Prince Hamlet
Why Not Theatre
Hydro-Québec Auditorium
Presented in English and American Sign Language, with surtitles in French
Ravi Jain’s remixed, reimagined and bilingual Prince Hamlet features a cross-cultural, gender-bent cast, breathing new life into the 400-year-old play by challenging traditional ideas of who gets to tell this story. Struggling with the death of his father and the hasty remarriage of his mother to his uncle—brother to the king and also his murderer—Hamlet undertakes the harrowing task of avenging his father’s untimely death.
Combining English and American Sign Language, this groundbreaking production creates a fully integrated retelling for both hearing and Deaf audiences.
What People Are Saying...
Winner of 2017 Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best Actress in a Play—Dawn Jani Birley
This is no ordinary Hamlet.
Who knew how dramatic, melodramatic and funny sign language could be?
More than a hashtag: Making diverse, inclusive theatre the norm
Signing narrator adds sensational layer...
Performers
Dawn Jani Birley Horatio
Miriam Fernandes Rosencrantz/Player King/Gravedigger
Jeff Ho Ophelia
Eli Pauley Hamlet
Barbara Gordon Polonius
Sturla Alvsvaag Guildenstern/Player Queen/Oseric/Marcellus
Andrew Musselman Claudius
Dante Jemmott Laertes/Player
Monice Peter Gertrude
Credits
Directed and Adapted Ravi Jain
ASL and Visual Adaptation Dawn Jani Birley
Written William Shakespeare
Associate Direction Miriam Fernandes
Set and Costume Design Lorenzo Savoini
Lighting Design André du Toit
Sound Design Thomas Ryder Payne
Stage Management Neha Ross
Assistant Stage Management Kim Moreira
Production Management André du Toit
Technical Direction Daniel Bennett
Tour Produced Rebecca Desmarais
