Theatre Smith-Gilmour is proud to announce the English-language world premiere of Pu Songling: Strange Tales. Celebrating the visionary Chinese writer, Pu Songling (1640-1715), the show takes place from January 13 to February 1, 2026, at Crow’s Theatre. Produced by a Dora award-winning team, this adaptation brings the supernatural stories to life by leaning into the strange and tragic nature of the stories and embracing the darkest corners of human nature.

This world premiere is adapted by Michele Smith, John Ng, Diana Tso, Steven Hao, Dean Gilmour and Madelaine Hodges, with special thanks to Michael Man, Lindsay Wu, Rosie Simon and Jeff Yung. Pu Songling: Strange Tales transports audiences to an exciting world full of imagination and the beautifully bizarre while exploring themes of shared humanity.

“Pu Songling takes us somewhere else that you could say is horrifying, but it's also exciting,” says John Ng, actor in Pu Songling: Strange Tales.

This theatrical adaptation of Pu Songling: Strange Tales weaves together a series of vivid supernatural vignettes drawn from Chinese folklore, blending the uncanny, tragic, and darkly comedic, with demons, reincarnated souls, and moral dilemmas into a fast-paced tapestry. Each story, ranging from battles with vengeful spirits to encounters with shape-shifting foxes, resurrected corpses, and lessons carried across past lives, reveals a different facet of human nature, exposing our fears, flaws, desires, and quiet acts of courage. Together, these tales offer a sharply observed, darkly whimsical look at justice, ambition, cruelty, and compassion, capturing the uncanny world Pu Songling created while grounding it in timeless questions about what drives us and what haunts us.

“At the heart of our work is shared humanity; it’s great to see an audience from all walks of life, and everyone is equally compelled by these stories,” says Dean Gilmour, co-founder of Theatre Smith-Gilmour.

Directed by Dora-winning, Michelle Smith Gilmour, the show features a phenomenal cast of Dean Gilmour, John Ng 伍健琪 (Kim’s Convenience’, Rising Suns, The Swan’), Dora-award-winning actor Diana Tso 曹楓(The Cherry Orchard, A Les Misérables, Bakhai, The Komagata Maru Incident) Steven Hao 郝邦宇 (Anne of Green Gables, Forgiveness, A Midsummer Night’s Dream) Madelaine Hodges 賀美倫 (Iris (says goodbye), Woking Phoenix, The Two Noble Kinsmen). The creative team includes Noah Feaver (Lighting Designer), Ting-Huan Christine Urquhart (Set & Costume Designer) and Andrew Dollar (Stage Manager).

“The stories invite the audience to dream and to imagine, and that's what audiences love to do,” says Michele Smith, co-founder of Theatre Smith-Gilmour.

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Pu Songling: Strange Tales

Performance Dates: January 13, 202,6 to February 1, 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 www.crowstheatre.com

About Theatre Smith-Gilmour:

Dean Gilmour and Michele Smith founded Theatre Smith-Gilmour in 1980 after meeting at the School of Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France in 1978. Theatre-Smith Gilmour has toured across Canada several times and to 14 countries. For 45 years, Theatre Smith-Gimour’s “theatre that moves” has challenged the status quo through movement and emotions through stories that explore what it means to be human.

Photo: John Ng and Dean Gilmour. © 2025 Johnny Hockin.