A couple of years ago I was in London and took in an incredible production of one of Ireland's hottest new plays, The Weir. Written by Conor McPherson, The Weir has won the Olivier Award for Best New Play and the Evening Standard Most Promising Playright Award. Since the first curtain came up, The Weir has played to sold-out audiences in New York, London, Dublin and the du Maurier World Stage in Toronto. And now it's back in T.O. playing at the Canadian Stage.

So what's so darned attractive about The Weir? What's made it such a global hit? I think it's because the play is no academic hoop jump. Instead, The Weir relies on the power of simple stories told well.

The setting is a pub in a remote town in western Ireland, an area marked by desolation and loneliness. The locals gather around at the pub for a few pints and tall tales. However, when a gorgeous female visitor arrives, the denizens of the town decide to regale her with eerie tales of ghosts and the supernatural. Sounds like a regular night of tall stories by the local joes. After all, the oral tradition is key to the Irish way of life and winning the fancy of fetching young ladies is a great way to pass the time.

Playwright McPherson turns things on its head when the woman decides to tell her own tale. It's "a story so beautiful and haunting that it is destined to change their lives forever."

McPherson developed the idea for The Weir during many trips he's made to visit his widowed grandfather. Hanging out with his elder at the local pub and listening to the Irish way of spinning a yarn, The Weir was born. This isn't a high concept piece. There's no anger or betrayal here. Rather it focuses on "love, loss and loneliness." Catch while you can. The run ends this Saturday night.

Rock and Roll Bottom? Fans of A Midsummer Night's Dream will want to see Studio 58's remount of the wildly popular rock-n-roll version of Shakespeare's comedy. This version of contains Puck, the lovers lost in the dreams of an enchanted forest and Oberon and Titania's interfering magic. What sounds really cool is how they've treated The Rude Mechanicals. Rather than having Bottom et al as simple labourers, this time the Mechanicals are "an ambitious rock-theatre group and Diana Ross and the Supremes wannabes."

Stop in the name of love! The musical Midsummer was first produced back in 1981. Studio 58 is remounting the hit as part of their 35th anniversary special.

Fine Tuning: I have a confession to make. I'm a Canadian and I don't like hockey. I don't like the fact that our national sport has been bastardized by the American way of playing sports. It's not about the game. It's about the money and the broadcast rights. Yet it wasn't always like this. I remember when I was very young, hockey was really a lot of fun. But this was years ago, the days of Dave McKeon, Bobby Orr and the famous Esposito brothers. It was a time when hockey was ours. It was our Canadian cultural sports heritage.

Fans who remember the old game will definitely want to tune into Life & Times on CBC tonight for Brothers: The Phil and Tony Esposito Story (7 p.m. on CBC TV). Phil was the goal scoring ladies man. Tony was the guy in the net. There were never two brothers more dissimilar. Phil was a complete extrovert who couldn't have enough fun. Tony just wanted to be quiet and stay home.

As you can tell, I've seen this show and it's truly good television. The doc "follows the Esposito brothers back to their hometown of Sault St. Marie for a nostalgic visit to the outdoor rink where they learned to play hockey; to the family home they haven't been in since they were teenagers; to their National Hockey League hometowns of Boston and Chicago; and finally to Florida where they joined forces to start the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL expansion team in 1992. Early years and personal life are revealed."