{"id":122279,"date":"2026-03-04T14:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=122279"},"modified":"2026-03-05T07:00:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T12:00:02","slug":"scrutiny-shakespeare-unstrung-ronnie-burketts-little-willy-canadian-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2026\/03\/04\/scrutiny-shakespeare-unstrung-ronnie-burketts-little-willy-canadian-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Shakespeare, (Un)strung: Ronnie Burkett\u2019s Little Willy\u00a0at the Canadian Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ronnie
Ronnie Burkett’s Little Willy at Canadian Stage (Photo: Dahlia Katz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes Presented by Canadian Stage: Little Willy. Playwright, set designer, costume designer, marionette design: Ronnie Burkett; Music arrangements. Production: John Alcorn; Stage manager & technical direction: Crystal Salverda. March 3, 2026, Berkeley Street Theatre. Continues until April 5; tickets<\/em> here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you think marionette theatre is polite entertainment for children and their dutiful grandparents, think again. Ronnie Burkett\u2019s Little Willy, now at Canadian Stage, comes with a 16+ age restriction \u2014 and for good reason.<\/p>\n

This is a rumbustious, ribald, razor-sharp evening of theatre that gleefully dismantles William Shakespeare while simultaneously reminding us why we still need him.<\/p>\n

\"Ronnie
Ronnie Burkett\u2019s Little Willy (Photo: Dahlia Katz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Play<\/h3>\n

Advertised as a \u201criotously funny improvised mash-up\u201d of Romeo and Juliet, the show more than delivers on its promise of chaos. It opens with an Elizabethan burlesque by the indomitable Dolly Wiggler, one of the regulars from Burkett\u2019s Daisy Theatre \u2014 itself inspired by the illegal \u201cDaisy\u201d puppet shows of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. That subversive lineage matters. From its first corseted shimmy, Little Willy signals that irreverence can be a form of resistance.<\/p>\n

The semi-structured premise is deliciously thin: the Daisy Theatre is attempting to mount Shakespeare\u2019s tragedy, despite having no funding and even fewer cast members. Mr. Pugh, the perpetually beleaguered impresario, is forced to recruit long-retired, semi-forgotten performers.<\/p>\n

Chief among these is Esme Massengill \u2014 one of Burkett\u2019s most beloved altar egos, whom he once described as \u201cthe version of me who has been on the road for 50 years and has just had it.\u201d Esme shrugs off concerns that Juliet was 14, only to wander into murkier territory when it is revealed that she has actually been in the original cast 400 years ago \u2014 a claim made by no other than Shakespeare himself.<\/p>\n

The Bard<\/h3>\n

Yes, the Bard appears. Previously \u201chappily dead\u201d, he is so scandalized by the news of the Daisy Theatre\u2019s production that he turns over in his grave and materializes to intervene. What follows is a masterclass in comic timing.<\/p>\n

In one of the evening\u2019s most uproarious sequences, Esme and Shakespeare attempt the balcony scene \u2014 except that the Bard has upgraded from marionette to hand puppet.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow dare you become a hand puppet!\u201d Esme bellows at the sight of the Bard demonstrating his \u201cfloppety-floppety hands\u201d. Their argument over \u201cwherefore art thou\u201d spirals into linguistic absurdity, with Esme persuasively proposing it should have been \u201cwhyfore\u201d. This is erudite silliness at its finest; an affectionate skewering of textual sanctity and Elizabethan gender conventions, all delivered through wood, string and human audacity.<\/p>\n

\"Theatre
Ronnie Burkett\u2019s Little Willy (Photo: Dahlia Katz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Burkett\u2019s Arsenal<\/h3>\n

The show is also a dazzling vehicle for Burkett\u2019s seemingly inexhaustible arsenal of voices and accents. Miss Jolie Jolie, a faded French actress, insists that everything in English sounds better in French. Major General Lesley Fuckward argues \u2014 with surprising conviction \u2014 that the sexiest thing on any Canadian stage is a thick British accent.<\/p>\n

The rhythm of the evening shifts effortlessly between rapid-fire dialogue and vaudeville interludes, punctuated by John Alcorn<\/strong>\u2019s jaunty musical arrangements (on the night I attended, the sound balance occasionally swallowed some lyrics, despite Burkett\u2019s impressively robust delivery).<\/p>\n

Then there is Rosemary Focaccia, a crass Las Vegas chanteuse, accompanied by suspiciously phallic Italian sausages, gamely manipulated by two young men recruited from the audience.<\/p>\n

Burkett\u2019s handling of audience participation is fearless and impeccably judged. One volunteer conducts the mechanical dolls of the Max Bl\u00fcmchen Orchestrale pit, like a delighted child with a jack-in-the-box. Another \u2014 shirtless and good-humoured \u2014 becomes the stand-in for Romeo\u2019s corpse, as Miss Lillian Lunkhead (who once played Juliet at 16 and has been waiting for decades to perform her death scene again) enacts her final moments over his zipper, throwing herself at the plastic fork masquerading as a dagger.<\/p>\n

Gloriously Mad<\/h3>\n

If this all sounds utterly mad, it is. And gloriously so. No target is too sacred: even Jesus Christ appears, styled as an \u201cEaster bad boy\u201d, gamely summarizing Friar Lawrence\u2019s role in the plot. The comedy is brazen, occasionally transgressive, and refreshingly unafraid of giving offence.<\/p>\n

But to describe Little Willy as no more than a string of irreverent vignettes would be to miss its quiet undercurrent. Beneath the bawdiness lies something achingly tender.<\/p>\n

Miss Edna Rural, the beloved Albertan farmer\u2019s wife, delivers a monologue about her late husband that becomes the emotional heart of the night. And Schnitzel, Daisy Theatre\u2019s recurring fairy figure, brings a luminous stillness to the stage. His \u2014 her \u2014 their \u2014 rendition of the balcony scene is so simple and pure that it hushes the room. In that moment, laughter yields to reflection \u2014 on gender, on belonging, on the quiet courage of those who live outside prescribed norms.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n

But it was Schnitzel\u2019s final words to Shakespeare which teared me up.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes when grown-ups are involved, children aren\u2019t treated very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ronnie Burkett\u2019s Little Willy, now at Canadian Stage, comes with a 16+ age restriction \u2014 and for good reason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":122281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[42533,52,62,63],"tags":[631,41513,29740,2989],"yst_prominent_words":[29739,22923,11442,11444,11439,29733],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Copy-of-REVIEW-2026-03-04T143030.921.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-vOf","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122279"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122279"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122291,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122279\/revisions\/122291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122279"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=122279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}