Upcoming Event: 📅🎭🍁🏙️ Saul Rubinek In His Triumphant Return In The Hilarious And Poignant Playing Shylock Opening At The CAA Theatre April 1-6

Thursday, 27 March 2025 10:30.AM

Starvox Entertainment with Canadian Stage Presents
SAUL RUBINEK IN HIS TRIUMPHANT RETURN IN THE HILARIOUS AND POIGNANT
PLAYING SHYLOCK
CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge St, Toronto
April 1st through 6th

“Deceptively intimate, expansively eye-opening”
– Toronto Star

"Compelling, Crackling "
– The Globe and Mail

“Rubinek’s fire lit the stage"
- Broadway World

Limited Tickets still available at https://www.mirvish.com/ or https://new.starvoxent.co.../

Canadian acting legend Saul Rubinek returns to Toronto stages as one of theatre's most controversial, and profoundly engaging characters! Starvox Entertainment with Canadian Stage bring the critically acclaimed powerhouse production Playing Shylock for a limited run to the CAA Theatre from April 1 – 6. Directed by another icon of the Canadian theatre landscape, Martin Kinch this work derived from Vancouver playwright Mark Leiren-Young’s 1996 production is a poignant and often hilarious production that is a must-see for its profound exploration of identity and art.

After a production of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” is cancelled mid performance because of public outcries about antisemitism, the actor playing Shylock (Rubinek, as a version of himself) asks how we are to share our common humanity when we are not able to share our stories with each other. The production, fresh off an extended run at Canadian Stage, delivers a candid and passionate appeal about identity, public discourse, and the theatre.

In this riveting performance, Saul Rubinek adds another unforgettable character to his four-decade-spanning career in movies, television and theatre. In series like FRASIER, STAR TREK TNG, HUNTERS, THE MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL, and SCHITT’S CREEK, and movies like WALL STREET, AGAINST ALL ODDS, UNFORGIVEN, TRUE ROMANCE, FAMILY MAN, and the BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS, Rubinek’s characters are critically acclaimed and captivating.

A beloved acting veteran, Rubinek, (Wall Street, Unforgiven, Barney's Version, The Family Man, Frasier) began his illustrious career in Ontario, just eight years old when he began performing on stage. He appeared at the Stratford Festival in the 1968-1969 season, at the time the youngest member of the company, and, in 1972 was a key artist in the very first season of the brand-new Toronto Free Theatre, which would later merge with CentreStage to become Canadian Stage. From these early beginnings, Rubinek went on to build a film and television career spanning over four decades. His impressive credits include the Coen Brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, and Tony Scott and Quentin Tarantino’s True Romance. On television, Rubinek has appeared on Frasier, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and the recent Amazon series Hunters led by Al Pacino. Notably, Rubinek’s ties to the theatre began at birth: he was born in a refugee camp in Germany after WWII, where his father ran a Yiddish repertory theatre company.

Prior to Playing Shylock, Rubinek last appeared on stage in a play written by Ethan Coen, A Play is a Poem, in 2019 at the Los Angeles Mark Taper Forum. The production was to have transferred to NY but was cancelled due to the pandemic. He last appeared in Toronto (at The Glenn Gould Studio) in 2008 in music-theatre piece Through Roses, as part of a music program produced by the Royal Conservatory, Music in Exile, Émigré Composers of the 1930s.

A Canadian theatre forefather in his own right, Martin Kinch has long been at the vanguard of modern Canadian theatrical expression. A key part of the movement to develop original Canadian plays in the early 1970s, as artistic director of Theatre Passe Muraille and founder and artistic director of Toronto Free Theatre, he spearheaded the creation of alternative theatres in Canada. As a playwright, he is a two-time finalist for the prestigious Chalmers Award. During his 10-year tenure (2002-12) at Vancouver’s Playwright’s Theatre Centre, Martin built the organization into a trailblazing dramaturgically focused company that nurtures and advances Canadian playwrights.

For PLAYING SHYLOCK, Kinch is joined on the creative team by set and costume designer Shawn Kerwin, and sound designer Olivia Wheeler.

Tickets for this limited run performance are on sale NOW at http://www.mirvish.com or https://new.starvoxent.co.../.

SOURCE: Starvox Entertainment