(Toronto) Robert Lepage and Guillaume Côté offer a rereading ofHamlet without one of its most famous elements: the text.
The famous dancer-choreographer Côté and the renowned playwright-director Lepage announce that their show based on the great classic tragedy will premiere in Toronto next April.
A first draft of this Hamlet was presented last summer at the Saint-Sauveur Arts Festival, where Côté is artistic director.
The two Quebec artists are not their first collaboration: five years ago, they revisited the career of the great animation filmmaker Norman McLaren, an adopted Montrealer, in a multimedia show produced for the National Ballet of Canada, where Guillaume Côté is principal dancer.
This time, Côté and Lepage have transposed William Shakespeare’s tragedy into a “wordless” show mixing classical and contemporary choreography. Guillaume Côté will be Hamlet, within a troupe of eight other dancers. John Gzowski composed the music.
Robert Lepage has already worked on numerous productions of Shakespeare’s play and even played the role of the troubled Prince of Denmark. He says he is enthusiastic about the idea of a wordless reinterpretation of this famous classic by the great Will.
The show is co-produced by the two artists’ companies, Ex Machina and Côté Danse, with Dvoretsky Productions. This Hamlet will be presented from April 3 to 7 at the Elgin Theater in Toronto.