Purchase the documentary DVD

Directed by Jeff Stephenson (Cubicle Warriors, Not Since You, Flyerman), this Gemini nominated documentary chronicles the various personal and artistic struggles encountered en route to realizing Bhaneja’s ambitious goal.

Includes interviews with great Canadian actors who have played Hamlet including Christopher Plummer, Paul Gross, John Neville, Colm Feore, Brent Carver, Kenneth Welsh, Richard Monette, Joseph Ziegler, R.H. Thompson, Albert Schultz, Layne Coleman, Ben Carlson, and Tom Barnett.

Hope and Hell Theatre Co. presents Hamlet (solo), an exciting one-man version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet performed by award winning Canadian actor Raoul Bhaneja, directed by New York based OBIE Award Winner Robert Ross Parker.

Winner of the 2022 Best Actor Award at New York’s United Solo Festival, the world’s largest festival of solo work, winner of the Montreal English Critic’s Circle Award for Best Visiting Production and 2012 nominee Calgary Critic’s Award for Best Solo Show, Hamlet (solo) has been performed over 150 times in 25 different cities since its debut at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto in 2006.

Hamlet (solo) combines the ancient art of storytelling and the modern “one-man show”, a thrilling evening with focuses on the three most essential elements of theatre: The Actor, The Text and The Audience. This production is best described as “bare bones” in its presentation with Bhaneja playing seventeen parts in a two-hour version using only Shakespeare’s text. This critically acclaimed production has been enjoyed by audiences as diverse as the people of Inuvik, a community north of the Arctic Circle and the next generation of Britain's young actors at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. An exceptional and rare experience for both the novice and Shakespeare enthusiast!

RAOUL BHANEJA is one of Canada's most recognizable stage and screen actor with extensive credits in both mediums, a Gemini and Canadian Comedy Award nominee and Christopher Plummer Artistic Fellowship Award winner. A Maple Blues Award winner as leader of RAOUL and THE BIG TIME he is also a celebrated blues musician.

ROBERT ROSS PARKER is the co-artistic director of the Obie winning Vampire Cowboys where he has directed Vampire Cowboy Trilogy, A Beginner’s Guide to Deicide, Living Dead in Denmark, Men of Steel, Fight Girl/Battle World, Soul Samurai, and Alice in Slasherland. Other directing credits include She Kills Monsters at The Flea, Goodbye Cruel World (also adapter, Roundtable Ensemble), and numerous projects for Ensemble Studio Theatre.

NOVEMBER 2022

November 3rd 2022
United Solo Festival
Theatre Row, New York, NY
details about this performance >

"A MUST SEE... This is, of course, an extraordinary technical achievement, both of memory and stamina, but it is much more than that. Bhaneja is a superb speaker of Shakespearean verse. This is a production of Hamlet that many full companies could envy for its speed, clarity and theatricality."
- THE STAGE (UK)

“Enthralling production... An astoundingly sure-footed, brilliantly edited performance…most striking is the ever-present clarity of language.”
- BACKSTAGE (USA)

“This is riveting. Hamlet (Solo) offers up the essence of Shakespeare's brilliance, an opportunity to bathe in the Bard's wildly inventive language and, in Bhaneja's skilled hands, its ability to convey the nuance and range of human emotion.”
- NYTHEATRE.COM (USA)

"Never any doubt that we were going to give Bhaneja a standing ovation at the end."
- THE BIRMINGHAM POST (UK)

"Bhaneja is an outstanding performer who owns every inch of the space, and carries the sense of the play with passion and conviction"
- EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS (UK)

“Bhaneja's reading doesn't miss an iambic beat in taking the playgoer from "Who's there?" to " - the rest is silence" in just over two hours. It's an extraordinary interpretation that allows the great play to speak for itself.”
- THE MONTREAL GAZETTE

“5 out of 5 stars.”
- THE CALGARY SUN

“Astonishing vividness… Shakespeare, dead all these centuries, lives again!”
- THE CHRONICLE HERALD (HALIFAX)

“Without set, props or even other actors to help him move things along, Bhaneja engages in urgent, energetic storytelling.”
- NOW MAGAZINE (TORONTO)

“A blank verse wordsmith, Bhaneja delivers a masterful performance, and shows the talent, dedication and sacrifice to become not just a single character, but an entire cast. Even if all you know of Hamlet is, “To be or not to be,” go to this performance.”
- VUE WEEKLY (EDMONTON)

For booking inquiries :

Colin Rivers | Marquis Entertainment
T: 416.960.9123 x226
C: 416.573.6695

312-73 Richmond Street W
Toronto ON M5H 4E8
Buzzer 2124

For other inquiries :

Hope and Hell Theatre Co.
Artistic Producer
Raoul Bhaneja

Hamlet (solo) is co-produced internationally with Richard Jordan Productions Ltd. (UK)

Hamlet (solo) began touring in 2006, a partial list of stops include:

National Arts Centre of Canada
Burlington Performing Arts Centre
St. Mark's Theatre - Off Broadway (New York City)
Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Shakesperience (Stratford upon Avon)
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (London)
PS122 (New York City)
Centre Stage (New York City)
Globe Theatre (Regina)
Magnetic North Theatre Festival (Calgary)
Neptune Theatre (Halifax)
Saint John Theatre Company
Grand Theatre, (London)
North West Territories Tour (Inuvik, Hay River and Yellowknife)
Yukon Performing Arts Centre
The Young Centre (Toronto)
The Banff Centre
Theatre Passe Muraille (Toronto)
Alderny Landing Theatre (Dartmouth)
Centaur Theatre (Montreal)
Theatre Saint Catherine (Montreal)
Workshop West (Edmonton)
Edmonton Fringe Festival (Held Over)
The Arden Theatre (St. Albert)
Rabittown Theatre (St. John's)
New World Theatre Project (Cupids)
Uno Fesival (Victoria)
Courthouse Theatre (Saint Catharines)