Establishing Our Boundaries

'Anton Wagner deserves great praise for the vision to initiate this project and for the industry and skill with which it is brought together. Wagner has identified a developmental impulse shared by Canadian theatre and its criticism over the years, and I expect that this book will prove to be one of the most valuable ever made available about Canadian theatre.' -- Professor Richard L. Plant, Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, Queens University

An impressive collection of essays by 21 of English Canada's leading theatre critics provides a cultural history of Canada, and Canadians intense relationship to theatre, from 1829 to 1998, and across the whole country.

>Establishing Our Boundaries is a cultural history of Canada as seen through the eyes of twenty-one of English Canada's leading theatre critics commenting on the creation of an indigenous Canadian national theatre and drama over two centuries. Canadians have always had an intense relationship to the theatre. As Canada has transformed from colony to Dominion to independent nation, the development of a national theatre and the public responses to it have both reflected and affected how we know ourselves.

Eighteen essays, written by top scholars in the field, cover the range of influential English-language theatre reviewing from 1829 to 1998, and from Vancouver to Halifax. The word 'critic,' refers primarily to newspaper columnists. The criticism under scrutiny here-much of it only available on microfiche-is generally short (ten column inches) and reflects an immediate, often heated response to the show. Some longer pieces, Hector Charlesworth's (1890-1945) and B.K. Sandwell's (1932-51) work at Saturday Night, are also examined. The editor's extensive introductory essay explains the cultural context for the material considered and suggests a current crisis in criticism.

A forceful and provoking tradition of theatre criticism in Canada developed long before Nathan Cohen's outspoken voice called attention to it-of course his confident and controversial work is given a full treatment here. The call for an indigenous theatre arose simultaneously with the proliferation of Canadian newspapers. Patrick O'Neill's meticulously thorough essay 'From Puffery to Criticism- William Lyon Mackenzie, Joseph Howe and Daniel Morrison: Theatre Criticism in Halifax and Toronto 1826-1857' discusses both the status of journalism and the instrumental roles those three played in creating an actual theatre criticism. Issues such as the creation of colourful personae and the implicated nature of criticism are broached by Douglas Arrell. Gina Mallet's iconoclastic and at times incendiary columns in the Toronto Star, appearing between 1976 and 1984, get an admirably sharp review by Alan Filewod. In 'Establishing Contact between Two Cultures: Marianne Ackerman at the Montreal Gazette 1983-87,' Leanore Lieblein offers a sensitive analysis of francophone / anglophone relations. Robert Nunn speculates on the tricky border...read more...