Theatre of Canada
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The contemporary theatre scene in Canada revolves around companies and summer festivals based at facilities in Canadian cities.
Prominent playwrights, practitioners, and contributors
- Martha Allan
- Joseph Quesnel
- Pol Pelletier
- Roy Mitchell
- David Fennario
- Herman Voaden
- George F. Walker
- Michel Tremblay
- Dora Mavor Moore
- Tomson Highway
- Christopher Newton
- Robert Lepage
- Judith Thompson
- Daniel MacIvor
- Daniel Brooks
Early Canadian theatre
The Annapolis Basin in Nova Scotia served as the cradle for both French and English language theatre in Canada.[1] Théâtre de Neptune was the first European theatre production in North America. The tradition of English theatre in Canada, also started at Annapolis Royal. The tradition at Fort Anne, Nova Scotia, was to produce a play in honour of the Prince of Wales's birthday. Prior to Paul Mascarene's productions, the Boston Gazette (4–11 June 1733) reported that George Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer was produced on Saturday, 20 January 1733 by the officers of the garrison to mark the Prince's birthday. Paul Mascarene translated Molière's La Misanthrope and then staged at least two productions of the work during the winter of 1743-1744. The second performance on 20 January 1744 had also coincided with celebrations in the colony to mark the birthday of Frederick, Prince of Wales. The text of the first three acts is contained in the Mascarene papers, British Library. And four years after the Mascarene production, on 20 January 1748, Major Phillips and Captain Floyer also produced a play in honour of the Prince's birthday. Unfortunately, the Boston News Letter (3 March 1748) fails to indicate the title of the play. It does reveal, however, that the same play was staged a second time on 2 February 1748, at the request of Captain Winslow, after the colony received the news of Admiral Edward Hawke's success Second Battle of Cape Finisterre (1747), in October of 1747.[2]
Plays
- Lescarbot’s Neptune Theatre 1606
- Molière’s Tartuffe Scandal 1693
- Halifax Prologue 1776
- Sullen Indian Prologue 1826
- Eight Men Speak 1933 (at Toronto’s Standard Theatre)
Events
Antoine Foucher (1717-1801), of Terrebonne (father of Louis-Charles Foucher), was the owner of the first Francophone theatre in Canada. In 1774, with various British officers, he staged the first production of Molière at his home in Montreal.[3][4][5] Other Garrison performances were private shows put on for troops, publicly 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.[6]
Before 1825, the Hayes House Hotel on Dalhousie Square, Montreal, had a theatre that staged German Orchestras and held Viennese dances.[7] After it burned it down, John Molson built the Theatre Royal in 1825, presenting Shakespeare and Restoration authors. It sat 1,000 guests and was also used for circuses and concerts.[8] Edmund Kean and Charles Dickens both performed there before it was demolished in 1844 to make way for the Bonsecours Market.[9]
From 1929, Martha Allan founded the Montreal Repertory Theatre and later co-founded the Dominion Drama Festival. She loathed amateur theatre, but her energies spearheaded the Canadian Little Theatre Movement at a time when live theatre in Montreal and across Canada was being threatened by the rapid expansion of the American-influenced movie theater. She almost single-handedly laid the groundwork for the development of the professional modern Canadian theatre scene.
Theatre of the 1950s
Plays
- Teach Me How To Cry 1955 Patricia Joudry
Theatre companies and groups
- Theatre du Nouveau Monde 1951 Jean Gascon (Montreal)
- Stratford Shakespeare Festival 1953 Tyrone Guthrie (professional)
- Manitoba Theatre Centre 1958 John Hirsch (regional)
- Toronto Workshop Productions 1958 George Luscombe (alternative)
Theatre of the 1960s
Plays
- Ecstasy of Rita Joe 1967 George Ryga
- Fortune and Men’s Eyes 1967 John Herbert
- Les Belles-Souers 1968 Michel Tremblay
Theatre companies and groups
- National Theatre School of Canada 1960
- Neptune Theatre (Halifax) 1963 Tom Patterson (Nova Scotia) (regional)
- Vancouver Playhouse 1963 (regional)
- Globe Theatre 1966 (Saskatchewan) (professional)
- Young People's Theatre 1966
- Theatre New Brunswick 1968
- Theatre Passe-Muraille 1968 Paul Thompson (Toronto) (alternative)
- Centaur Theatre 1969 (Montreal)
- National Arts Centre 1969 (Ottawa)
Theatre of the 1970s
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
Theatre companies and groups
- 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)
- The Second City 1973 (Toronto)
- Persephone Theatre 1974 (Saskatoon) founders Janet Wright, Susan Wright, Brian Richmond
- Green Thumb Theatre 1975 (Vancouver) Denis Foon
- Theatre Network 1976 (Edmonton)
- Northern Light Theatre 1977 Scott Swan (Edmonton)
- Buddies in Bad Times 1979 Sky Gilbert (Toronto) (queer)
- Nightwood Theatre 1979 (feminist/professional)
- Workshop West Theatre 1979 Gerry Potter Artistic Director (Edmonton)
- Roseneath Theatre 1979 (Ontario) founders David S Craig and Robert Morgan
Theatre of the 1980s and 1990s
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
- Harlem Duet 1997 Djanet Sears
Theatre companies and groups
- Cirque du Soleil (Quebec) (early 1980s)
- Windsor Feminist Theatre 1980
- Native Earth Performing Arts 1982 (Toronto)
- Soulpepper Theatre Company 1997
- Broadway North Theatre (community)
- Act I.V. Theatre Company 1984 - 1986
Western Canadian theatre
British Columbia
- Northwest of Armstrong is the Caravan Farm Theatre, a professional outdoor theatre company.
- Chemainus hosts the annual Chemainus Festival.
- The heritage village of Fort Steele includes the Wild Horse Theatre, which produces a historic revue starring professional actors during the summer months.
- Gabriola Island is home to the Gabriola Theatre Festival, which produces twelve shows over one weekend in August.
- Kamloops is home to Western Canada Theatre.
- North Vancouver has Presentation House Theatre and Centennial Theatre.
- Prince George is the home of Theatre North West.
- Vancouver is home to, among others, the Vancouver Fringe Festival, the Arts Club Theatre Company, Touchstone Theatre, Carousel Theatre, Bard on the Beach, Theatre Under the Stars, the Metro Theatre, Studio 58, Pacific Theatre, and the Firehall Arts. Vancouver had also been home to the now-defunct Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company, which had been Vancouver's oldest professionl theatre company.
- Victoria has a major regional theatre, the Belfry Theatre, as well as a professional company, Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre. Intrepid Theatre is a local alternative company and organizes both the Uno Festival and the Victoria Fringe Festival.
Alberta
- Calgary is home to Theatre Calgary, a mainstream regional theatre; Alberta Theatre Projects, a major centre for new play development in Canada; the Calgary Animated Objects Society; Vertigo Mystery Theatre; and One Yellow Rabbit, a touring company. Calgary is also home for expert marionetteer, Ronnie Burkett. Calgary is the base of operations of Loose Moose Theatre, which performs improvisational theatre. Other companies, some of which specialize in new plays, include Sage Theatre, Downstage Theatre, and Lunchbox Theatre.
- Edmonton is best known for the Edmonton International Fringe Festival, the first and largest fringe theatre festival in North America. The major live venue is the Citadel Theatre. The neighborhood of Old Strathcona contains the Theatre District, where Catalyst Theatre, Walterdale Playhouse, and the Varscona Theatre (home of several companies: Teatro la Quindicina, Shadow Theatre, Rapid Fire Theatre, Die-Nasty, and Oh Susanna!) are located. Other well-known companies, some of which specialize in new plays, include Workshop West Theatre, Northern Light, and Theatre Network. Edmonton is also known for its prestigious BFA conservatory acting program at the University of Alberta
- Lethbridge is the home of New West Theatre, a professional theatre company.
- Rosebud, located one hour east of Calgary, is home to Rosebud Theatre, Alberta's only rural professional theatre.
- Red Deer hosts the Scott Block Theatre.
Saskatchewan
- Regina features Saskatchewan's only permanent arena theatre, the Globe Theatre.
- Saskatoon is home to Saskatchewan's largest theatre, Persephone Theatre, as well as Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company, Saskatchewan's francophone theatre La Troupe du Jour, Live Five and the Saskatoon Fringe Theatre Festival. Dancing Sky Theatre and the Rosthern Station Arts Centre are located 45 minutes east and north of Saskatoon, respectively.
Manitoba
- Winnipeg is the home of Le Cercle Molière (the oldest continuously running theatre company in Canada), the Manitoba Theatre Centre (Canada's oldest English-language regional theatre), the Pantages Playhouse, Fantasy Theatre for Children (Manitoba's oldest children's theatre), Merlyn Productions, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Rainbow Stage, Theatre Projects Manitoba, the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, and the Winnipeg Fringe Festival.
Northwest Territories
- Yellowknife is home to the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre, a small theatre with just over 300 seats.
Central Canadian theatre
Ontario
- Thunder Bay has Magnus Theatre, The Dr. S. Penny Petrone Centre for the Performing Arts, a regional professional theatre company.
- Sudbury has the regional theatre companies Sudbury Theatre Centre and Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario.
- Blyth is the home of the Blyth Festival Theatre and Centre for the Arts.
- London is home to the Grand Theatre.
- Stratford is best known for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
- Niagara-on-the-Lake is best known for the Shaw Festival.
- Toronto has a large and vibrant theatre scene, centred around the Toronto Theatre District, with many different companies. Some produce large-scale Broadway-style productions (produced by companies like Mirvish Productions), and others produce smaller-scale plays by Canadian and other playwrights. Some of the major theatre companies of Toronto include: Canadian Stage Company, Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Passe-Muraille, the Factory Theatre, Soulpepper Theatre Company, Buddies in Bad Times and Alumnae Theatre. Toronto has several theatre festivals during the year, including Summerworks and the Toronto Fringe Festival. Important smaller companies include Native Earth, Nightwood Theatre, Necessary Angel, Crow's Theatre, DNA Company, Theatre Gargantua and Volcano. 2013 saw a surge of storefront theatres opening in the city including Videofag and Storefront Theatre.[10]
- Kingston is home to its own professional company, Theatre Kingston, the Vagabond Repertory Theatre Company, as well as many amateur and student theatre groups. In nearby Gananoque, the Thousand Islands Playhouse features professional productions in two venues.
- Ottawa is home to the multi-venue National Arts Centre and the smaller Great Canadian Theatre Company, and holds the Ottawa Fringe Festival. The Ottawa Little Theatre, founded in 1913, is the longest-running community theatre company in Canada.[citation needed]
- In Windsor, the Windsor Light Music Theatre has been staging musicals, operettas and other theatre productions since 1948.
Quebec
- Montréal's theatre scene is split between French and English language theatre. The National Theatre School of Canada is based there, and the Montréal Fringe Festival is held there every June.
- Québec City is the home of Robert Lepage's company Ex Machina.
Atlantic Canada
New Brunswick
- Moncton has the restored Capitol Theatre, one of only eight theatres of the ca. 1922 Pantages/Vaudeville design in the nation.
- Saint John has the restored Imperial Theatre, an historic ca. 1913 modern adaptation of the Italian Renaissance.
- Fredericton is host to The Playhouse, a gift to the people of New Brunswick by Lord Beaverbrook in 1964.
- Theatre New Brunswick is a provincial theatre company.
Prince Edward Island
- Charlottetown is home to the Charlottetown Festival and the Confederation Centre of the Arts, with its 1,100 seat mainstage theatre being one of Atlantic Canada's pre-eminent performing arts facilities.
Nova Scotia
- Halifax has the Neptune Theatre, Shakespeare by the Sea and Canada's longest continuously running community theatre The Theatre Arts Guild, as well as the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. See Culture of the Halifax Regional Municipality#Theatre.
- Wolfville was home to the Atlantic Theatre Festival.
- Glace Bay has the Savoy Theatre, a cultural centre for Cape Breton Island.
- Antigonish has Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre, and Theatre Antigonish Antigonish.
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).
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.
- The Blyth Festival Theatre, based in Blyth, Ontario
- The Stratford Festival of Canada, based in Stratford, Ontario.
- The Shaw Festival, based in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
- The Thousand Islands Playhouse, based in Gananoque, Ontario.
- The Charlottetown Festival, based in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
- Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre, based in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.
- Shakespeare by the Sea, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
- The Magnetic North Theatre Festival, based in Ottawa, Ontario and held annually, alternating between Ottawa and another Canadian city.
- The Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan Festival in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Canada also has more fringe theatre festivals than any other country,[citation needed] 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 Festival and the Atlantic Fringe Festival.
See also
References
- ↑ David Gardner's thesis, "An Analytic History of the Theatre in Canada: the European Beginnings to 1760," and his article "British Garrison Theatre in Canada during the French Regime"
- ↑ http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/tric/article/view/12655/13542
- ↑ Le Quebec et Bourgues
- ↑ Societe d'Histoire de la Region de Terrebonne
- ↑ Theatre and Politics in Modern Quebec (1989) by Elaine Nardoccio
- ↑ Wilson, Edwin, ed. Living Theatre: History of the Theatre. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print.
- ↑ Moses Hayes in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
- ↑ Wilson, Edwin, ed. Living Theatre: History of the Theatre. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print.
- ↑ Canadian Theatre
- ↑ "From store to stage: Toronto theatres set up shop in small places". The Globe and Mail, December 13, 2013.
Further reading
- Bhabha, Homi. Editor's Introduction: Minority Maneuvers and Unsettled Negotiations.
- "Cosmopolitanisms." Public Culture 12.3. 2000. pp. 577–89.
- Critical Inquiry 23.3. 1997. pp. 431–50.
- Robinson, Amy (1994). "‘It Takes One to Know One’: Passing and Communities of Common Interest." Critical Inquiry 20. pp. 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.
- Wagner, Anton, ed. Contemporary Canadian Theatre: New World Visions, a Collection of Essays Prepared by the Canadian Theatre Critics Association. Toronto: Simon & Pierre, 1985. 411 p. ISBN 0-88924-159-7
- Young, Robert (2001). Postcolonialism: an Historical Introduction. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
External links
 |
Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: History of Western Theatre: 17th Century to Now/Canadian Post-WWII |
- Globalization Theory
- ArtsAlive.ca|Théâtre Français
- Playwrights Canada Press
- Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
- The Canadian Theatre Record
- L.W. Conolly Theatre Archives at University of Guelph, Archival and Special Collections, which holds more than 120 archival collections related to Canadian theatre
- SIBMAS: International Directory of Performing Arts Collections and Institutions
- The Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project
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