One of Canada’s great theatre artists is directing a full-length reinterpretation of William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy. Ex Machina founder and artistic director Robert Lepage has teamed up with Côté Danse artistic director Guillaume Côté on Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Together, the two renowned Quebec-born artists tell the melancholic Hamlet’s story through dance and theatrical wizardry.
DanceHouse, alongside community partners Bard on the Beach and Théâtre la Seizième, will present the B.C. premiere from Wednesday (March 18) to Saturday (March 21) at the Vancouver Playhouse.
“When I first experienced Hamlet, Prince of Denmark in Montreal in February 2025, I was genuinely jubilant—this was a work that immediately felt essential to share,” DanceHouse artistic and executive director Jim Smith says in a news release. “The collaboration between Robert Lepage and Guillaume Côté brings together two extraordinary artistic voices: Lepage’s theatrical imagination and Côté’s choreographic and performative brilliance.
“Lepage’s work has not been seen in Vancouver for some time,” Smith continues, “and it feels especially meaningful to welcome him back through a creation that so powerfully reconsiders Shakespeare through movement, invention, and contemporary form.”
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is populated by so many memorable characters. Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, the King of Denmark, is the villain of the piece and is recently married to Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. Polonius is the pompous Lord Chamberlain in the king’s court; Polonius’s daughter, Ophelia, is Hamlet’s love interest. In addition, there’s Ophelia’s brother Laertes and the bumbling courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
In Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, cast members express these characters through movement, drawing upon classical, contemporary, and street-dance influences.
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark includes striking visual landscape
Côté, a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, takes on the role of Hamlet. He will be joined on-stage by Sonia Rodriguez, a former principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada who plays Gertrude. Other cast members include Robert Glumbek (Claudius), Carleen Zouboules (Ophelia), Lukas Malkowski (Laertes), Michel Faigaux (Polonius), Natasha Poon Woo (Horatio), Connor Mitton (Rosencrantz), and Willem Sadler (Guildenstern).
Composer and eight-time Dora Mavor Moore Award winner John Gzowski wrote the score. Toronto-based lighting designer Simon Rossiter bathes the stage in pools of golden light. According to the news release, this lighting, along with “blood-red velvet drapery and occasional surtitles functioning as a Greek chorus create a striking visual landscape, offering audiences a chance to experience the familiar tragedy in a bold new form”.
“Hamlet is undoubtedly the longest and deepest play in the Shakespearean repertoire,” Lepage says on the website of Shaw One Productions, which is presenting the show in other Canadian cities. “But when we strip away the words, the skeleton still remains and the meaning doesn’t disappear. We note with astonishment how the work exists beyond the literary.
“Dance generates breath, energy, and gestures that can reveal hidden meanings concealed by the lyricism of the text,” the director continues. “Dance gives the characters bodies, muscles, flesh.”
Each performance will be preceded by a pre-show chat in the Upper Lobby at 7:15 p.m. The Thursday pre-show chat will be in French.
Event details
DanceHouse will present the B.C. premiere of Ex Machina and Côté Danse’s production of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark with community partners Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival and Théâtre la Seizième. Each show begins at 8 p.m. from Wednesday (March 18) to Saturday (March 21) at the Vancouver Playhouse. Pre-show chats begin at 7:15 p.m. in the Upper Lobby. For tickets and more information, visit the DanceHouse website.
