Theatre 2026: Little Willy @ Canstage Berkley Theatre

My husband Rich and I first encountered master puppeteer Ronnie Burkett when we watched his raunchy, “not-safe-for-children” marionette puppet show “Little Dickens” in December 2022, very loosely based on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. He is back with a new show “Little Willy” where his cast of puppets from his Daisy Theatre vaudeville cabarets debate over who should play the leads in a staging of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Ever the master of the “dick joke”, I think Burkett selected the topic just so he could play off the delicious double entendres of the suggestive title. Specifically for this show, he has created a new marionette of William Shakespeare himself.

As Burkett does with every show, Little Willy starts with a striptease number by the puppet Dolly Wiggler, this time shedding the layers of her Elizabethan clothing to correlate with the Shakesperean theme of the show. Then various puppets vie for the role of Juliet including aging diva Esme Massengill, who does not acknowledge that she is far too old for the part, and Jolie Jolie, the faded French chanteuse who is also well past her prime. It feels like many of Burkett’s puppets are depicted as older characters, to maximize both humour and pathos. Esme and Jolie Jolie battle over the role in the duet “I am Juliet” (all voiced by Burkett).  Most poignant is the elfin fairy Schnitzel, who may have come out as non-binary when he states that he can play both roles of Romeo and Juliet, since he understands how both feel. Schnitzel appears in an outfit that is half pink and half blue to accentuate the point.

Many of the other usual suspects are trotted out including the cross-dressing General and the witch Debbie, who the audience are trained to curse at ("F**k you Debbie!") each time she appears, in an adult version of children’s pantomimes where the villain is booed. Suburban senior Edna Rural from Alberta (who has been in every Burkett show) is tapped to be the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, and wonders what advice she could impart to a young Juliet. Sitting down in her comfy armchair, she proceeds to deliver a lengthy, touching monologue about her courtship and marriage to her husband Stanley Rural, as a testament to the power of love.

Similar to the Little Dickens show, audience participation occurs in the second half of the show that ran over two hours without intermission. Just like in Little Dickens, a female audience member is invited to up to the stage to turn a crank that activates a pop-up mariachi band. This is to accompany crass, Italian Lounge singer Rosemary Foccaci as she sings her tune. Two male (semi-coerced) “volunteers” are asked to operate two sausage marionettes each, representing her back-up dancers. Impressively, with very little training, they are able to make the sausages bop, twirl and even twerk.

The final volunteer (who was chosen from the centre of a long aisle in the second row, debunking my theory that we were safe if not seated in the front row or on the aisles) was selected to play the dead Romeo in the final death scene.  As per Burkett’s standard schtick, Romeo had to be shirtless in this scene. The puppet Lillian Lunkhead, known as Canada’s oldest and worst actress, somehow stumbled into the part of Juliet. She proceeded to fling herself onto Romeo’s bare chest (and privates) while the audience howled with laughter and puppeteer Burkett made lewd comments. Luckily, the volunteer was a good sport about it and seemed to be enjoying himself, hamming it up by trying to slip Lillian the tongue when she tried to lick the poison off Romeo’s lips. Burkett smartly quipped, “You know she is covered with lead paint, right?”  I guess Burkett knows how to pick his victims.

The show ended as always with Schnitzel coming out in his jammies while holding a teddy bear to say good night and thank the audience and all the volunteers. Having now watched two Ronnie Burkett puppet shows within the past four years, it is clear that while the topic of each show changes, there is a general formula followed for the format of the shows.  Each one is extremely funny and entertaining on its own but taken together in quick succession, they can seem a bit repetitive.

We were lucky enough to attend a performance that had a talk back afterwards. Burkett confirmed that he personally constructed each of the marionettes and creates their characters and back stories. But if he can’t find the right voice for one, he scraps the puppet. He was asked what happens if there is a mishap with the puppets and he said that the trick is to acknowledge any issues by making a joke and roll that into the show, as opposed to trying to hide it.

Little Willy is an extremely fun show full of local references, unapologetic swearing, racy and politically incorrect jokes. If you are up for all of that, then you will have a very good time!  An unexpected highlight happened after the Q&A when we were actually allowed to look into the back of the stage to see the puppets up close.  They are truly works of art.