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Available for Presentation
Available for Presentation
Metamorphoses 2023
Our latest creation inspired by the short stories of Ovid published in 8 AD.
A bold and contemporary adaptation, taking inspiration from post-mime, illusion, and magic. Incorporating spoken words combined with silence, as well as a dialogue between European Mime and Bharatanatyam Dance style, Metamorphoses emphasises the text’s mythic elements and key themes of this incredible poem through diversity and modernity. There is a strong relevance of the selected tales to today’s audience and environment - as in the work of Ovid, humans become animals, and with the loss of verbal ability they become isolated and cut off from their loved ones.
Photos by Lyon Smith, from left to right Danya Buonastella, Neena Jayarajan, Dean Gilmour, Daniel R Henkel and Rob Feetham
As I Lay Dying
From 2012-2017 Theatre Smith-Gilmour created and toured it’s highly successful adaptation of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. The show was created and directed by Smith and Gilmour with the company. It premiered at Theatre Passe Muraille in 2013 and was remounted at the Factory Theatre in 2014. In 2015 it was invited to perform for 3 weeks at the National Arts Centre where it played for 5000 people and in 2017 it toured to Oakville, the High Performance Rodeo in Calgary and 3 weeks at the Arts Club Theatre in Vancouver where they performed for 4900 people.
Photos by Katherine Fleitas, from left to right Ben Muir, Daniel Watson, Nina Gilmour, Dean Gilmour, Julian Dezotti and Daniel Roberts
What the critics have said about As I Lay Dying:
"Theatre Smith-Gilmour has created another triumph"
Christopher Hoile,
Stage Door

Stage Door

“It's the finest kind of craftsmanship and beauty - go if you can”
Jillian Keiley, NAC
"Vibrant ... compelling and gripping...brilliant"
Lynn Slotkin
“Beautiful work, well done, I loved the physicality, compositions, and rhymes."
Kim Collier
“Minimalist physical theatre at it’s finest."
"If you are going to adapt Faulkner, there is no one I’d rather see do it than Dean Gilmour and Michele Smith”
Robert Crew, Toronto Star
"A wonderful and vivid translation of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. You will swear you have seen live horses and rivers in flood and barns on fire as well as the strangest and most heartbreaking family on that Passe Muraille stage."
Michael Ondaatje
“Riveting theatre...This is an American tragedy,
spiced by just the faintest lashings of black humour, applied with a master's touch."
John Colbourn, Toronto Sun


“The members of the cast are the future of theatre in this town.”
"I had forgotten the sheer and simple pleasure of the magic of live performance.
Because I know the novel, I was not surprised by what I knew to be coming on stage. I gasped anyway."
“ I rarely exhort. Let me exhort you towards Michele Smith and Dean Gilmour,
by way of Faulkner, out of Theatre Passe Muraille. As I Lay Dying. Yes, do”
Joe Fiorito, Toronto Star
Chekov's Shorts
In 1999-2001, Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s Chekhov’s Shorts
played to sold-out audiences, with rave reviews at the Factory Theatre in Toronto. Based on a selection of short stories by Anton Chekhov and adapted by Dean Gilmour and Michele Smith with the company, this first instalment of the Chekhov Cycle has toured to St John's, Newfoundland; Ottawa; Vancouver; Kelowna; Edmonton; Dartmouth, Montreal, St Catherines; Kitchener; Windsor; Chatham; Brampton; Barrie; Peterborough; Markham; Hong Kong, Shanghai; Beijing, Macau, Taipei, Taiwan and Moscow, Russia. The show is the winner of three Dora Mavor Moore Awards: Outstanding Actor, Outstanding Director, and Outstanding Production.
Photos by David Leyes, from left to right Dean Gilmour, Michele Smith, Monica Dottor and Patricia Marceau Groloeau
What the critics have said about Checkov's Shorts
****
"A perfect gem! 24 karat charmer…a marvel”
Toronto Star
“Astonishing…one of the best shows of the year”
Now Magazine
“True to the gentle and ruthless Chekhov!”
National Post
****
"Comic magic!”
"Comic magic!”
Globe & Mail
Chekov's Longs... in the Ravine
In 2002, Theatre Smith-Gilmour produced their second instalment of the Chekhov series, Chekhov's Longs…In The Ravine,
at the Factory Theatre in Toronto. Based on a Chekhov novella, In the Ravine tells the darker story of a turn-of-the-century Russian family, through the company’s unique physical performance style and comic mastery. Invited to tour to the Carrefour International Theatre Festival, Quebec City; the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre; the Magnetic North Theatre Festival; St John’s Newfoundland; Whitehorse, Yukon; the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, National Arts Centre, Ottawa; Festival des Ameriques, Montreal; St. Catherines; Markham; Kitchener, Brampton, Barrie and Parry Sound. In the Ravine is the winner of 4 Dora Mavor Moore Awards.
Photos by David Leyes, from left to right Ann-Marie Kerr, Colombe Demers, Liisa Repo-Martell, Michele Smith, Dean Gilmour
What the critics have said about Checkov's Longs
"4/4 Stars Theatre Smith-Gilmour works its magic a second time around”
Globe and Mail
“An ensemble from acting heaven…one of the best plays of the season”
Classical 96.3 FM
“NNNN”
NOW Magazine
Les Misérables
In 2018 TSG was very proud to premiere their adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables
at the Theatre Centre.
Photos by Elisa Julia Gilmour, from left to right Nina Gilmour, Daniel Roberts, Dean Gilmour and Ben Muir
What the critics have said about Les Miserables
"Theatre Smith-Gilmour works its usual magic"
"Michele Smith directs this with attention to the smallest detail and the largest ideas."
“Conscience, integrity, truth, kindness and forgiveness are of paramount importance in this beautiful production.”
Lynn Slotkin
"If you walk away from Les Misérables thinking this is was always the story the company was destined to stage, you won’t be alone. By substituting big musical numbers with visually playful scenes and fantastic physicality, the end result is an aesthetically pleasing production that most certainly headed for a Dora Award nomination ballot."
"Join the theatre insurgency while you can. Missing out would be an act of misfortune that no one should have to live with."
Toronto Stage
"Choosing to hone in on a single theme, the awakening of conscience, Gilmour and Smith give the play an intimate feel that serves individual characters (Valjean, Javert, Eponine, and Marius) well."
My Entertainment World
"the performances are, as usual with this company, excellent"
"the bravura opening – in which Dean Gilmour narrates and plays Valjean, a kindly bishop and the police officers who accuse Valjean of stealing the bishop’s silverware – are brilliant, directed by Michele Smith with economy and wit."
NOW Magazine (NNN)
"While playing multiple roles, this stellar ensemble cast moved me emotionally many times that I had to stop writing notes in my book.
Instead, I just wanted to experience and simply be in the moment with these characters.”
"I thought I had my fill of LES MISERABLES, but Theatre Smith Gilmour’s production left me with a fresh appreciation for this timeless tale of redemption, forgiveness, compassion and love. A truly remarkable evening nicely spent at the theatre. Don’t ‘mis’ out on this LES MISERABLES. "
Onstageblog
"With the writers, director and actors digging deep into the timeless humanity of the story, this production has everything it needs."
Mooney on Theatre