Feel like looking for a hidden treasure and setting a beggar free? How about solving a long-standing mystery?

 

If you’re a fan of history, an event this coming weekend might just be the Canada Day weekend trick for you.

 

Live History is a theatre company. It will pay a visit to the Haliburton Highlands Museum on July 2 and 3. They are offering four shows for free but will happily accept donations. People are also urged to RSVP due to space limitations.

 

 “The shows take audiences on a one-hour adventure through time. Audiences will experience a full tour of the location while interacting with the character, and assisting her in solving an urgent issue that is plaguing the manor,” Live History’s Jasmine Bowen said.

 

Sometimes compared to “Escape Room,” the shows provide high-level mysteries that leave audiences guessing until the last moment, Bowen added. 

 

The first show is called Robin’s Redemption. The story is that a loyal, wealthy member of the community has passed away. They promised to leave most of their fortune to a good cause but in a mysterious way. You’ve been invited and have received odd clues and it’s up to you to help the others solve the puzzle. But the funeral reception is interrupted by a former street person named Robin who throws a curveball into the proceedings. 

 

The other show is entitled Mary’s Odyssey. Here, the audience will help Mary solve a long-hidden mystery, leading to treasure. 

 

“This show is a journey back to a time when the house was alive with the past. The audience will experience much about love, loss and honor while being guided through by the one set of eyes that has seen all in this house,” the write-up says. 

 

 In 2017, Live History is touring more than 60 venues in six countries with their shows, which CBC has dubbed "a cross between escape rooms and theatre." These shows are performed at museums and historic buildings, leading audiences on an interactive adventure.

 

“It will be fun,” said museum director Kate Butler, who first found out about the troupe while working in Toronto.

 

She said she has provided them with some local history that will be incorporated into the show and she is simply “delighted” they are coming to the Haliburton Highlands Museum. 

 

But just how that local history will be utilized remains a mystery.