Looking for that special gift?

HOLIDAY GIVING

We all have that someone on our gift list who seemingly has everything.

What to do? What can I get them that's truly special, different and yet something I know they will enjoy?

Here's the answer  👉ANSWER

Christmas already?

Book NOW!

This 10 minute compressed version of "A Christmas Carol" includes all your favourite characters, the ghosts and, of course, Scrooge. An array of atmospheric sound effects compliment the story, now a poem of rhyming couplets, making for a delightful holiday tradition in the style of "theatre of the mind".

Being only 10 minutes it can be performed multiple times and makes for a great addition to you holiday neighbourhood party, seasonal market, special event...

Looking for something longer? There is a 30 minute show which includes additional stories and audience participation.

Standing by: jaywalkingguelph@gmail.com 519 820-3269

Make your holiday event stand out. Soon to be a tradition.

Guelph Arts Council Special Announcement

Breaking news.

The Guelph Arts Council, at their 50th Anniversary Celebration on Nov 22 introduced their latest project - The GRETAs (Guelph Recognition of Excellence In The Arts). Not an awards program but rather a celebration and recognition event, acting as a catalyst to continue bringing the arts together. After all that's one of the things the Guelph Arts Council does.

The GRETAs also acts a fundraiser for the Guelph Arts Council so it can continue the vital work of championing the arts - advocacy.

It's a brand new program. Details on how you can become involved appear HERE

The big event will occur February 28, 2027. A Guelph Bicentennial Event AND a legacy project as it will be an annual celebration of the arts.

Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears

 Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears

A one-man theatrical journey through Irish wit and resilience

Written by: Charlene Herrold

Adapted and performed by: Jay Wilson (JayWalking Theatre)

Running time: Approximately 60 minutes (no intermission)

Format: Solo theatre performance

About the Show

Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears is a heartfelt celebration of Irish storytelling — full of humour, humanity, and heart, bringing to life a tapestry of unforgettable characters that evoke laughter one minute and quiet reflection the next.

The piece connects audiences through universal themes of belonging, resilience, and joy, offering an intimate, moving experience.

Artistic Background

With more than 50 years of experience in live theatre, Jay Wilson is a Guelph-based theatre artist performing as JayWalking Theatre.

His recent experience includes producing and directing for the Guelph Museums Backyard Theatre Project, creating and leading JayWalking Guelph — storytelling walking tours of Guelph history, and special projects work at the Gravenhurst Opera House.

He spent eight years with Theatre Collingwood in fundraising, administration, and performance, and is the founder of Pandora’s Sox Puppet Company, including touring seniors’ productions for the international Puppets Up! Festival.

Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears has been performed with Theatre Collingwood, and in Guelph, Uxbridge, and Edgar, Ontario. A new set is being prepared for a 2026 performance at Guelph’s River Run Centre, with plans to tour Ontario in 2027.

Technical Requirements

    • Performance area: approx. 15’ x 12’

    • Basic lighting (warm general wash)

    • Simple set: table, chair, backdrop (can be provided by artist)

    • Suitable for community halls, heritage venues, and black box theatres

    • Portable sound system with cues preloaded

Audience

Ideal for:

    • General audiences (ages 12+)

    • Lovers of storytelling, history, and cultural tales inspired by Irish heritage

    • Community and heritage events, performing arts series, and literary festivals

Contact

Jay Wilson – JayWalking Theatre

Guelph, Ontario

📞 519-820-3269

📧 jaywalkingguelph@gmail.com

🌐 JayWalkingGuelph.ca/lilt-of-laughter

Christmas at the Guelph Library

Thursday December 11, 2025 at 7:00pm

A 30 minute Christmas presentation followed by a Christmas craft.

A holiday feast for the senses. Admission free, but you must register. HERE

The Guelph Library - East Side Branch. 1 Starwood Drive

I'll kick off the festivities with this Live Radio Drama, a retelling of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol as you have never experienced before. Atmospheric sound effects compliment the voices of Jacob Marley, Scrooge, and all the ghosts.

Followed by some holiday favourites. Christmas stories to warm our hearts.

Then the library staff will guide us through making stove top scents.

All ages, everyone welcome. 

I hope to see some familiar faces and some new ones. I look forward to this event every year. Thank you Guelph Public Library

New performance added

Show alert here. New date just added. See you April 9...2026! at Guelph's River Run Centre.

Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears. Jay uses the pure power of storytelling to transport you to another place, another time. Lovely Irish characters in amusing situations.

Your community deserves this show too. BOOK NOW. JayWalkingGuelph@gmail.com 519 820-3269

Friday October 31, 2025

 

See you in 2026.

The Unfortunate Man – Guelph’s Halloween Tradition

“I can’t get this story out of my head and the feeling becomes more intense every year as Halloween draws closer.”

Jay of JayWalking Guelph walks up and down Douglas Street every Halloween telling the story of William Harvey, who was sentenced to hang at the Wellington County Courthouse on October 31, 1889. William was found guilty of murdering his wife and daughters and yet the citizens of Guelph dubbed him ‘The Unfortunate Man’.

For the past several years Jay has told audience members this is the final performance only to find groups asking if he’ll tell the tale once more.

Due to demand, Jay is offering a Halloween performance on Friday October 31 at 8pm. Admission is $25 and to reserve email Jay at jaywalkingguelph@gmail.com or phone 519 820-3269

Jay has been telling this story since 2017 however the tale was transformed in 2019 during a time in which Jay found himself in bed due to a cycling injury. The accident proved to be a blessing in disguise as during that time he came across numerous newspaper reports both local and national. “Not only is the story fascinating but the writing of the day really brings the story to life. As an actor I am always looking for excellent text and here I found it.”

The story about the Harvey family has been written many times, Ed Butts, local historian tells the tale in his book “Murder, 12 True Stories of Homicide” and Kim Breese gives a horrific description of the hanging in the Guelph Historical Society’s Vol. XLII (2003) booklet. There is even a fictionalized account, “The Boys In The Trees by Mary Swan, so its safe to say many have been intrigued by this true story. As you gathered, Jay is an enormous fan of the Guelph Public Library.

“Initially I wanted to write a play, in fact I held a play reading at my home. I won’t go into the whole story, but suffice to say the effigy I hung in my back yard to advertise the reading brought the paramedics to my door!”

Now Jay recounts the tale as a walking tour - street theatre performance. “While I don’t actually play the characters, we do hear many voices and the hanging is reenacted on the very spot where it took place. I like to imagine that the spirits of Matilda, Willy, Lillian and Geraldine are present as I honour their story. Often the focus is on William Harvey, yet the story involves the whole family. 

It’s pure tragedy, in that we’ll never know what motivated him. As a theatre person that too intrigues me. Modern theatre focuses on motivation, yet ancient tragedy never considered this. It is simply a matter of ‘the gods have deemed it so’. It’s the age old dilemma, determinism vs free will.

Awesome autumn tours

The Ontario street theatre season is coming to a close, however October is the best month! Cooler temperatures, atmospheric lighting.

A true tale of murder from 1889?

OR

Guelph's cutest historical tour?

Book your group NOW

JayWalking Guelph since 2017

We love October!

Praise The Ward 2025

Thanks to all the kids who came out to tell Prometheus a joke or a story at the Praise The Ward Festival - Guelph. You made his day. What fun!

The Butter Maker of Connemara

The Butter Maker of Connemara

This adorable story by Charlene Herrold made its debut this summer. I look forward to adding it to "Heads and Tales."

Laughter, Tears

 Laughter, Tears.

Leaders' Mindset

I was honoured to be invited to perform a couple of pieces from my repertoire to reinforce the values of this panel discussion on leadership.

The event took place Aug 26. The resulting video/podcast will be available soon

Want to know more about Leaders' Mindset? That is HERE

Want to know more about the event? That is HERE

Playwriting

Das Boot

It takes a lot to get me started. Even then, I often sputter. But every once in awhile the pen starts going by itself (or should I say the keystrokes).

Thinking this needs a new title. As it is about a magic boot and love perhaps Love Boot

That gives you an idea of just how silly it is. 😁

Playwriting - Jay's Plays 

This latest one is a romp. Short, to the point. A magic boot, unrequited love, a fountain and a tramp. Somewhat in the style of commedia dell'arte but not quite. 18th century? Perhaps.

To sum up. It's great fun and I hope it sees the light of day.

The Story of William Harvey 1889 Guelph

The Gwelf Early Days Tour presented by The Guelph Public Library was filled to overflowing, so we're doing it again.

This time it is a true tale of murder - The Unfortunate Man Walking Tour. Thursday August 28 at 6pm -7:30pm

Admission is FREE however you must register - HERE

More details about the tour - HERE

Yes, this time it is free thanks to the Guelph Public Library.

NOT FOR CHILDREN OR THE FAINT OF HEART.

Guelph's Blacksmith Fountain

 One of my favourite places to tell Guelph Stories.

Heads and Tales. A new theatre performance.

It's a bit like flipping a coin, except it is a winner every time.

Heads and Tales is a brand new one man show by JayWalking Theatre.

An actor takes the stage with a hat filled with stories, monologues, favourite poems and thrilling tales, He steps into the audience, proffers the hat, someone picks and voila the actor performs.

A surprise every time both for performer and audience.

Perfect for intimate theatre spaces, community halls, and friendly gatherings of all types.

Actor is standing by, ready to entertain. 

Adding to the JayWalking Theatre Repertoire

Enjoyed the debut of this new story at Tea 'N Tales recently.

It's a beast of a story to memorize, but well worth it.

It's not that it's long, it's just that it has a very casual style and so it is important to get it just right.

It's another story from Charlene Herrold's book "Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears".

I don't have plans to add it to the show although you never know. I can also toss it into the hat for "Heads and Tales".

"The Butter Maker of Connemara". Yes this one comes complete with a leprechaun and everything!

It's a delightful tale suitable for all ages although there's the odd "damn" tossed in a few times😇

Walking Tour - sans walking!

Yes, these are great indoor shows too!

Details HERE

Perfect for your social group, Rotary club, Probus club, school...

JayWalking Theatre

 

Great Stories. Well Told.

One Man Show

Now Booking 2025/26 season

519 820-3269

JayWalkingGuelph@gmail.com

Spitfire

Currently working on this play. It's quite personal.

My mother lost her first husband during WW 2. He flew a Spitfire and was shot down flying back to base. He left behind my brother who was a baby at the time. I don't know if the two ever saw each other.

I was born many years later. Mom had remarried. My brother and I were 14 years apart in age.

The play deals with the effects of war, how sometimes the injured never see battle. War scars families for many generations.

When I was about 10 or so my brother came home for a weekend. He was a figure skater with Ice Capades. He brought everyone a present. My present was a model airplane, a Spitfire.

I'm midway through a first draft. We'll see if this has legs.

Right As Rain

Well my new year's resolution to try my hand at playwriting continues.

The latest one is in two acts. 4 Characters. "Right As Rain"

It's set in the 1890's in southern Ontario. Plans to create a normal family life go horribly wrong. Love is such a complicated emotion.

I say I have finished it and yet I keep rewriting the ending. :)

Social Media

Currently you can find me here:

jayskis.bsky.social 

Self Producing

It just doesn't work anymore.

The days of cost effective promotion are over. Social media is so toxic that I refuse to create and share events, visit group pages, and tell my "friends" about upcoming performances. 

Email newsletter platforms are now too expensive, and if I am spending a lot of my time unsubscribing, so is everyone else.

Eventbrite or other on-line ticketing services are now too cluttered and too expensive.

Covid decimated local theatre spaces. The result is that they will accept anything if it pays the rent, even if that means ignoring their mandate to present only live theatre.

Local media is dead or dying. Certainly it's standards have been chopped off at the knees.

It's just no fun anymore. Sigh

Playwriting

Something new for 2025.

Local live theatre booster Eric Goudie, put out a call at the end of 2024 asking people to submit a 10 minute play. A few would be selected for a play reading at the Fergus Grand Theatre to celebrate World Theatre Day, Thursday March 27, 2025.

A 10 minute play felt doable. Although I knew that might be deceiving, because they say poetry is taking a full length novel and reducing it to ten lines. 

ANYWAY, I gave it a go and thoroughly enjoyed the exercise.

Many times throughout my theatrical journey I have had to compose scripts or texts. Sometimes for child drama presentations or adult workshops. Under pressure and time constraints, I was able to whip something off because procrastination was not an option. Were they good? Well let's just say they were not dreadful.

What scares me most about writing is the constant rewriting. It's so damn hard to stay motivated after the initial "ah ha" moment of inspiration. Now the drudgery begins, like every creative endeavour.

Still, that experience of writing a ten minute play was, on the whole, lots of fun and extremely rewarding. I was able to say after several hours and many rewrites, "I did it"!

I love performing. I know I am in my comfort zone when I do it, however the media landscape has changed drastically in the last few years and self promoting live shows is increasingly depressing. I have come to loath social media. I miss the days of newspapers, local theatre reviews, and print advertising.

The nice thing about playwriting is I can keep it a solitary activity (and yet here I am - the irony is not lost on me).

Still, I have just finished a full length play, two more 10 minute plays and am now struggling with two more full-length drafts. Will I now die trying, or will this move forward? I don't know.

What I do know is many years ago when dabbling with the story of The Unfortunate Man, I initially wrote it as a play. I threw a play reading party, which was loads of fun and I learned then that I was not a playwright. That play went on to become a walking tour.

My latest full length play, based on the notorious story of Burke, Hare and Knox, a 19th century tale of murder, will make for another marvelous play reading party if nothing else. Stay tuned for details and if this sounds like fun, reach out.