Fifteen Dogs

A Crow’s Theatre and Segal Centre for Performing Arts Production 

Adapted and directed for the stage by Marie Farsi 
Based on the novel Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis

Starring Laura Condlln, Stephen Jackman-Tortkoff, Tom Rooney, Tyrone Savage and Mirabella Sundar Singh

— I wonder, said Hermes, what it would be like if animals had human intelligence.

— I'll wager a year's servitude, answered Apollo, that animals – any animal you like – would be even more unhappy than humans are, if they were given human intelligence.

That’s how, one night over a beer at the Wheatsheaf Tavern, the gods Hermes and Apollo decide to grant human consciousness and language to a group of 15 dogs at a Toronto veterinary clinic.

What happens next – how each of the dogs responds to this sudden change to their existence – is the story of this wildly successful stage adaptation of André Alexis’s multi-award-winning international best-selling novel.

Roving the city from west to east, the dogs learn to live life anew as they build new relationships with other dogs and with the humans that cross their paths – and with whom they now share a language and intelligence, tools that come with many challenges.

Performed by some of this country’s finest actors, this new play had its world premiere at Crow’s Theatre in 2023. Embraced by both critics and audiences, Fifteen Dogs became an instant hit. It was subsequently staged at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in Montreal earlier this year where it was greeted with similar acclaim.

This compelling, charming, funny and moving play examines our relationship with the animals we share our lives with while providing insights on the human condition itself.

You will fall in love with Fifteen Dogs.