Filewod - The CTR Anthology: Fifteen Plays from Canadian Theatre Review

THE CTR ANTHOLOGY

Fifteen Plays from Canadian Theatre Review

Fifteen Plays from
Canadian Theatre Review

Edited by Alan Filewod

Individual plays the authors
Introduction University of Toronto Press Incorporated 1993
Toronto Buffalo London

Printed in Canada
ISBN 0-8020-6812 -X

Printed on acid-free paper

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

Main entry under title:

The CTR anthology : fifteen plays from Canadian
theatre review

ISBN 0-8020-6812 -X

1. Canadian drama (English) 20th century.*
2. Canadian drama (French) 20th century Translations into English.* I. Filewod, Alan
D. (Alan Douglas), 1952

PS8307.C88 1993 c812'.5408 C92-095004-3
PR9196.3.C88 1993

This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Woodlawn Arts Foundation.

This volume is dedicated to

FLOYD S. CHALMERS

Journalist, publisher, and indefatigable supporter of the arts, his patronage has recognized and benefited a great many artists, and his generosity and enthusiasm have left an indelible mark on all the arts in Canada. His many honours, including Companion of the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, and various honorary degrees, are tributes to the wide range of his philanthropy. This volume attests to his love for Canadian theatre.

Michael Cook:

John Palmer:

Hrant Alianak:

George F. Walker:

Jack Winter and Cedric Smith:

Betty Lambert:

The Anna Project:

Paul Ledoux and David Young:

Cindy Cowan:

Ren-Daniel Dubois (translated by Linda Gaboriau):

Arthur Milner:

Bauta Rubess:

Sky Gilbert:

Richard Rose and D.D. Kugler:

Marie Brassard and Robert Lepage (translated by Gyllian Raby):

Caution: The plays in this volume are protected under the copyright laws of Canada and all other countries of the Copyright Union and all performances are subject to royalty. Rights to produce, film, or record, in whole or in part, in any medium and in any language, by any group, amateur or professional, are retained by the authors.

The Head, Guts and Sound Bone Dance 1974 Michael Cook. Originally published in CTR 1

Henrik Ibsen on the Necessity of Producing Norwegian Drama 1976 John Palmer. (Authors agent: Rhonda Cooper, The Characters Talent Agency, 150 Carlton St, Toronto, Ont., M 5 A 2 K 1.) Originally published in CTR 14

Passion and Sin 1976 Hrant Alianak. Originally published in CTR 19

Rumours of Our Death 1979 George F. Walker. Originally published in CTR 25

Ten Lost Years 1974 Jack Winter and Cedric Smith. Originally published in CTR 38

Jennies Story 1981 the estate of Betty Lambert. Rights are retained by The New Play Centre, P.O. Box 34091, Station D , Vancouver, BC, v6j 4M1 . Originally published in CTR 40

This is for You, Anna 1985 The Anna Project (c/o Bauta Rubess). Originally published in CTR 43

Love is Strange 1984 Paul Ledoux and David Young. Originally published in CTR 44

A Woman from the Sea 1986 Cindy Cowan. Originally published in CTR 48

Being at Home with Claude English-language version 1987 Ren-Daniel Dubois and Linda Gaboriau. (Authors agents: LAgence John C. Goodwin et Associs, 839, Sherbrooke est, suite 2, Montral, Que., H2L 1K6.) Originally published in CTR 50

Zero Hour 1986 Arthur Milner. Originally published in CTR 53

Boom, Baby, Boom! 1988 Bauta Rubess. Originally published in CTR 58

Lola Starr Builds Her Dream Home 1989 Sky Gilbert. Originally published in CTR 59

Newhouse 1989 Richard Rose and D.D. Kugler. Originally published in CTR 61

Polygraph English-language version 1990 Robert Lepage, Marie Brassard, and Gyllian Raby. Originally published in CTR 64

Alan Filewod

Of the fifteen plays in this anthology, most have been out of print since they originally appeared in the pages of Canadian Theatre Review. A few have been republished elsewhere but are no longer available; a smaller number are currently available in book form or in other anthologies. This volume therefore serves two purposes: to recover a number of significant plays that have gone out of print, and to offer a representative overview of the development of Canadian drama and theatrical practice as recorded by the several editors of CTR since 1974.

These fifteen plays, which comprise approximately twenty per cent of the journals canon to date, represent the tastes, prejudices, and analyses of three different editorial regimes at CTR. Four of them (The Head, Guts and Sound Bone Dance, Henrik Ibsen on the Necessity of Producing Norwegian Drama, Passion and Sin, and Rumours of Our Death) were published while CTRs founder, Don Rubin, served as editor (with occasional associates, most notably Alan Richardson) from 1974 to 1982. Six (Ten Lost Years, Jennies Story, This is for You, Anna, Love is Strange, A Woman from the Sea, and Being at Home with Claude) were originally published under the direction of Robert Wallace, editor from 1982 to 1987. The remaining plays (Zero Hour, Boom, Baby, Boom!, Lola Starr Builds Her Dream Home, Newhouse, and Polygraph) have appeared since 1987, when Wallace was succeeded by an editorial collective consisting of Alan Filewod as editor, and Natalie Rewa, Wallace (until 1988), and Ann Wilson (until 1992) as associate editors. Although the selection of the plays for this volume was made by one person, in a very real sense it is a collective effort that reproduces the work of all of the editors who have been involved in the journal since its inception.

Each year CTR has normally published four plays with occasional fluctuations and the choice of plays has always been subjective. They were published because the editors involved considered them significant, either because of their textual and thematic values, or because they documented important developments in theatrical production. Each editors choice is justified by a personal analysis of Canadian drama and theatre. In that sense, CTRs mission has consistently been one of advocacy: to publish deserving plays that demonstrate what we as editors have seen as important in Canadian theatre, and to record how Canadian theatre changes.

At the same time, the selection of plays to be reissued raises the question of canonization, a topic that has provoked considerable debate in recent years. The process of canonization is necessarily exclusive, for certain texts are made available at the expense of others, and during the existence of CTR the field of new Canadian plays to choose from has expanded rapidly. The canon of Canadian drama the body of available texts that together define the conceptual borders of the discipline is in a constant state of change, somewhat stabilized by the lists of the playtext publishers and the few anthologies available for use in university and college courses.