Shakespeare’s Hamlet initially seemed like an odd choice as the centrepiece of Why Not Theatre’s 10th anniversary season. This is a company that made its name through its commitment to diversity, risk-taking, and thinking outside the box. The production is billed as bilingual in English and ASL, something rarely if ever seen on mainstream Toronto stages. Dawn Jani Birley, who plays Horatio, is deaf, and in this adaptation and production her character is central, as important a figure as Hamlet himself. This registers as a nightmare fantasy which propels Hamlet into his most famous soliloquy (“To be or not to be”).

Source: thestar April 20, 2017 16:32 UTC