Cruel Tears is one of the most original and inventive theatre pieces ever staged in Canada. Shakespeare buffs may see in the play certain intriguing parallels to Shakespeare's Othello, but in Cruel Tears, the jealous hero is a Ukrainian truck driver from Saskatoon, not a Moor of Venice. Described as a "country opera," the play is written in the idiom of country and western music and features music by the Saskatchewan musical group, Humphrey & the Dumptrucks.