English theatre shines in Montréal
Indoor Culture, arts and heritage The city
Theatre goers will enjoy blockbuster dramas and rip-roaring comedies produced by some of Canada and Montréal’s most exciting professional and independent English-language theatre companies this Fall 2024.
Musicals, comedy and drama!
Montréal’s two big English-language theatres – the venerable Centaur Theatre Company in Old Montréal, and the Sylvan Adams Theatre at the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts in the west end – offer varied programming.
Centaur Theatre
To kick off their 2024-2025 season, The Centaur presents the world premiere of Sakura, Montréal playwright Harry Standjofski’s bold adaptation of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, relocating the story to 21st-century Quebec. Featuring music and sound design by Stars’ frontman Torquil Campbell and starring Deena Aziz, Ravyn R. Bekh, Stefanie Buxton, Marcel Jeannin, Marc-Antoine Kelertas, Howard Rosenstein and Paul Van Dyck, this witty and thought-provoking play revives Chekhov’s signature blend of humour and cutting social commentary. Runs from September 17 to October 6.
Then Centaur presents playwright Chloé Hung’s Three Women of Swatow, a darkly funny and sharp exploration of family ties among a trio of Chinese-Canadian women. Directed by Sophie Gee, this play stars Shiong-En Chan, Qianna MacGilchrist and Julie Tamiko Manning. A critical hit in Toronto, this Montréal premiere runs from November 5 to 24.
Looking ahead to 2025, the Centaur’s 56th season also presents their brand-new cutting-edge Winterworks theatre festival (February 25 to March 15), curated by Rebecca Gibian. Winterworks replaces the Wildside Festival.
Segal Centre for Performing Arts
The Segal Centre presents the much-anticipated Canadian premiere of the off-Broadway smash hit Titanique which turns one of the greatest love stories of all time into a hysterical musical fantasia, as seen through the eyes of Céline! This all-Canadian production stars an authentique real-life Québec star – Véronique Claveau – as Céline Dion, with show-stopping performances of such hits as “My Heart Will Go On” and “All By Myself” with a full band. Runs from October 27 to November 24.
The Segal then presents The Secret Chord: A Leonard Cohen Experience, a concert tribute that celebrates the extraordinary life, music and poetry of the Montréal icon. Following several sold-out engagements in Toronto, The Secret Chord runs from December 8 to January 12, 2025.
Montréal, arts interculturels
Located in the Plateau-Mont-Royal, the innovative Montréal, arts interculturels cultural organization – better known as “The MAI” – presents an eclectic slate of multi-disciplinary productions (visual arts, dance and theatre) each season.
Highlights of the MAI’s new 26th season include the high-energy and glitter-filled Dragcessible cabaret with beloved Montréal drag stars Uma and Selma Gahd (October 17 to 18), and the multi-disciplinary The Conditions which fuses visual arts, dance, music and shadow theatre to “open channels between the bewildering envelope of the world and wild inner landscapes” (November 12 to 16).
The Phénomena Festival
Created in 2012 by D. Kimm and Les Filles électriques, the interdisciplinary Phénomena Festival (October 2 to 25) offers a platform for unclassifiable and atypical artists. This 13th edition presents more than 100 artists and 17 shows including at La Sala Rossa: Cabaret ABBA sans ABBA (October 17), L’AstroQueer Cabaret (October 22), and DADA Cabaret: Revenge of The Natural World with host Alexis O’Hara (October 24).
Other theatre
Performed in French to sold-out houses at Théâtre Duceppe in 2021 and now presented onstage by Persephone Productions for the first time in English, How to Survive in the Wild takes on the universe of tech start-ups and the cut-throat choices required for survival in this dog-eat-dog world. A social satire with an unexpected twist, the play runs from September 14 to 29 at the Segal Centre Studio in the west end.
Teesri Duniya Theatre’s 43rd season opens with Two Birds One Stone by Rimah Jabr, a Muslim Palestinian, and Natasha Greenblatt, a Jewish Canadian. Directed by Murdoch Schon, Two Birds One Stone is a fictionalized documentary play that crisscrosses history and reveals hidden truths about war and asks complicated questions about identity, privilege and home. Runs at Teesri’s Rangshala Studio in the Plateau from October 20 to November 5.
Talisman Theatre presents Still Life about a privileged young woman severely shaken by an unexpected panic attack on her 30th birthday, in this feminist look at anxiety and performance culture, presented in English with French subtitles at La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines (October 28 to November 9), the same venue where author Antoine Charbonneau-Demers performs in his one-man show Mon Serviteur (My Servant) about power and manipulation, Machiavellianism and sadism, presented in French with English subtitles (September 23 to 27).
Canada’s oldest Black theatre company, Black Theatre Workshop opens its 54th season with playwright Djennie Laguerre’s Taking Care of Maman, a funny and touching play that explores how two different generations develop a supportive and lasting relationship during the hardest time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two performances at Teesri’s Rangshala Studio in the Plateau on October 11 and 12.
Mainline Theatre remounts their annual Halloween season production of Richard O'Brien’s musical-theatre masterpiece The Rocky Horror Show where camp sci-fi meets sexual exploration, glam-rock, and sensual daydreams to treasure forever, with a full cast and live band (October 17 to November 2). Get your tickets early, this run always sells out.
The family-oriented Geordie Theatre with Imago Theatre, a professional feminist theatre company, present a co-production of American playwright Sarah DeLappe’s Pulitzer-nominated one-act playThe Wolves which explores belonging, friendship, sexuality, grief and politics of nine strong young women teammates on a high school soccer team. Runs November 6 to 17 at the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts in the west end.
As part of their 2024 professional season, the Hudson Village Theatre presents the beloved comedy Shirley Valentine, about a middle-aged housewife trapped in a stale, loveless marriage but rediscovers the person she used to be while on vacation in Greece. Runs from October 23 to November 3. The HVT then presents Cinderella for their annual Holiday pantomime from December 13 to January 5 (matinées and evenings).
Dawson College’s Professional Theatre Department presents The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields (September 18 to 21), Chamber Music & The Day the Whores Came out to Play Tennis by Arthur Kopit (October 2 to 5), and Idomeneus by Roland Schimmelpfennig (November 11 to 23). All productions are presented at Dawson’s gorgeous New Dome Theatre.
Also, click here for updates on upcoming National Theatre School productions at the Monument-National.
From Broadway to Montréal
Evenko and Broadway Across Canada have announced their 2025 Broadway season, a three-show package that includes the first-ever presentation of the triumphant story of the Queen of Rock and Roll TINA – The Tina Turner Musical (February 4 to 9), the hilarious musical MEAN GIRLS (April 22 to 27), and HAMILTON, the epic saga that follows the rise of U.S. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton (August 19 to September 7). Tickets are now on sale for all three shows. All productions presented at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier.
Click here for French-language theatre in Montréal this fall.
Richard Burnett
Richard “Bugs” Burnett is a Canadian freelance writer, editor, journalist, blogger and columnist for alt-weeklies, mainstream and LGBTQ+ publications. Bugs also knows Montréal like a drag queen knows a cosmetics counter.