercy who have truly made what seemed impossible, possible.  For believing in our vision for the past number of years, and for trusting us with their beloved home.  
 
To learn  more about the Sisters of Mercy please click this link .

SHAKESPEARE'S STORY
The Globe, the best-known of the great open-air theatres, has a remarkable history. The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, the acting company to which Shakespeare belonged, had played for years at an Elizabethan Playhouse called The Theatre, located to the north in Shoreditch.

The company owned the building but leased the land it stood on. When its lease expired, the landlord sought to appropriate the building as well as the land, and so the Chamberlain’s Men played temporarily at the Curtain.

Then, on a frosty night in 1598, three days after Christmas, a carpenter and several men associated with the company secretly dismantled the Theatre and removed the timbers.

In the spring, they ferried the timbers across the Thames and used them to build a larger theatre in Southwark: the Globe. 

OUR STORY

Well Perchance isn't being appropriated but our lease has come to an end, so like Shakespeare’s Globe, we’re ferrying our timbers up the road. These timbers are being recycled as part of our permanent new home in Conception Harbour slated to begin building in fall 2023.  

We don’t want to miss our time with you this summer so we will be creating an interim performance space to present our 2023 season.  We will bring you the same quality of professional theatre in a simpler intimate outdoor setting.

OUR JOURNEY

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Perchance Theatre features some of the province’s best stage actors and continues to provide established and emerging artists an environment for ensemble creation and professional development, and create unique experiences for audiences, inspired by open air Elizabethan playhouses.

Perchance Theatre respectfully acknowledges that our theatre is located on the ancestral homelands of the Beothuk, and that the island of Newfoundland is the ancestral homelands of the Mi'kmaq and Beothuk. Perchance also recognizes the Inuit of Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut and the Innu of Nitassinan, and their ancestors, as the original peoples of Labrador.  Perchance strives for respectful relationships with all the peoples of this province as we search for collective healing and true reconciliation and honour this beautiful land together.




Performance History

2022
The Tempest, directed by Danielle Irvine
Hay Fever, directed by Michael Waller
Area of Uncertainty, directed by Sarah Phillips

2021
Hamlet, directed and adapted by Danielle Irvine ​
As You Like It, directed and adapted by Todd Hennessey
Our Eliza, directed by Lois Brown 

2020
The Power of One
​One Monologue from each of William Shakespeare's works directed and produced by Danielle Irvine 

2019
Julius Caesar, directed by Danielle Irvine
The Servant of Two Masters, directed by Perry Schneiderman
​Crippled, directed by Danielle Irvine

2018
A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Danielle Irvine
The Seagull, directed by Thomas Moschopoulos
Our Eliza, directed by Lois Brown

​2017
Richard III, directed by Danielle Irvine 
The Taming of the Shrew, directed Andy Jones
Our Eliza, directed by Lois Brown

2016
Twelfth Night, directed by Danielle Irvine
Romeo & Juliet, directed by Michael Waller

2015
Macbeth, directed by Danielle Irvine
Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Jeannette Lambermont-Morey

2014
The Merry Wives of Windsor, directed by Greg Malone
Henry V, directed by Danielle Irvine

2013
Othello, directed by Alan Dilworth
Richard III, directed by Jeannette Lambermont-Morey

2012
The Tempest, directed by Jeannette Lambermont-Morey
Tartuffe, directed by Jillian Keiley

2011
The Merchant of Venice, directed by Jeannette Lambermont-Morey

2010
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Julius Caesar, directed by Brad Hodder