1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910455822903321

Autore

Filewod Alan D (Alan Douglas), <1952->

Titolo

Collective encounters [[electronic resource] ] : documentary theatre in English Canada / / Alan Filewod

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto ; ; Buffalo, : University of Toronto Press, c1987

ISBN

1-282-05621-2

9786612056215

1-4426-7310-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (241 p.)

Disciplina

792/.0971

Soggetti

Experimental theater - Canada

Theater - Canada - History - 20th century

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. The Evolution of Documentary Theatre in Canada -- 2. Documentary and Collective Creation The Farm Show -- 3. Documentary and Popular History Ten Lost Years -- 4. Documentary and Regionalism No. i Hard and Paper Wheat -- 5. The Political Documentary: Buchans: A Mining Town -- 6. Documentary and Audience Intervention: It's About Time -- Conclusion: Canadian Documentary Theatre in Context -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Alternative theatre has been one of Canada's strongest cultural institutions over the past twenty years. Coinciding with a major revival of nationalism in Canadian culture during the late 1960s, this strength was in evidence throughout the country, and provided fertile ground for the growth of an important dramatic genre: the collectively created documentary play. Typically inspired by a distinctive community or a political issue, these plays are created through a process that begins with a group of actors researching a specific issue or distinctive community, and ends with a performance aimed at a specific audience. Some of the works thus created represent the most popular plays ever staged in Canada.In this study of the genre as it has developed nationally, Alan Filewod examines six landmark examples in terms of



their impact on their respective theatres and their role in Canada's cultural development generally. The plays include Theatre Passe Muraille's The Farm Show, Toronto Workshop Production's Ten Lost Years, Globe Theatre's No. 1 Hard, Twenty-fifth Street Theatre's Paper Wheat, The Mummers Troupe's Buchans: A Mining Town, and Catalyst Theatre's It's About Time.Each of these six plays represents an aspect of the documentary genre. Together they evoke a period of unprecedented activity in Canadian theatre and the wide range of social, political, and cultural issues that have driven it.