Prince Hamlet - why not theatre

prince hamlet

adapted and directed by ravi jain

Ravi Jain’s remixed, reimagined, and bilingual Prince Hamlet features a cross-cultural, gender-bent cast – challenging traditional ideas of who can tell this story. Interweaving Shakespeare’s spoken text with heightened and poetic American Sign Language, this groundbreaking production creates a visually stunning retelling for both hearing and Deaf audiences. You’ve never experienced Hamlet like this before.

Originally starring Christine Horne as Hamlet (Dora Award Nomination for Outstanding Performance) and Dawn Jani Birley as Horatio (Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best Actress in a Play) –“this is no ordinary Hamlet.” (Toronto Star)

This project is part of Why Not’s MAKE stream of activities. MAKE projects are created and produced by us, often touring across the country and the world.

TOUR DATES

Sept 16 – 17 | Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State, University Park, PA

Sept 22 – 25 | PEAK Performances, Montclair St University, Montclair NJ

Oct 1 | Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Urbana IL

Oct 7 | Carolina Performing Arts, Chapel Hill NC

Oct 21 – 22 | Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center, Davis CA

Oct 27 – 28 | Stanford Live, Palo Alto CA

Nov 4 | Utah Presents, Salt Lake City UT

Nov 10-12 | Le Diamant, Quebec QC

CAST & CREATIVE

Written by William Shakespeare

ASL and Visual Translation by Dawn Jani Birley

Directed and Adapted by Ravi Jain

Featuring Dawn Jani Birley as Horatio, Miriam Fernandes as Rosencrantz/Player King/Gravedigger, Jeff Ho as Ophelia, Eli Pauley as Hamlet, Barbara Gordon as Polonius, Sturla Alvsvaag as Guildenstern/Player Queen, Andrew Musselman as Claudius, Dante Jemmott as Laertes, and Monice Peter as Gertrude

Set and Costume Design by Lorenzo Savoini, Young Family Director of Design at Soulpepper

Lighting Design by André du Toit

Sound Design by Thomas Ryder Payne

Stage Management by Neha Ross

Assistant Stage Management by Kim Moreira

Production Management by André du Toit

Technical Direction by Daniel Bennett

Photography by Brownen Sharp & Dahlia Katz

ELI: (playing Hamlet) But, by’r Lady, he must build churches, or else shall he suffer not thinking on, like the hobby-horse whose epitaph is: “For oh! For oh! The hobby-horse is forgot!

RAVI: Prince Hamlet is a retelling of Hamlet that will surprise people who really know the play. And it will create a whole new access to people who have never experienced the story and blow them away.

ELI: (playing Hamlet) Lady, may I lie in your lap?

JEFF: (playing Ophelia) No, my Prince!

JEFF: Why Not Theatre’s Prince Hamlet is super unique because it is such an intersectional piece of theatre, in all ways. The entire company’s intersectional, and identities and generations and the production itself, across its multiple permutations, have been completely unique.

RAVI: We challenge race, gender and abilities in our casting, and it illuminated the play in a way that surprised all of us.

ELI: (playing Hamlet) The play’s the thing.

ELI AND DAWN: That’s my proof!

RAVI: Go! (playing Claudius) How fares our cousin Hamlet?

DAWN: I’m trying to give our performance to Deaf audience because they don’t get to understand their accessibility equity. As Horatio, I’m telling the story about what happened to Hamlet because Hamlet and Horatio were best friends. So, it means what my world looks like; it becomes a bilingual show.

MIRIAM: There’s a hearing audience and a deaf audience and there’s two shows happening on stage: there’s a hearing show and a deaf show. What’s great is that Dawn is also at the centre of the play. Sometimes she’s giving extra information to the deaf audience, so the hearing audience isn’t getting that. And there are moments where they’re speaking and not signing. And so, what really we’ve worked at is creating an equity of experience.

ELI: What’s beautiful and profound about this adaptation is that I think there’s like a poetry of the body that is brought into play, that makes it feel less… maybe less precious but elevates it in a way that feels more visceral.

RAVI: When you see it you see people in ways that you would not normally see them on the street. So for example, Horatio is played by a deaf actor and nothing about that character on stage has to do anything to do with their deafness. They’re just a person in the world. And for most hearing people, we don’t experience deaf people. And in our world, this person has the most power; they are the one who tells the story. So, I think we can care about it because it just reminds us that we can believe another world is possible.

“More than a hashtag: Making diverse, inclusive theatre the norm”

–CBC Arts

“An unconstrained world where gender, ability and cultural background are immaterial. In a society of growing division, Jain’s PRINCE HAMLET offers an honest and inclusive reflection of humanity.”

–Broadway World

“signing adds a sensational layer”

–The Globe and Mail

“This is a Hamlet both for audiences who think they’ve had their fill of moody Danes, and for those who’ve never seen the play before because it sounds like someone else’s culture.”

–Toronto Star

“this bracingly original take on William Shakespeare’s most quotable tragedy makes us consider in a fresh light.”

–Georgia Straight

“Who knew how dramatic, melodramatic and funny sign language could be?”

–Vancouver plays

"a refreshing and necessary adaptation” to the story.”

–SAD Mag

cast & creative bios

Dawn Jani Birley - Horatio

Dawn Jani Birley was born in Saskatchewan to third generation Deaf family and identifies herself as culturally and linguistically Deaf. Toronto Theatre Critics Award Winner for Best Actress in a Play 2017 for her role as Horatio in Prince Hamlet, Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf Person of the Year 2017 and Swedish Riksteatern’s Artist of the Year 2015, Birley is a versatile actor with an uncanny ability for storytelling. Her career takes her all over the world, spanning more than fifteen years of professional experience in theatre and film. With a Master of Arts in Physical Theatre with Merit from St. Mary’s University in London, it is her life mission to show that Deaf and hearing can work together on the front line in bringing positive change in our today’s world. Aside from acting, Dawn Jani is often summoned to give workshops/training, motivational speeches and appearances.

Miriam Fernandes - Rosencrantz, Grave Digger, Player King, Guard

Miriam Fernandes is an actor and theatre-maker. Acting credits include the world premieres of The Snow Queen and A Sunday Affair (Theatre New Brunswick), The Living (Summerworks), Soliciting Temptation (Tarragon Theatre), The Biographer (Tango Co.). She has trained with the SITI Company, and recently graduated from École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. She is the co-artistic director of YVA Theatre, an international company of artists from France, Norway and Canada. Miriam is also currently the Associate Artistic Director of Why Not Theatre (Metcalf Intern).

Jeff Ho - Ophelia

Jeff is a performer/playwright originally from Hong Kong. Acting credits include: Hana’s Suitcase (YPT – 2015 Ensemble Dora Nomination), Unknown Soldier (lemontree/Architect), TEASE (Crow’s Theatre), Murderers Confess… (Outside The March), Incorporated (SyFy/CBS), Orphan Black (BBC America). As a playwright, Jeff is developing his first piece, trace, with Factory Theatre/bcurrent, and is adapting Antigone with Young People’s Theatre. He has held residencies with the Banff Playwrights Colony, Factory Theatre, Cahoots Writers Unit, Stratford Playwright’s Retreat, and is currently Playwright in Residence with Nightswimming. He is the Apprentice Artistic Director with Nina Lee Aquino at Factory. Jeff is a graduate of the National Theatre School.

Eli Pauley - Hamlet

Originally from rural Illinois, Eli is a NYC based actor who is thrilled to be making her debut with Why Not. She has most recently been seen in a workshop of Taming of the Shrew with TBTB/Play On Shakespeare as Bianca/Grumio, which explored the play through the lens of disability. Recent credits include adult Allison Bechdel in Fun Home, Louis N. Clark in Noah Diaz’s Rock Egg Spoon, Celia in Em Weinstein’s / Shakespeare’s as u like it, OKAY (Ugly Rhino); Downsizing Camus (The Apothetae); Tribes (Barrington Stage); and Dracula (Williamstown Theatre Festival). She has also appeared in workshops with Two River Theater, The Public Theater, Playwright’s Realm, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, TBTB, Play On Shakespeare, and Wildwind Performance Lab. Education: MFA: Yale School of Drama, BFA: Rutgers/Mason Gross. In addition to acting, Eli directs, teaches, and writes. Much gratitude to Ravi & co!

www.elipauley.com

Sturla Alvsvaag - Guildenstern, Player Queen

Sturla Alvsvaag is an actor and theatre-maker from Bergen, Norway. A graduate of Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, Sturla has created and performed with companies from across Australia, France, Norway and Canada. Select works include: Traversèe de la Riviére (Collectif 2222, France), Il Turco In Italia (Bergen National Opera, directed by Mark Lamos) and Wendy and Peter Pan (The National Theatre of Norway), Telavåg (West Coast regional Theatre), What You Won’t Do for Love (Why Not Theatre). Sturla is also the Co-Artistic Director of YVA Theatre Company with whom he has acted, co-created and produced The Nose (commissioned by the MiniMidiMaxi Festival), and The First Time I Saw the Sea (Frontlosje-festivalen). In Canada, Sturla is working with Why Not Theater and 1S1 Collective on a new adaptation of Lady Macbeth, and will be performing in Why Not Theatre’s Prince Hamlet in fall 2022.

Andrew Musselman - Claudius

Andrew Musselman is an award-winning actor and writer who has performed on stages in New York, London, Dublin, and across Canada. On the writing front, Andrew’s original tv series, Sing Out is currently in development at AMC Studios. As an actor, he has received a Beinecke Fellowship from Yale School of Drama and been nominated for Toronto’s Dora Award for his solo performance in Catalpa. Andrew was in the original casts of the Rolin Jones/Billie Joe Armstrong musical These Paper Bullets (Yale Rep, Atlantic Theatre Company) and the Nicolas Billon plays Butcher (Theatre Centre, Mirvish Productions) and Greenland (TPM Backspace). His extensive television credits include The Lost Symbol (CBS/Peacock), Utopia Falls (Hulu), Cardinal (CTV/Bell Media), Orphan Black (Space/BBC America) and Murdoch Mysteries (CBC). He was the On-Set Acting Coach for the Disney/Family Channel show Backstage, and the dialect coach for CBC’s Baronness Von Sketch Show.

Dante Jemmott - Laertes

Dante Jemmott is a Toronto based actor. He played Romeo in the Stratford Festival and Why Not Theatre production of R+J, and he was Bertram in Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Dante plays Walter in the web-series Coming Distractions and appears in CBC Gem’s mini-series Revenge of the Black Best Friend. He received his training at York University in the Acting Conservatory. There, he appeared in the production of William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Charles Mee’s Iphigenia 2.0, Suzan-Lori Parks’s 365 Days/365 Plays and Amy Rutherford’s Mortified. Dante was the voice of W.L. Hutton at the Into The Light Exhibition at the Guelph Civic Museum. He is excited to be playing Laertes in Why Not Theatre’s production of Prince Hamlet this fall.

Monice Peter - Gertrude

Monice is an actress, having performed most notably at The Stratford Festival and The Shaw Festival. Monice has also performed at The Grand Theatre in The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, directed by Megan Follows and with Nightwood Theatre in Every Day She Rose by Andrea Scott and Nick Green co-directed by Andrea Donaldson and Sedina Fiati. Monice is fortunate to be a playwright-in-residence with Urban Ink Theatre Society working on her full length play Burnt Cork. Currently, Monice is studying Sustainable Business Leadership at BCIT.

Barbara Gordon - Polonius

Barbara is delighted to be part of this great adventure. She has performed in many theatres across Canada, most recently at the Belfry in Victoria in “A Doll’s House Part 2” and Theatre Calgary in “The Humans”. Over the years she’s appeared at most Toronto theatres, where she has been honoured with two Dora awards. Upcoming on Vision TV, the filmed version of Diane Flacks’ “Unholy”, a Nightwood Theatre production. Her film career has included such Canadian works as “Life”, “Still Mine”, “Men With Brooms”, “Hypercube”, “Dead Ringers”, and “Skinwalkers”. Canadian television work includes continuing roles in “Road to Avonlea”, “This is Wonderland”, “Little Mosque on the Prairie”, “The Best Laid Plans”, and many television movies.

Ravi Jain - Director / Adaptor

Ravi is an actor, writer, director and the founding Artistic Director of Why Not Theatre. Selected directing credits include: The Prince Hamlet (Why Not Theatre), I’m So Close (The Theatre Centre), A Lion in the Streets (National Theatre School), Fault Lines: Greenland, Iceland and Faroe Islands (Why Not Theatre, Governor General Award for Drama for playwright Nicolas Billon), Like Mother, Like Daughter (Why Not Theatre in collaboration with Complicite, London), Accidental Death of An Anarchist (Dora Award for Outstanding Production), The 39 Steps (Soulpepper Theatre), Salt-Water Moon (Factory Theatre, Dora Award for Direction). Consultant director credits: Sea Sick (The Theatre Centre), BOOM! (Mirvish/WYRD), Much Ado About Nothing (Tarragon Theatre). Ravi was the inaugural Artistic-Director-In-Residence at The Theatre Centre, a member of the Artistic Director’s Cabinet at Soulpepper Theatre Company, was shortlisted for the 2016 Siminovitch Prize, and won the 2012 Pauline McGibbon Award for Emerging Director. Ravi is a graduate of École Jacques Lecoq.

Lorenzo Savoini - Set + Costume Design

Lorenzo Savoini is an award-winning set, costume, lighting and video designer who has contributed to twelve seasons with Soulpepper Theatre Company, six seasons with the Stratford Festival, and many regional and independent theatre companies throughout the country. He is the Director of Design for Soulpepper Theatre Company and a graduate of their inaugural Academy. He designed and co-created Cage, which recently debuted at Soulpepper Theatre and will be touring to New York City at the Pershing Square Signature Theatre in July. Recent notable credits for Soulpepper include set and lighting design for Of Human Bondage (Dora Awards for Set and Lighting), Testament of Mary, Incident at Vichy; set and costume design for Eurydice, It’s a Wonderful Life; set design for A Doll’s House and Father Comes Home From the Wars. Lorenzo has an MFA in Theatre Design from the University of British Columbia and is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada.

André du Toit - Production Manager, Lighting Designer

André du Toit is a lighting designer for live performance based in Toronto, although his designs have been seen across Canada and beyond. He has received three Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding Lighting Design as well as both a Toronto Theatre Critics Award and a My Theatre Award for best design. His recent designs include What you Won’t Do For Love (Why Not Theatre); R+J (Stratford Festival of Canada) Getting Married, The Orchard (Shaw Festival); The Queen in Me (Canadian Opera Company/Nightwood Theatre/Theatre Gargantua); Now You See Her, Mouthpiece (Quote Unquote Collective); The Cave, Le Grand Continental (Luminato); Jerusalem (Outside the March/Company Theatre); Animal Farm, A Delicate Balance, Vimy, The 39 Steps, (Soulpepper); This Was the World, Guarded Girls, Harlem Duet (Tarragon Theatre); Italian Mime Suicide, Paolozzapedia, The Double (Bad New Days); Oraltorio (Obsidian/Soulpepper); Love and Information (Canadian Stage); The Assholes, As I Lay Dying (Theatre Smith-Gilmour); and on air (adelheid).

Thomas Ryder Payne - Sound Designer

Thomas Ryder Payne is a composer and sound designer for theatre, dance and film. Selected past work includes designs for Stratford, Shaw, Soulpepper, CanStage, Tarragon, Factory, TPM, YTP, Crows, Modern Times, Aluna, BIBT, Nightwood, Toronto Dance Theatre, NAC, Theatre Calgary, GCTC, RMTC and many others. Thomas has received 2 Dora awards and 17 nominations.

Neha Ross - Stage Manager

Stage Manager: Enchanted Loom (Cahoots); One Thing Leads to Another (Young Peoples Theatre); Refuge (Nightwood Theatre); We Are Proud to Present… (Theatre Centre), A Side of Dream (Paper Canoe Projects); Iceland (Why Not Theatre); Fare Game: A Life in Toronto’s Taxis (Theatre Passe Muraille); Brown Balls (fu-GEN); People Power (Carlos Bulosan). Assistant Stage Manager: Kim’s Convenience (Soulpepper, National Tour); The Birds and the Bees (Blyth Festival 2016) Cowboy Versus Samurai (Soulpepper), The Wilberforce Hotel & Mary’s Wedding (Blyth Festival 2015); Hallaj (Modern Times Stage). Neha would like thank Why Not Theatre for their constant support and encouragement. Go Team!

Kim Moreira - Assistant Stage Manager

Kim is excited to be back in the theatre and is thrilled to be a part of this production. A graduate of Sheridan College’s Technical Production program, Kim has turned her passion for theatre into a career. Prince Hamlet is her first touring experience! Selected credits include: A Streetcar Named Desire (Soulpepper), How to Fail as a Popstar (Canadian Stage), Don’t Dress for Dinner (Upper Canada Playhouse), Mashup Pon Di Road (Paul Watson Productions), and Toronto’s Luminato Festival. Kim thanks her family and friends for all the years of collaboration, support, and encouragement!