Could an English DVD run on a North American DVD player?

The Dressmaker was acquired in Canada so you can get it on DVD later this year. Also it will get a release in US probably.

In theory most DVD players are only supposed to play the DVDs designed for the regions in which the player is sold. In reality manufacturers don't want to have to make several different versions of each model so the difference is only in the settings.
At least in the UK, a player can usually be converted to being region-free by a combination of actions with the player and remote - like pressing a combination of buttons with the tray out for example. If you search online for your exact model and "region-free" you might well find that this is possible. I would never buy a new player without researching this first.

No

A messy but simple workaround is using a computer DVD drive and setting the region (limited number of opportunities to reset it) to match the disc. You can get a drive around 20 CAD, a relatively "modern" computer should be able to output to the TV without extra work. I have an old PC that I use solely for watching region-locked imported discs.

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Look behind you! A THREE-headed monkey!!!!!!

Download VLC player on your computer and watch it like that.

'Buffalo hunting? I've gone buffalo huntin'? What the *beep* does that mean? Buffalo huntin'!'

on a normal dvd player no, but you can just watch the dvd on your computer and install the VLC player. VLC player is a great media player that is code-free, meaning it can play any region coded dvd on your computer, so yes you can still play the dvd on your computer with VLC player, what's even better is that VLC player is completely free to download online, hope this helps 