Taurian Teelucksingh & Larence Libor with members The Wind in the Willows ensemble | Photo by Michael Cooper
“Poop, poop!”
That’s Toad’s impression of a motor car, which I find inordinately hilarious. He’s obsessed with motor cars. It gets him into a lot of trouble. And makes him very annoying. Oh, that’s not all that makes him annoying. He’s also arrogant and boastful and mischievous. But I like Toad anyway. His friends—Rat, Mole and Badger—like him too. Our friends can test our patience, with their obsessions and opinions and quirks. But if it wasn’t for those traits, they wouldn’t be them and wouldn’t be our friends.
That was one of my main takeaways from Kenneth Grahame’s classic children’s book. I read it for the first time a few weeks ago in preparation for this Shaw Festival production of The Wind in the Willows. It thoroughly charmed me. I’m not familiar with A.A. Milne’s theatrical version, Toad of Toad Hall, which director Fiona Sauder has adapted here, so am unsure how faithful it is to that particular text, but they have absolutely captured the essential spirit of the original. Continue Reading