Rock revolutions, robot parties and Wiccan weddings
The hot tickets of the theatre season
Hamlet
The bard, revised
Enwave Theatre
If the myriad interpretations of Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy have seemed a bit ho-hum up until now, Necessary Angel is offering an antidote. Their take on suicide, murder, dead daddies and other familial fun turns the trauma up to 11, with brutal death, self-asphyxiation and ultra-violent sex. No slow descent into madness, this version is more like a savage one-two punch to the windpipe. Nov. 19 to 29.
My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding
The next Drowsy Chaperone
Panasonic Theatre
Writers David Hein and Irene Carl Sankoff have hit the jackpot. Their charming musical depiction of Hein’s relationship with his mom—and the resulting stories about coming out, meeting one’s future in-laws at Hooters and seven-parent weddings—was the must-see show at this year’s Fringe. Mirvish scooped it up immediately; it’s only the second time the theatre giant has shepherded a show from the fest. Nov. 7 to 29.
The Salon Automaton
All robots, all the time
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
Montreal actor Nathalie Claude has a fascination with early-20th-century literary salons. Add that to her interest in automatons and you get a (kind of) solo show where one woman and three androids with pre-recorded human voices recreate the Parisian parties of yore. Sure, old-school robots are a little creepy. But coming from someone who has staged pieces in convents and cemeteries, it seems like an almost natural progression. Dec. 1 to 12.
True Love Lies
Same-sex surprise
Factory Theatre
Best known here for his earlier works Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love and Poor Super Man, Albertan Brad Fraser is a regular on the British theatre scene, particularly at Manchester’s Royal Exchange. That’s where audiences first fell for interior designers Carolyn and Kane and their two teens, whose lives go topsy-turvy when an ex-lover of Kane’s vaults out of the woodwork. (Yup, you guessed it. It’s a guy.) Though Fraser’s banter can seem a bit forced, his willingness to explore the intricacies of modern love isn’t. Oct. 1 to Nov. 1.
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