This Toronto theatre couple’s marriage doesn’t stop when the scene is over

“Are we really doing this?” asked Hollyman, his eyes still glued to the action on the screen.

“C’mon,” chimed their son, who had obviously experienced impromptu interruptions like this before.

“Let’s just run the scene,” said Dottor. 

Welcome to life as a hard-working theatre couple doing a show together.

In “cicadas,” created by playwright David Yee and composer Chris Thornborrow, Hollyman and Dottor play Trim and Janie, a couple living in a dystopian near future. In a mysterious house in the Trinity Bellwoods area, strange things seep through the floorboards and swarms of cicadas buzz around.

The fact that they are a couple makes some things about the artistic process more convenient.

“Most actors might chat after rehearsals at a bar or café, but we have the luxury of being able to do it wherever we are,” said Hollyman, who appears regularly in TV shows like “The Expanse” and “The Strain” and was seen most recently onstage in “A Mirror.”

Dottor, who’s also an in-demand choreographer and developed the movement design for “cicadas,” will often experiment with movement in the kitchen — or even out in public.

“I work in my head, and you can’t really turn that off,” she said. “It’s on all the time. You have to just roll with it.”

The two helped workshop the play, which was developed and expanded after a successful half-hour audio version that debuted in late 2024 as part of the National Arts Centre’s podcast series.

During rehearsals, which premiered last month at Ottawa’s NAC and travels to London, Ont.’s Grand Theatre next winter, the couple realized that Dottor — who is obviously used to dancing onstage — couldn’t figure out how to let Hollyman lead in a dance duet.

“I’m used to leading myself,” said Dottor, laughing.

“And so our director, Nina Lee Aquino, told us to just work it out at home,” said Hollyman.

It’s not the first time they’ve collaborated. They’ve appeared together in the world premiere of Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman’s “Scratch,” as well as the acclaimed production of “The Overcoat” that toured internationally.

In Layne Coleman’s film “The Shape of Rex,” they played characters married to other people who ended up having an affair. 

“One time on set for that film we were working on this really intense scene together and the crew — who we hadn’t met yet — came in and thought they were interrupting something serious,” said Hollyman. “They backed away, not knowing what was going on.”

Being performing artists helped bring them together in the first place.

In 2001, Dottor was putting on a dance show and Hollyman had just arrived from Montreal to act in an indie production of “As You Like It.” The two noticed each other on their respective show posters, and asked their mutual friend, Steven McCarthy, who was in the play, about the other.

A while later, McCarthy brought Hollyman to a going-away party for Dottor’s sister, during which the future couple flirted and pretended to be engaged. A couple of years later, they were.

Hollyman says Dottor is the more pragmatic and practical of the two. For one birthday, she bought him a shirt and two books — one on managing money, the other on how to buy a house. Both important for self-employed artists who rely mostly on short-term contracts.

“I read the book, and we ended up buying a house,” said Hollyman.

They had discussed having children, but it wasn’t until Hollyman had a lucrative year doing TV and then signed on to do the longer-run “War Horse” that they became parents.

During the Ottawa run of the show, Arlo saw the two perform onstage in “cicadas” — for the first time since he was a child.

“The parents in the show go through the ringer, and he knew there were some scenes that were really sad and intense,” added Dottor. “But he’s grown up in the theatre. He’s been around circus people. He knows that we’re okay.”

“And he was really honest with his opinions,” said Hollyman. “He knows how much we appreciate being able to make a living by doing what we love, and he knows all the work it takes.”

Even if it occasionally involves interrupting a hockey game to recite dialogue.

“cicadas” continues at the Tarragon Mainspace, 30 Bridgman, until May 24. tarragontheatre.com or 416-531-1827