Here’s what to see on stages across Canada this fall

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Across the country, theatres are rolling out fall seasons chock-full of world premieres, Canadian reworks of the hottest plays on Broadway and a bevy of high-impact musicals.

Artists are experimenting with forms, genres and – now more than ever – what it means to create work in this era of “elbows up” nationalism. It’s a theme sure to influence new plays and productions from coast-to-coast.

Here’s what we’re looking forward to on Canadian stages this fall.

Slave Play opens in downtown Toronto

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Slave Play, one of the most controversial dramas of the 21st century, receives its first presentation north of the U.S.-Canada border this month at Canadian Stage, with a new production helmed by the company’s associate artistic director Jordan Laffrenier.

Jeremy O. Harris’s opus, which received 12 Tony Award nominations in 2020, might initially seem like a punky examination of the intersection between race and sex. But at its heart, it’s a love story like no other. The play also kicked off a wave of “Black Out Nights,” or performances earmarked specifically for Black audiences, in the U.S. and beyond.

Is Toronto ready for Slave Play? Honestly, I’m not sure. But finding out this fall is sure to be a memorable experience.

A Canadian take on Abraham Lincoln in Ottawa

The Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC) in Ottawa will produce Abraham Lincoln Goes to the Theatre, Larry Tremblay’s cerebral, absurd comedy about history and its influence on the present.

Translated into English by Chantal Bilodeau and helmed by GCTC artistic director Sarah Kitz, this one’s an intriguing programming choice, a seldom-produced thinker that indirectly speaks to how Canada and the U.S. might influence one another (as well as how theatre and performance can play a crucial role in our understanding of the past). It runs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 9.

A new musical based on a classic children’s story

Bad Hats Theatre will premiere their newest musical confection, Narnia, in November, in a co-production with Soulpepper and Crow’s Theatre.

An adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and its sequels, the show promises to update C.S. Lewis’s masterwork about a magical coat closet with sprightly tunes and gentle laughs. It’s a great choice of story for the Hats to tackle, and no doubt will be equally entertaining for adults and kids alike.

A brainy interrogation of millennial malaise at Soulpepper

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American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has been a frequent presence in Canadian theatre over the past decade. The Shaw Festival alone has staged two of his plays, Everybody and An Octoroon, and will present the workshop for a new play next summer, while smaller companies around the GTA have tackled works such as Appropriate and Gloria.

The Comeuppance, set to be directed in its Canadian premiere by Frank Cox-O’Connell this November, interrogates millennial malaise in the context of a fraught high-school reunion – it’s not dissimilar to Will Arbery’s sardonic Heroes of the Fourth Turning, but funnier, and less doomy.

Mirvish goes bluegrass with Bright Star

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Away from the sea of jukebox crowd-pleasers propping up Mirvish’s subscription season, Bright Star is set to receive its Canadian professional premiere this month. An emotional epic written by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell and produced off-Mirvish by Garner Theatre Productions, the bluegrass musical features a cast sure to delight Canadian musical theatre fans: George Krissa (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812), Kaylee Harwood (Life After) and Beau Dixon (The Shape of Home), to name a few.

The Goblins return – but this time, with Sophocles

Goblin:Macbeth, Spontaneous Theatre’s last venture into remixing canonical texts with, yes, goblins, was a hoot. The 90-minute rework of Shakespeare’s tragedy concluded with a throwaway line about what playwright the mischievous creatures might tackle next – Sophocles, perhaps?

Now, here we are: Goblin:Oedipus is set to be presented as part of the Stratford Festival’s Meighen Forum at the end of October. It’s sure to be silly, but knowing the good folks at Spontaneous Theatre, it will almost certainly honour the most crucial beats of the classic, icky tale.

A flurry of Frozens across the country

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Across Canada, children will soon have the chance to catch up with snow queen Elsa and her posse of pals. A number of companies will present Frozen – London’s Grand Theatre, Regina’s Globe Theatre and Hamilton’s Theatre Aquarius, to name a few. This follows a similar wave of productions last year – and while it’s easy to pooh-pooh family-friendly Disney programming, it’s also exciting to consider how many Canadian kids will get to experience their first-ever musical under a blanket of artificial snow.

Feeling grumpy about the Frozen-aissance? As Elsa would say: Let it go.