The first ever English-language adaptation of a beloved Chinese classic, Pu Songling’s Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio premiered at Crow’s Theatre in Toronto. Theatre company,Theatre Smith-Gilmour, and Dora-winning director, Michelle Smith Gilmour take on the ambitious task of adapting the Qing-dynasty collection of hundreds of supernatural stories that many audience members—particularly non-Chinese ones—have likely never encountered. Yet the production succeeds not by explaining the source material, but by translating its themes into something deeply universal.
The staging is deliberately minimal, with only a table serving as the main prop. Costumes are sparse, and the set avoids spectacle, placing the focus squarely on performance and storytelling. This restraint works to the play’s advantage, while showcasing the ingenuity of a minimalist approach. A table is not just a table—sometimes it’s a bed, a coffin or a fortress. The actors as well, often use their own voices as sound effects. They carry the production with clarity, precision and emotional range, allowing fantastical transformations—humans into animals, spirits into monsters, foxes into political strategists—to be implied, rather than through elaborate design, letting the audience fill in the gaps with their imagination.
Despite the unfamiliarity of Pu Songling’s work for much of the audience, the stories resonate clearly. The play foregrounds themes of compassion, power, desire and moral consequence—ideas that transcend culture and time. Three tales in particular stand out.
Three Lives (Sansheng 三生) follows a man reincarnated again and again as different animals, each life marked by suffering. When he is finally reborn as a human, his accumulated pain gives him a new understanding of the non-human world. When reborn as a human, he has profound empathy for animals and teaches others to treat them with compassion. The tale is a quiet but powerful tale about cruelty, karma, and ethical responsibility.
The Wutong Spirits (Wu Tong 五通) confronts violence more directly. A woman recounts being raped by the Wutong Spirit, a southern spirit notorious for preying on women and the southern counterpart of the northern fox spirit. When the spirit and its brothers are eventually killed by her brother-in-law, they transform into animals and are consumed for dinner by her husband. The unsettling ending forces the audience to grapple with justice, revenge and the unsettling intimacy between violence and retribution.
Perhaps the most politically resonant tale was King of the Nine Mountains (Jiushan Wang 九山王) which involves a fox spirit whose family is killed by a landlord after their non-human nature is discovered. The fox later returns as the landlord’s astrologer, helping him rise as a rebel king. When the kingdom begins to collapse and the ruler demands answers, the fox reveals their true identity and disappears and the king’s family is executed. The story exposes the fragility of power built on betrayal and exploitation, and the inevitability of reckoning.
Music plays a crucial role in bridging cultural specificity and universality. Cantonese opera melodies are sung without lyrics, interwoven with Buddhist sutras. By removing words, the production avoids linguistic barriers, allowing the music to function emotionally rather than narratively. The result is haunting and inclusive, inviting the audience to feel rather than decode meaning.
Overall, Pu Songling: Strange Tales is a bold and thoughtful interpretation of a vast literary work. Rather than attempting to summarize or modernize Pu Songling’s stories, the production distills their moral and emotional essence. It trusts its audience to engage with ambiguity, discomfort, and wonder—qualities that make both the original text and this adaptation enduringly powerful. As well, we appreciated the Hong Kong Style Milk Tea offered in the theatre café!
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Click here for link to Crow’s Theatre’s production of Pu Songling: Strange Tales which ran Jan 13, 2026 – Feb 8, 2026.
Links to The Artsy Raven podcast interviews by JF Garrard with actors in Pu Songling: Strange Tales:
Dean Gilmour reflects on his remarkable journey building a theatre company, shares how he transforms literary works into dynamic stage productions, and reveals the inspiration behind his latest production, Pu Songling: Strange Tales.
Click here to access episode links on Spotify/Apple Podcasts/YouTube.
Diana Tso shares her journey from working in Accounts Receivable to becoming a storyteller, theatre artist, playwright, and artist in education; discusses why sharing stories about her culture and women matters, and reflects on the importance of finding joy in her work.
NOTE: This episode is in North American Cantonese (ie Cantonese with English in between the Chinese words)!
Click here to access episode links on Spotify/Apple Podcasts/YouTube.