Paolo Santalucia’s first production as Artistic Director of Soulpepper is a pretty bold choice. It’s Frank Wedekind’s 1891 drama Spring Awakening (Frühlings Erwachen) and it’s presented in English in Santalucia’s adaptation; not in the form of the Broadway musical adaptation which is probably better known in the anglosphere.
Jen Silverman’s The Moors is a sort magic realist comedic parody of the Gothic novel in general and the Brontës in particular. It’s currently playing at The Theatre Centre in a Riot King Art Market production directed by Bryn Kennedy.
This year’s Dream in High Park production is Hamlet directed by Jessica Carmichael. Now Hamlet is an interesting choice for this format because it is, notoriously, a really long play and the High Park format demands something that comes in around two hours. A full blown Hamlet, as in the Branagh film lasts over four hours and even with the usual stage cuts it’s a three hour plus project. So getting it down to two hours rather meands that it’s almost as much Carmichael’s Hamlet as Shakespeare’s.
