This week in theatre rounds up the most noteworthy live theatre playing right now in Toronto. It includes just-opened shows as well as productions that are about to close.

The Maids / Buddies in Bad Times Theatre/ 8:00pm / $23
Jean Genet's classic The Maids gets a treatment from the same creative team that brought vision to Sarah Kane's Blasted, one of the more difficult modern plays to translate to the stage. Like Blasted, The Maids is a dark psychosexual thriller with compelling yet very human characters. It's the type of queer classic that a place like Buddies should have the gall to tackle alongside new work &mdash Artistic Director Brendan Healy brings yet another elevated play to his lineup.

Private Lives / Mirvish / 8:00pm/2:00pm / $40+
Cue the star power. Kim Cattrall of Sex and the City fame stars with Canadian Paul Gross in Noel Coward's Private Lives. The two play Amanda and Elyot, ex-lovers who find themselves at the same hotel on the French Riviera. Cattrall tackled the role in London back in 2009 with Matthew Macfadyen. It will be interesting to see if she can drum up the same type of chemistry with our Canuck gem before they take the show to Broadway.

HIS GREATNESS / Factory Theatre Studio / 8:00pm/2:00pm / $20
You need only mention the name Daniel MacIvor and Toronto theatre fans will purchase tickets. MacIvor is as sure a bet as they come in this city, and his play HIS GREATNESS is garnering critical acclaim wherever it travels. After stints in both Vancouver and New York, the play arrives in Toronto for a month-long run. In 1980, the Vancouver Playhouse invited Tennessee Williams to be their playwright in residence. MacIvor examines one weekend in the famed playwright's stay in a hotel room with his assistant and a street hustler.

The Price / Soulpepper Theatre / 8:00pm / $30-$60
Like Arthur Miller's most enduring work &mdash Death of a Salesman &mdash The Price also puts familial relationships under the microscope. In this case, two brothers are forced together again to sell the possessions of their father. The setting is a condemned house, the action concerns mistake and regret, and the characters are in the mood to drudge up the past. Sounds like an American drama to me.

MacHomer / Factory Theatre / 8:00pm/2:00pm/ $20 - $40
Rick Miller's stage piece is the ultimate marriage of high and low art: Shakespeare and the Simpsons. Miller has toured the show throughout the globe, and it's no wonder the play has been met with incredible acclaim. With 50 of Springfield's most memorable characters doing Shakespeare's text, fans of both the television show and the seminal playwright have reasons to applaud. While the production shows its age a bit, check out my review for a firm endorsement of Miller's enduring talent.

Photo from the Maids by Tanja Tiziana