At first glance, Pu Songling: Strange Tales seems like a modest production: five performers, a black backdrop, a table, five chairs, and a handful of cups. Yet under that pared-down surface, Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s English-language world premiere — currently running at Crow’s Theatre — ferociously pulses with imagination, theatrical invention, and emotional depth.
Adapted by Michele Smith, John Ng, Diana Tso, Steven Hao, Dean Gilmour, and Madelaine Hodges and directed with a keen sense of rhythm and fluidity by Michele Smith-Gilmour, the show weaves together a carefully curated selection of tales from Pu Songling’s Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio — the 17th-century Qing Dynasty collection that blends ghosts, fox spirits, reincarnation, and moral ambiguity into stories that are at once eerie, comic, and profoundly human.
Rather than presenting a single narrative, the evening unfolds as a vivid tapestry of vignettes, ranging from macabre to witty to reflective. Each story shifts seamlessly into the next, guided by an ensemble cast that moves with agility — sometimes dropping into physical comedy, other times conjuring terror or tenderness — all without the benefit of traditional scenery.
What Strange Tales lacks in elaborate set design, it more than makes up for in inventive theatrical craft. A simple table becomes a bed, a barrier, or a threshold between realms; chairs are rearranged rhythmically to suggest everything from bustling marketplaces to haunted corridors. Lighting changes — subtle but effective — help define mood and transition between tales, while the actors’ rich physicality fuels each moment with life.
Among the standout performances is Dean Gilmour as the Judge from the Kingdom of Ten Hells — part grotesque, part comic — whose physical comedy and fearless presence drive one of the show’s most memorable segments. His grotesque energy contrasts beautifully with Madelaine Hodges, whose portrayal of a tormented woman exacting revenge on those who shunned her delivers a poignant mix of vulnerability and fierce resolve.
John Ng and Steven Hao also impress across a kaleidoscope of roles, morphing effortlessly from sly tricksters to haunted souls with vivid clarity. Their commitment to the shifting tonal demands — from absurd clown-like humor to chilling supernatural menace — keeps the audience continually engaged.
The production’s success lies in its trust in suggestion over spectacle. In a theatre landscape often craving grand visuals, Pu Songling: Strange Tales reminds us that the most compelling magic happens in the mind. A knock on the table becomes a punctuation mark between worlds; a shift in posture conjures an entire character’s arc.
By the end of the evening, what lingers is not just the ingenuity of the staging, but the surprising emotional resonance of these centuries-old supernatural tales. They probe human fear, folly, compassion, and consequence, revealing that Pu Songling’s explorations of the strange are, ultimately, reflections of ourselves — and that even the simplest theatre can conjure the vastness of human imagination.
- Performance Dates: January 13, 202,6 to February 8, 2026, various times depending on date
- Venue: Crows Theatre – 345 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto ON, M4M 2T1
- Ticket prices range from $64 to $84 (excluding fees), depending on admission type and performance date.
- Tickets available at crowstheatre.com
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