“Canst thou ascertain how one may plagiarise a Hugh?” – Friar Hubert
If you’ve ever asked yourself what it would look like if Mel Brooks created a spoof of Shakespeare’s famous mistaken identity comedies, it might look similar to No One Like Hugh, now playing at Mainline Theatre. This light-hearted yet sultry comedy is an original work produced by up-and-coming Playwright Hero Productions and written by Jimmy Karamanis, Travis Martin, and Alexander Smith. The play comments on Shakespeare’s comedies while delivering all the goods. It includes all of Shakespeare’s favourite dramatic devices, such as cross-dressing, identical twins, mistaken identity, an abundance of sexual innuendo, and all the irony you could want in a play.
No One Like Hugh takes place in ‘a’ year (let’s say a modern medieval time) in Greek England. The clueless King Archontakis is to marry off his daughter, Princess Lavender, to the noble craftsman, Hugh. The plot thickens when Hugh’s evil and ‘identical’ twin brother, coincidentally also named Hugh, plans to take his brother’s place and fool everyone into giving him the throne! The two Hugh’s could not look and sound more different from one another, yet no one on stage can tell them apart. The play is grounded by the King’s fool who is played by a common sense, tell-it-like-it-is puppet. There is no shortage of hilariously taboo situations and colourful characters who will keep you wondering until the very end.
If you haven’t been to the Mainline Theatre yet, it is very conveniently located on St-Laurent Boulevard. It is the home of Playwright Hero, which is currently in its fourth season and has already earned praise by winning the Segal Centre award for Most Promising English Company. With No one like Hugh, Karamanis, Martin, and Smith have created a refreshing Shakespeare-like play that does not take itself too seriously.
The play will run from November 26th to 29th at the Mainline Theatre at 8:00 pm, with a second show on Saturday at 10:00 pm. You can call or go online to purchase your tickets: $15 general, $12 for students. Also, don’t forget to like Playwright Hero Productions’ on Facebook to stay posted on their upcoming events.
3997 Boul. St-Laurent, Montréal, QC H2W 1Y4
(514) 849-3378