Theatre Sans Argent is in deep financial trouble. Artistic director Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross), is forced to give his greatest performance - pretending the rent cheques won’t bounce. Meanwhile, his former best friend and colleague, Oliver Welles (Stephen Ouimette), artistic director of The New Burbage Shakespearean Festival, has sold his artistic soul for commercial success.
Richard Smith-Jones (Mark McKinney), the Festival’s general manager, meticulously orchestrates Oliver’s memorial service. In actual fact, Richard is auditioning for the vacant artistic director role, while visiting dignitaries (Albert Schultz and Patrick Watson) confuse the memorial with a Friar’s Roast.
Geoffrey’s first official act as interim director is to pass the helm of the Festival’s flagship Hamlet production over to show-dog stage director, Darren Nichols (Don McKellar).
In the wake of Ellen’s party, Geoffrey bides his time in jail where Oliver’s spirit drops by to counsel him on the dangers of suppressing his past feelings for Ellen. Kate and Jack’s friendship develops well past the point of friendship.
Now that Geoffrey has ousted Darren and taken up the reins of Hamlet, the only thing stopping Richard and Holly’s corporate wet dream is the possible success of the production. At first it seems that problem will take care of itself with Jack Crew’s unavoidable butchering of the text, but after a lot of hard work by Geoffrey, and when things finally start looking hopeful, Richard and Holly take matters into their own hands.
It’s high noon in the Shakespearean Corral. The opening day of Hamlet and Jack has disappeared. This inspires Oliver to question Geoffrey’s directorial skills. Ellen comes clean about what really happened that fateful night seven years ago, and Richard, now labeled as a traitor, suspects that loin-dancing with Holly is but one of several maneuvers she used in order to get what she wanted.
