This Week in Theatre rounds up the most noteworthy live theatre playing right now in Toronto. Luminato takes centre stage this week with an array of local and international talent taking to Toronto stages.

Tout Comme Elle (Just Like Her) / Bluma Appel Theatre / 8:00pm/2:00pm / $30+
You'll probably never get a chance to see this many talented actresses onstage at one time. Necessary Angel presents the English-language premiere of award-winning director Brigitte Haentjens' exploration of the bond between mother and daughter. Through movement, text, and song, 50 women guide the piece through scenes of loss, love, and humanity.

LU XUN Blossoms / Isabel Bader Theatre / 8:00pm/2:00pm / $46.50-$56.50
Theatre Smith-Gilmour presents wildly imaginative plays that showcase the grace of the human body. Their latest collaboration with the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre on essayist and poet Lu Xun is sure to dazzle audiences at Luminato this year. Six actors (three Canadian and three Chinese) portray a diverse number of characters and even a rickshaw in this rumination on death, justice, and childhood.

Habit / OCAD University / Starts at 11:00am each day / FREE
A timely and intriguing study on the complexity of performance is on offer eight hours a day at OCAD this week. Habit features three actors performing and re-performing the same script on an eight hour loop while an edited video feed creates a unique drama of the happenings. Complete with a fully-functioning house that serves as the playing space, Habit offers theatre-goers an open invitation to pop in on the neighbours.

One Thousand and One Nights / The Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre / 7:00pm/2:00pm/ $30+
Billed as Luminato's most ambitious commission to date, One Thousand and One Nights brings together artists from throughout the Arabic speaking world, for a fantastic telling of the stories by Shahrazad performed in Arabic, French, and English (with surtitles). This impressive undertaking, told in two parts, is a powerful new interpretation of an enduring classic.

Andromache / The Theatre Centre / 7:30pm / $51.50
Add another classic to the Luminato calendar. After the war has been won, a new leader offers a startling ultimatum to the recently widowed Andromache: give herself to him or sacrifice her son. In collaboration with Necessary Angel, Graham McLaren, the Associate Director of The National Theatre of Scotland, gives Racine's classic play a bold and aggressive treatment at The Theatre Centre.

Soulpepper Summer Repertory / Young Centre for the Performing Arts / Various times / $25-$65
The Young Centre for the Performing Arts is set to be a hotbed of activity this week with seven (yes seven!) performances on offer from Soulpepper as part of the festival: Our Town; The Time of Your Life; Billy Bishop Goes to War; The Fantastiks; Fronteras Americanas; The Aleph; and a double bill of (re)Birth: E.E. Cummings in Song and Window on Toronto.

Photo Tout Comme Elle by Dominique Chartrand