ON STAGE - NORTH AMERICA
During his time in Canada in the 1950s, Patrick Macnee made several appearances on the Toronto stage. One of the earliest productions that he featured in, A Sleep of Prisoners at the Jupiter Theatre in April 1953, was directed by Leonard White, with whom Patrick would later be reunited on The Avengers (Patrick as second lead and White as producer). A month earlier, Patrick had featured in The Lady’s Not for Burning at the Hart House Theatre.
Continuing into 1954, Patrick appeared in Richard of Bordeaux, a two-week engagement at the Crest Theatre in January of that year, and Haste to the Wedding at the same venue in May.
He then toured with the Old Vic Company, the world-renowned British repertory theatre group, appearing as Demetrius in their production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream. In Scotland, where the tour opened on 31st August 1954, the play was not well received. It gained critical notices of a more positive nature at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, where the play ran for 29 performances in the autumn of 1954. A tour of the United States and Canada followed to further acclaim.
