SPOTLIGHT
HAMLET (SOLO) RETURNS TO THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE
One actor. Seventeen characters. A fundraiser for the next generation of Theatre Passe Muraille artistes. Toronto stage and screen veteran Raoul Bhaneja performs Shakespeare’s tragedy alone on stage, without sets or costumes, playing all seventeen characters himself. Image credit: LYON SMITH.
Theatre Passe Muraille is thrilled to welcome back Hamlet (solo), the internationally acclaimed one-man reimagining of Shakespeare’s tragedy, for a limited run of fundraising performances from November 6 to 8, 2026.
This performance marks 20 years since the show’s world premiere at Theatre Passe Muraille. All proceeds from these performances will support The Andy McKim Endowment Fund for New Works, ensuring artistes continue to grow and new works continue to develop at Theatre Passe Muraille.
Directed by Robert Ross Parker (Disgraced, Apples in Winter), Hamlet (solo) has electrified audiences from the Arctic Circle to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art since its 2006 debut, and has been performed over 150 times in 25 cities worldwide. Toronto stage and screen veteran Raoul Bhaneja performs Shakespeare’s tragedy alone on stage, without sets or costumes, playing all seventeen characters himself. The production relies solely on the text and Bhaneja’s performance to carry the story.
A five-time Canadian Screen Award nominee, Bhaneja is a graduate of The National Theatre School of Canada who has spent the last thirty years amassing over 150 film and television credits and has performed in theatres from coast to coast to coast. His most recent on-screen credits include three seasons of The Trades (Crave), two seasons of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (Paramount+). A two-time Dora Award nominee, he made his return to the Toronto stage after a long absence in the Soulpepper Theatre production of The Seagull, the final production directed by the late Daniel Brooks.
“It’s exciting for Robert Ross Parker and me to bring Hamlet (solo) back to TPM, really where the whole journey started,” says Bhaneja. “I did the first read-through there in 2000, a workshop in 2002 and then the premiere in 2006. The Backspace, as it was called then, is really the DNA of Hamlet (solo), no matter where it has been performed since. For this run to also be a fundraiser for The Andy McKim Endowment Fund means that we, as more established artistes now, get to support the emerging artistes of today, just like TPM did for us two decades ago.”
Hamlet (solo) won the 2022 Best Actor Award at New York’s United Solo Festival, the world's largest festival of solo work, and the Montreal English Critics’ Circle Award for Best Visiting Production, and was nominated for the Calgary Critics’ Award for Best Solo Show.
The Andy McKim Endowment Fund for New Works honours Andy McKim, who served as Theatre Passe Muraille’s Artistic Director from 2007 to 2019 and championed artiste-driven creation and world premieres during his tenure. The fund provides sustained, annual support for the development of new Canadian theatre. As a show that Theatre Passe Muraille helped launch two decades ago, Hamlet (solo)’s return as a fundraiser for the Fund lets the production give back to the kind of new-work development that shaped its own beginnings.
When and where:
November 6-8 at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace, 16 Ryerson Ave, Toronto. Running time: 2 hours and 10 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission Tickets: $102.25 (Each ticket includes a $30 tax-deductible donation). Content warnings: Depictions of suicide, graphic violence, murder, depression, and themes of incest.