Performing National Identities: International Perspectives on Contemporary Canadian Theatre

Sherrill Grace, Albert-Reiner Glaap

Talonbooks, 2003 - Literary Criticism - 320 pages

If you have ever wondered why the Scots love Michel Tremblay or what Sharon Pollock has to say to Japanese audiences, or just how a Canadian play--or being Canadian--is viewed in England or the United States, you should read this volume. Each author holds a mirror up to Canadian theatre, but the images in those mirrors differ in fascinating ways. The cumulative result is a multi-faceted reflection, coming from some of the world's most astute critics, on how Canada performs its national identities.

Performing National Identities is a collection of 18 original essays on contemporary Canadian theatre by scholars and drama specialists in Canada, Great Britain, Europe, Australia and Japan. The international scope of the volume, reflected in its co-editors (Sherrill Grace from Canada, Albert-Reiner Glaap from Germany), confirms the new importance of Canadian plays on the world stage. This is the first volume of its kind, and it celebrates the variety and vitality of Canadian theatre.

Among the playwrights whose works are discussed here are Michel Tremblay, Sharon Pollock, George F. Walker, Joan MacLeod, Tomson Highway, Marie Clements, Michel Marc Bouchard, Morris Panych, Monique Mojica, and Djanet Sears. There are also interviews with theatre practitioners in Hungary, Germany and Canada, including one with the late Urjo Kareda. The contributors consider many of the challenging issues addressed by contemporary Canadian playwrights--issues of race and racist stereotypes, of gender and violence, of historical events and identity politics--and all agree that Canada's playwrights mine their local or individual situations to explore universal problems. It is this large vision, as well as the quality of the plays, that enables Canadian drama to move audiences all over the world.

Contents

• List of Illustrations: 9
• PLAYWRIGHTS AND THEIR WORKS: 16
• Sharon Pollocks Walsh and Fair Libertys Call: 51

About the author

Sherrill Grace is a professor of English and theatre at the University of British Columbia. She is former President, Academy I, of the Royal Society of Canada. She has lectured widely in North America, as well as in Germany, Italy, England, Belgium, France, China and Japan. A member of several professional associations, such as the Association of Canadian Studies, the Canadian Association of American Studies, the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English, the Canadian Comparative Literature Association, the Modern Languages Association and the International Association of Professors of English, Grace was awarded the prestigious Killam Teaching Prize in 2008, and in 2009 she received the Ann Saddlemyer Award for her biography Making Theatre: A Life of Sharon Pollock. In 2013 Grace was appointed to the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian culture. Albert-Reiner Glaap is Professor Emeritus in the English Department at the Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf. His special fields of research are: Modern English and Canadian literature, contemporary drama and theatre in England, Canada and New Zealand; the teaching of English literatures at secondary school and university level; theory and practice of literary translation. He is editor of eighteen annotated editions of British, Canadian and American plays; translator of six English stage plays into German; editor of TAGS (Literary Texts for the Gymnasiale Oberstufe); co-editor of TRANSFER (Literary Translation); general editor of CSEL (Cornelsen Senior English Literature); editor of REFLECTIONS (books on the literatures in English outside Britain and the USA). He is also the author of several books on various subjects, including: Onstage and Offstage: English Canadian Drama in Discourse (1996, co-edited with Rolf Althof), Stimmen aus Kanada: 25 kanadische Dramen für deutsche Bühnen (1997), with Nicholas Quaintmere), A Guided Tour Through Ayckbourn Country (1999), and Keying in to Postcolonial Cultures: Contemporary Stage Plays in English (2003).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Performing National Identities: International Perspectives on Contemporary Canadian Theatre; Issue 6 of Printed series, University of Alabama Bureau of Business Research
• Editors: Sherrill Grace, Albert-Reiner Glaap
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Talonbooks, 2003
• Original from: the University of California
• Digitized: May 28, 2008
• ISBN: 0889224757, 9780889224759
• Length: 320 pages
• Subjects: Literary Criticism / Drama; Performing Arts / Theater / General; Performing Arts / Theater / History & Criticism; Performing Arts / Theater / Playwriting