Theatre of Canada

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The creation of a theatre in Canada has arguably been a relatively old cultural practice on the North American continent. It involves a wide array of contributors ranging from French- and English- speaking Canadians, Native Indians and those of African descent to foreign investors and immigrants. North American theatre can be dated back to the first European settlers arriving on L’Anse aux Meadows (present-day Newfoundland) whose cultural and athletic practices involved the Viking games. Although, Native Indian records have not yet been officially archived, early Canadian theatre can also be attributed to Native rituals including Kwakiutl performances and hamatsa (ritual drama)[1]. Therefore, one can argue that theatre on the continent took place many centuries before the 17th century when Marc Lescarbot staged his first known North American performance of Theatre de Neptune en Nouvelle France in 1606. While some scholars believe theatre to have been brought over by European settlers, others believe a long-standing tradition of First Nations theatre culture had already existed before any European migration. After much controversy and a small relative hiatus, theatre exploded in the Western world with the onset of industrialization and continued to develop through the 20th century. The late 19th century and early 20th century are considered a period of groundbreaking discoveries which modernized the mechanisms of civilization, including theatrical processes[2]. This time period also marked the emergence of theorists and practitioners the advent of world perceptions of which many still exist. This period also gave birth to a number of individuals who helped shape the way the world is presently viewed. Today, Canadian Theatre is an important cultural pillar for the Western continent as it continually takes shape under an overarching global system[3]. It is practiced and celebrated by a substantial audience from various cultures through play performances, workshops, theatre companies and annual festivals. Its import of foreign culture has diversified its inner communities and its export of culture products has strengthened its legitimacy globally (Hurley)[4].

One of the major problems Canadian practitioners face is their difficulty to express a singular form of art under a multicultural umbrella. Theatre in Canada has taken radically new avenues, as well as old ones, to achieve a blend of theories, performance strategies, script and choreography designs, emphasizing and expressing a deep sentiment for the world’s cultural histories and cultivating some of the finest talents known to the arts. The birth of amateur and professional theatres led to development of a new form of artistic expression on the theatre front, eventually leading to controversial and provocative productions Theatre has remained a continually changing aspect of cultural representation and has been used in many instances to invoke social and political change[5].

Many scholars consider theatre to be a transnationally unionized movement moving in tandem with the current times carried by a multi-cultured workforce. In point, many Canadian citizens have diasporic roots in foreign countries with an entirely different governing system. Living under one flag in a developed nation, it becomes necessity to modify one’s own foreign identity; an individual who is presented to the public, and one who is reserved for his or her own domestic lifestyle or ethnic community[6]. Theatre constitutes a way of living on the border and is neither an easy concept nor an uncommon phenomenon present in today’s global society. As such, it has been influential in the development of theatre. Therefore, Canadian Theatre has much to do with globalization and post-colonial theory and is celebrated on a grander scale for its avant-garde performance arts, devised art works, and broad cultural orientation[7].

The contemporary theatre scene in Canada revolves around companies and summer festivals based at facilities in Canadian cities.

Contents

[edit] Festivals

  • Dominion Drama Festival 1933
  • Shaw Festival 1962 (Niagara) & Tom Patterson
  • Stratford Festival 1952 (Stratford) & Dora Mavor Moore, Tyrone Guthry (of several founders)
  • Year of the Centennial 1967
  • Expo ’67 (Montreal)
  • Blyth Festival
  • Theatre Festival of the Americas 1985 (Montreal)
  • Rhubarh! Festival

[edit] Significant Theatre Movements

  • Irish Arts Movement
  • Little Theatre
  • Regional Theatre
  • Amateur Theatre
  • Professional Theatre
  • Theatre of the Absurd
  • Theatre of Expression
  • The Brechtien Expression
  • Sarnia Idea & symphonic expressionism
  • Hart House
  • Romantic movement & Zastrozzi
  • Theatre of the Oppressed
  • Popular Theatre
  • Political Theatre
  • Theatre of Diversity
  • Native Theatre
  • Alternative Theatre
  • Experimental Theatre
  • Melodrama
  • Socialist Drama
  • Naturalist Drama

[edit] Performance Strategies

  • Word salad
  • Juxtaposition
  • Breaks the fourth wall
  • Story telling
  • Showing the wound
  • Absence
  • Trickster
  • Hybrid
  • Devised (collective collaboration)
  • “Joual”
  • Double other
  • Alterity
  • Audience Complicity
  • Non-Aristotelian structure

[edit] Themes

  • Romantic vs. shrewd
  • Male vs. female
  • English vs. French
  • Short time vs. long time
  • Large cast vs. small cast
  • History vs. domestic (internal revolutions)
  • Rediscovery
  • Burlesque
  • Controversial
  • Provocative
  • Social reinvention
  • Domestic realism
  • Absurd
  • Postmodern
  • Goes beyond troubled realism
  • Erotics of power
  • Non-linear/non-discursive

[edit] Theatre Theories

  • Post colonialism
  • Queer theory
  • Feminist theory
  • Deconstruction
  • Performance Art
  • Bilingualism
  • Separatism
  • Symphonic Expressionism
  • Absurdism
  • Existentialism

[edit] Influential Playwrights/Practitioners/Contributors

Thompson Highway Pol Pelletier Charles Mair Massey Family Roy Mitchell David Fenarrio Herman Voaden Group of Seven George F. Walker Dora Mavor Moore Thomson Highway Christopher Newton Bertlot Brecht Noam Chomsky Saturday Night Live (American base with Canadian’s actors, writers and producers) Marshall Mckluwin – the great Canadian

[edit] Government Contributions

  • Gaspe Manifesto 1971
  • CEAD 1965
  • Canadian Council 1971
  • CBC Radio 1952

[edit] History

[edit] Early Canadian Theatre

[edit] Plays

Lescarbot’s Neptune Theatre 1606 Moliere’s Tartuffe Scandal 1693 Halifax Prologue 1776 Sullen Indian Prologue 1826

[edit] Events

Garrison performances were private shows for troops, publically performed by officers, which helped bridge theatre and war during its initial stages of development. It was welcomed by the populaces and distracted soldiers from war and routine military protocol[8].

Theatre Royal (Montreal) built 1825 by John Molson presented Shakespeare and Restoration authors. It was also used for circus and concerts. It went bankrupt in 1826 and was subsequently taken down[9].

[edit] Theatre At The Turn Of The Century

This period marked an explosion of theatre due to gross scientific discovery, inventions, industrialization, new energy sources, and philosophy.

[edit] Plays

Eight Men Speak 1933 (at Toronto’s Standard Theatre)

[edit] Events

[edit] Theatre Of The 50s

[edit] Plays

Teach Me How To Cry 1955 Patricia Joudry

[edit] Events

Theatre du Nouveau Monde 1951 Jean Gascon (Montreal) Manitoba Theatre Company 1958 John Hrisch (regional) Toronto Workshop Productions 1958 George Luscombe (Alternative)

[edit] Theatre Of The 60s

Theatre in the 60s marked the transition from Regional to Alternative based theatre in Canada.

[edit] Plays

Ecstasy of Rita Joe 1967 George Ryga Fortune and Men’s Eyes 1967 John Herbert Les Belles-Souers 1968 Michel Tremblay

[edit] Events

Quiet Revolution & Marcel Duplessis National Theatre School 1960 National Theatre School 1960 Jean Gascon (Montreal) Neptune Theatre 1963 Tom Patterson (Nova Scotia) (regional) Vancouver Playhouse 1963 (regional) Globe Theatre 1966 (Saskatchewan) (professional) Lorraine-Kimsa Theatre 1966 Theatre New Brunswick 1968 Theatre Passe-Muraille 1968 Paul Thompson (Toronto) (alternative) Centaur Theatre 1969 (Montreal) National Arts Centre (NAC) 1969 (Ottawa)

[edit] Theatre Of The 70s

[edit] Plays

Leaving Home 1972 David French 1837: Farmer’s Revolt 1974 Rick Salutin St. Nicolas’ Hotel 1974 James Reaney Zastrozzi 1977 George F. Walker Billy Bishop Goes to War 1978 John Gray Balconville 1979 David Fenarrio

[edit] Events

October Crisis & Parti Quebecois

  • One of the first times Separatists took actively aggressive role in claiming their own territory[10]. A time of social change when people were just beginning to voice their opinions and unionize. Thus, theatre became a tool for cultural representation.

Factory Theatre Lab 1970 Ken Gass (Toronto) (alternative) Tarragon Theatre 1971 Bill Glassco (Toronto) (professional) Toronto Free Theatre 1971 directed by Guy Sprung 25th Street Theatre 1972 (Toronto) (alternative) Black Theatre Workshop 1972 Errol Sitahal (Montreal) Green Thumb Theatre 1975 Denis Foon Buddies in Bad Times 1979 Sky Gilbert (Toronto) (queer) Nightwood Theatre 1979 (feminist/professional)

[edit] Theatre Of The 80s And 90s

Theatre of this time frame began to further develop pre-existing ideologies and also carved new domains in the realm of psychoanalysis in theatre culture. Cirque du Soleil began a circus and live entertainment performance movement that has become an influential cultural business for North America.

[edit] Plays

Doc 1984 Sharon Pollock Drag Queens on Trial 1985 Sky Gilbert Occupation of Heather Rose 1986 Wendy Lill Bordertown Café 1987 Kelly Rebar Polygraph 1988 Robert Lepage Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing 1989 Thomson Highway Lion in the Streets 1990 Judith Thompson Fronteras Americanas 1993 Guillermo Verdaichilles Harlem Duet 1997 Djanet Sears

[edit] Events

Cirque du Soleil (Quebec) (early 1980s) Windsor Feminist Theatre 1980 Native Earth Performing Arts 1982 (Toronto) Soulpepper Theatre 1997 Broadway North Theatre (community)

[edit] Present Day Theatre

Present day theatre has reached broad limits and many plays and practitioners can be found within Canada as well as abroad. To search what is out there it is highly recommended one subscribe to local arts magazines or search venues for when plays or performances are occurring.

[edit] Current Issues In Canadian Theatre

The global society often blurs the line between Canada and United States since theatre is a shared industry among these nations. According to Canada in the World, “a country that does not project a clearly defined image of what it is and what it represents, is doomed to anonymity on the international scene”[11]. This is the general discourse, which theorizes that “[globalization] revalues the role of the nation state, dissociates culture from nation, and restructures national identities” (Hurley)[12]. On the contrary, deconstruction is a theme Canada is well versed with, where in its lack of cultural recognition, it has found a way to take advantage of its cultural void as an attribute; Homi Bhaba describes this dynamic. “In the strings of the unhomely, another world becomes visible…. The home does not remain the domain of domestic life, nor does the world simply become its social or historical counterpart. The unhomely is the shock of recognition of the world-in-the-home, the home-in-the-world.”[13]

[edit] Western Canada

[edit] British Columbia

[edit] Alberta

  • Lethbridge is the home of New West Theatre, a professional theatre company.

[edit] Saskatchewan

  • Regina features Saskatchewan's largest professional theatre and Canada's only permanent arena theatre, the Globe Theatre.

[edit] Manitoba

[edit] Central Canada

[edit] Ontario

[edit] Quebec

[edit] Northwest Territories

  • Yellowknife is home to the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre, a small theatre with just over 300 seats.

[edit] Eastern Canada

[edit] New Brunswick

  • Moncton has the restored Capitol Theatre, one of only eight theatres of the ca. 1922 Pantages/Vaudeville design in the nation.

[edit] Prince Edward Island

[edit] Nova Scotia

[edit] Newfoundland and Labrador

  • St. John's has the RCA (Resource Centre for the Arts), an artist-run company that is based at the LSPU Hall. It also has the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre, with a 1,000 seat main theatre.
  • Clarenville, Newfoundland is the home to The New Curtain Theatre Company, which operates as a year-round professional theatre based out of The Loft Theatre at the White Hills Ski Resort in Clarenville (2 hours west of St. John's).

[edit] Summer Festivals

Major summer theatre festivals include:

  • Gabriola Theatre Festival (Gabriola Island, British Columbia)

Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Canada also has more fringe theatre festivals than any other country, forming a summer fringe circuit running from the St-Ambroise Montréal Fringe in June and heading westward to the Vancouver Fringe Festival in September. The circuit includes the two largest fringe festivals in North America, the Winnipeg Fringe Festival and the Edmonton International Fringe Festival. Other fringe theatre festivals include the Saskatoon Fringe Theatre Festival, the Calgary Fringe Festival, the London Fringe Theatre Festival (Ontario), the Toronto Fringe Theatre Festival and the Atlantic Fringe Festival.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Wassermanm Jerry, ed. Modern Canadian Plays. 4th ed. Vol. 1. Vancouver, BC: Talon Books Ltd., 2000.
  2. ^ Wilson, Edwin, ed. Living Theatre: History of the Theatre. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print.
  3. ^ Krishnaswamy, Revathi. "The Criticism of Culture and the Culture of Criticism: At the Intersection of Postcolonialism and Globalization Theory." Diacritics 32.2 (2002): 106-26. Print.
  4. ^ Grace, Sherrill. "Theatre as National Export: On Being and Passing in the United States." Performing National Identities: International Perspectives on Contemporary Canadian Theatre. Vancouver, BC: Talon, 2003. 160-81. Print.
  5. ^ Wilson, Edwin, ed. Living Theatre: History of the Theatre. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print.
  6. ^ Wassermanm Jerry, ed. Modern Canadian Plays. 4th ed. Vol. 2. Vancouver, BC: Talon Books Ltd., 2000.
  7. ^ Filewod, Alan D. Theatre Histories. Toronto: Playwrights Canada, 2009. Print.
  8. ^ Wilson, Edwin, ed. Living Theatre: History of the Theatre. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print.
  9. ^ Wilson, Edwin, ed. Living Theatre: History of the Theatre. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print.
  10. ^ Bahri, Deepika. "Introduction to Postcolonial Studies." Emory University---English Department "Where Courageous Inquiry Leads" 1996. Web. 17 Oct 2011.
  11. ^ Grace, Sherrill. "Theatre as National Export: On Being and Passing in the United States." Performing National Identities: International Perspectives on Contemporary Canadian Theatre. Vancouver, BC: Talon, 2003. 160-81. Print.
  12. ^ Grace, Sherrill. "Theatre as National Export: On Being and Passing in the United States." Performing National Identities: International Perspectives on Contemporary Canadian Theatre. Vancouver, BC: Talon, 2003. 160-81. Print.
  13. ^ Bhabha, Homi. "The World and the Home." Social Text. Duke UP, 1992. 141-53. Print.

[edit] Further Reading

  • Bhabha, Homi. "Editor's Introduction: Minority Maneuvers and Unsettled Negotiations". 
  • "Cosmopolitanisms." Public Culture 12.3. 2000. p. 577-89. 
  • Critical Inquiry 23.3. 1997. p. 431-50. 
  • Robinson, Amy (1994). “‘It Takes One to Know One’: Passing and Communities of Common Interest.” Critical Inquiry 20. p. 715– 36. 
  • “Summary,” In Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade/Ministère des affairs étrangères et du commerce international. Canada in the World. 1999. Rpt. Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade/Ministère des affairs étrangères et du commerce international Home Page. 2001. 
  • Young, Robert (2001). Postcolonialism: an Historical Introduction. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. 

[edit] External links

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