RENATE BENSON
In his introduction to Das ensglisch-kanadische Drama A.-R. Glaap, professor of English and active promoter of English-Canadian drama at Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany, points out the intention of this edition: it is meant to be a first stock-taking of Canadian drama written in German that would be of interest for German theatres, university and high school professors, and students, as well as for the public interested in theatre and literature in general.
For this reason, Glaap chose a number of articles which vary in style and contents from the journalistic (Don Rubin), the ironic, even cynical (Keith Turnbull), to the scholarly approach (Diane Bessai), for example. Topics range from the description of English-Canadian theatre history (Anton Wagner) to play and performance analyses (Richard Plant). While this may sound like a very mixed bag, the end result is admirable because of Glaap's intelligent editorship. He knows the English-Canadian scene very well and was thus able to secure a list of contributors who, with the exception of Glaap himself and Klaus Peter Maller, are Canadian scholars and theatre critics of national reputation. The German translations of their articles (with the financial support of the Canada Council) are excellent throughout.
Glaap's arrangement of the contributions under five major headings makes good sense; the book begins with an introduction to the development of English-Canadian drama, followed by chapters on regionalism, youth-theatre, and radio plays; it moves on to analyses of the Canadian theatre-goer, of the alternate and collective theatre (both hardly exist in Germany's heavily-subsidized theatre world), followed by twelve author and play interpretations. The book concludes with a survey of new developments and trends in English-Canadian drama. Appended are an extensive bibliography, a list of published plays by the authors treated in the study, and an index.
The bulk of Das englisch-kanadische Drama is rightly devoted to English Canadian playwrights, including most major dramatists of the recent past and present such as Robertson Davies, George Ryga, James Reaney, Sharon Pollock, and David French. Although not always even in quality--Geraldine Anthony's article on John Herbert is too long and lacks critical rigour-most interpretations are of high calibre and should prove informative for German readers. Where differences in opinions occur, they are stimulating and are likely to evoke further discussion. What makes some of these interpretations the more interesting is the fact that they deal not only with the plays' contents but also with performance and critical reception. This method is more common in Canada than in Germany where scholars still have a tendency to analyze drama as literature divorced from the realities of the stage. How vital the stage is for the interpretation of a play is particularly well demonstrated in the excellent contributions by Alan Filewod and Richard Plant. Both take John Krizanc's Tamara as a prime example of a play's 'interactive textuality'; the production history of Tamara is, of course, a good example of total drama, where an entire building (not necessarily a theatre) becomes the stage and the viewer is the play's ultimate director and interpreter.
While the volume is well edited, there are the inevitable minor errors. For example, a wrong date (obviously a typographical error) crept into Denis Salter's article on John Murrell, giving the date of the London staging of Memoir as 1987 rather than 1979. He also lists New World as Murrell's latest play when in fact it was October (produced in 1988); this could have easily been included in the study which appeared only in 1992.
However, these are minor criticisms and do not interfere with the overall quality of Das englisch-kanadische Drama. It is, to date, the best work of its kind on the German market, providing a wealth of information and insight into a dramatic literature which often varies greatly from its German counterpart for reasons well explained in the study. Furthermore, Das englischkanadische Drama is so interesting in its selection and editorial approach, differing as it does from existing works in English on Canadian drama, that consideration should be given to publishing the book in its original English.