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.

BuskerFest / St. Lawrence Market District / Various Times / PWYC
The 13th annual Scotiabank BuskerFest touches down for a weekend of clowns, circus, and amazing feats. Held in support of Epilepsy Toronto, international performers will be passing the hat in St. Lawrence Market over four days and nights. Some of the sights you can expect to see include pogo-sticking, fire-breathing, pillow juggling, sword swallowing, and flaming-rope jumping. Among the participants are Australian Alakazam (aka the Human Knot), Mexican circus performer Pancho Libra, and Toronto's only 14-piece Balkan-klezmer-gypsy-party-punk super-band, The Lemon Bucket Orkestra.

A Synonym for Love / Gladstone Hotel / 7:30pm / $20-$42
Here are three reasons why you should see this show: 1) It's a collaboration between Volcano Theatre (Goodness, Another Africa, The Four Horsemen Project) and the Classical Music Consort (Underground /Opera, Handel Festival). 2) The show explores the various dimensions of a love triangle on a walking tour of the Gladstone Hotel, and each audience follows a character. 3) Deborah Pearson has created a new libretto specifically for the production. Enough said.

The Royal Comedians / Soulpepper - Young Centre / 7:30pm/1:30pm / $22-$68
You'd be hard pressed to top Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, the cheeky Molière, when it comes to a well-crafted comedy. One of his classic plays is not the object of Soulpepper's affection this summer, however, but rather Mikhail Bulgakov's portrait of the artist. Bulgakov considers how the playwright created his own legend and battled those hoping for his downfall. László Marton directs and Diego Matamoros plays Moliere.

In a Dark Dark House / Unit 102 Theatre / 8:00pm/2:00pm / $20
Neil Labute has a preoccupation with darker, more controversial topics; the type that people like to whisper about. Unit 102 Theatre presents LaBute's play about sexual abuse and how two brothers seek to move beyond the trauma. When Drew is sentenced to a rehab centre after crashing his car while high, he asks his brother to verify their abuse to those at the centre. While this is not LaBute's most memorable play, he's a stand-out playwright regardless.

Real Life Superhero / Winchester Street Theatre / 7:30pm/1:00pm / $20
Superheros are currently all the rage. The Avengers, the Dark Knight, the Amazing Spider-Man, the Green Lantern (lest we forget), the Green Hornet...hell, even Toronto has its own Batman. So it's fitting that Minmar Gaslight explore the vigilante behind the mask. In Real Life Superhero, Scott Cooke, an everday man, puts on a superhero costume to punish criminals. When things don't go as planned, a writer probes into what made him tick.

Lead photo of Buskerfest