Stephen Johnson
The methods of the 'new' history have helped to define the study of theatre history; at the same time, these methods tend to de-emphasize the influence of the politics of the nation state on that history. This can create tension in a discipline such as Canadian theatre history that defines itself by national as well as cultural criteria. This article illustrates the tension by comparing the definition of theatrical culture implicit in two examples of the Upper Canada (Wellington County) local press during the 1860s with that of an American trade journal for the same period. Reference is made to the Civil War, the Fenian raids, and Confederation.
Les méthodes déployées par la « nouvelle » historiographie ont, certes, aidé à définir la nouvelle histoire du théâtre. Mais ces méthodes ont tendance à minimaliser l'influence de la politique sur la nation en question, ce qui est susceptible de créer des tensions au sein d'une discipline comme la nôtre qui se définit selon des critères nationaux aussi bien que culturels. Dans cet article l'auteur cherche à illustrer ces tensions en comparant la définition d'une culture théâtrale implicite dans les deux exemples qu'il a choisis dans la presse locale du Haut-Canada (comté de Wellington) des années 1860, avec la notion de culture théâtrale qui semble prévaloir dans une revue américaine consacrée aux arts du spectacle, vers la même époque. Il y est question, parmi d'autres sujets, de la Guerre de Sécession, des incursions des Féniens, et de la Confédération.
In her collection of essays, The New History and the Old, the conservative historian Gertrude Himmelfarb describes an altercation with a young scholar:
A few years ago, in a discussion of recent trends in the writing of history, one young historian proudly described his work as being on the 'cutting edge of the discipline.' He was writing a study of a New England town toward the end of the eighteenth century, an 'in-depth' analysis of the life of its inhabitants: their occupations and earnings, living and working conditions, familial and sexual relations, habits, attitudes, and social institutions. He regretted that he had to confine himself to that one town, but some of his colleagues were doing comparable studies of other towns and their collective efforts would constitute a 'total history' of that time and place. I asked him whether his study, or their collective studies, had any bearing on what I, admittedly not a specialist in American history, took to be the most momentous event of that time and place, indeed one of the most momentous events in all of modem history: the founding of the United States of America, the first major republic of modem times. He conceded that from his themes and sources-parish registers, tax rolls, census reports, legal records, polling lists, land titles-he could not 'get to,' as he said, the founding of the United States. But he denied that this was the crucial event I took it to be. What was crucial were the lives and experiences of the mass of people. That was the subject of his history; it was the 'new history,' or social history. My rebuttal-that even ordinary people perhaps most of all ordinary people) had been profoundly affected in the most ordinary aspects of their lives by the founding of the republic, by political events, institutions, and ideas that had created a new polity and with it a new society-seemed to him naive and old-fashioned. 1
I quote this altercation at length because the tension it illustrates is, I believe, central to the study of Canadian theatre history. That tension exists between two kinds of historian. Gertrude Himmelfarb demands that the researcher seek a relationship between the cultural life of a community and national (and international) political events. She by no means dismisses the 'new' history in her writing; but her judgement of the value of its research defines a very different purpose to her history from that of the the young historian in the altercation. He believes that the importance of that broader context must be judged by the explicit evidence in the documents themselves. If the character of the local culture does not seem to change because of the American Revolution, then perhaps that event was not important in the life of that specific community during that specific period.2 He would not look for the importance of the broader political event as a matter of course; instead he would question the assumption of its importance. The two attitudes expressed by this anecdote establish a tension that persists in any discipline which defines itself by both national and cultural criteria, including national theatre histories. On the one hand, the 'new' history has to a great extent defined the study of theatre history. On the other, the 'new' history in most of its incarnations tends to undermine the importance of the idea of the 'nation state.' This presents some difficulties for a discipline that combines the two. There is a tension between 'Canadian' and 'theatre history,' which this essay will examine in general terms, and then with specific reference to the history of Wellington County, Ontario, during the 1860s.
'Getting To' the New History
The 'new history,' as Himmelfarb points out, is actually quite old. In its general character it is the movement in historical research away from a focus on the literate and ruling culture, the institutions and events that shaped it and the documents produced by it. In its place, 'new' historians have promoted a variety of approaches, drawn from the methods of sociology, folklore, anthropology, economics, and other disciplines, and with a focus on under-researched (and under-documented) cultural groups-the 'lives and experiences of the mass of the people' noted above. These groups may be categorized by physical character, including gender, age, race, ethnicity, and colonial status. They may also be categorized by associated institutions-prisons, schools, churches, unions, and other organized social gatherings, including theatre. Indeed, these old 'new' approaches have deeply influenced the study of theatre history, providing the means to study the 'institutions' of theatrical performance as they interact with all parts of society.
Theatre history in this century has grown as a discipline parallel to, and because of, the 'new' history. Theaterwissenschaft parallels Kulturgeschichte, its rigorous re-examination of documents disseminated on this continent by A. M. Nagler.3 Socioeconomic and anthropological approaches to the study of culture parallel the tendency toward economic theatre histories, and the close examination of local theatrical culture. A statistical approach toward history has been parallelled in theatre history by efforts to compile performance calendars and to document the daily workings of theatre companies and buildings over long periods. Perhaps most important, the 'new' history has broadened the discipline by broadening the definition of 'theatre' to include popular, folk, and ritual forms of performance, and the definition of an 'audience' to include non-literate as well as literate culture. The diversity of these new approaches has been most forcefully exemplified in the recent collection, Interpreting the Theatrical Past: the usefulness of semiotics, audience reception theory, and the concept of hegemony in the study of past theatrical cultures; the importance of an emphasis on specific categories of audience and performer; and pleas for a less aesthetic and generic bias in the study of theatre history-that is, less of an emphasis on the avant-garde over the commercial mass media and on the 'straight' play over opera and other forms. 4
There is inherent in the new methods a potential problem for the historian seeking to study a 'national' theatre. At the same time as the 'new' history helps to define the discipline, it also tends to undermine the importance of the politically defined boundary and, with this, the importance of the nation-state to the study of theatrical culture.5 This should not come as a surprise from a movement that has sought to diversify points of view toward history; and, after all, the nation-state is precisely the kind of powerful, well-documented organizing structure that the 'new' history has reacted against. If the historian wants to study, for example, the relationships between women and theatre, children and theatre, family and theatre, or rural culture and theatre, the resulting investigation will divert attention away from the discourse imposed by the national political structure. It will, furthermore, emphasize the differences between that relationship and all others.
The goals of the 'new' history-the emphasis on local values and structures, the focus on under-researched groups within society-have obvious advantages in the study of theatre in Canada. 'New' history can focus attention on the relationship between specific cultural groups, and in particular immigrant groups, and a colonial power structure. At the same time, however, the number and diversity of those groups tend to de-emphasize the 'national' discourse even more visibly than for older cultures. The seeming incompatibility of 'new' history and the idea of the nation-state may not always be obvious for geographical regions that have been occupied by more or less homogeneous cultural groups; political and cultural history can overlap significantly enough to be confused. The existence of a number of independent German or Italian states until the second half of the nineteenth century, for example, does not prevent historians from discussing 'German' or 'Italian' theatre as if present boundaries always existed. This may be misleading; but the identification is understandable, given the shared linguistic heritage.6 What is true for Europe, however, is not so true of Canada. By definition, the centre of an immigrant community lies beyond the borders of the colony or the new nation state-whether in Britain, France, or the Ukraine. The variety of immigrant populations multiplies the number of such external centres of culture. If the theatrical culture of a number of such immigrant communities grouped together geographically (that is, as a country) were compared, the theatre historian may very well find some similarity of experience-the garrison experience, for example, in Canada's case. So strong are the ties of each culture to the 'old world,' however, that they all but overwhelm those aspects that may tend to bind the separate communities together into some sense of a national theatrical culture. This poses a problem in the definition of the word 'Canadian,' unless we satisfy ourselves with the simple-and simplistic--definition by present political borders. Surely there is more to the word than this.
'Getting To' Confederation
There is, then, the strong potential for a tension between the 'new' history and the idea of the nation-state in the study of Canadian theatre history. It is a tension that, on the one hand, sees theatrical culture as a relationship between the cultural life of the local community and its foreign influences, and on the other hand seeks to define the adjective 'Canadian.' The balance of this article will follow this line of inquiry through a single example, comparing the definition of theatrical culture implicit in two examples of the Wellington County, Ontario, local press during the 1860s, with that of an American trade journal for the same period. The local newspapers examined were both weeklies: the Guelph Evening Mercury, founded in 1854 and edited during the 1860s by James Innes; and The Elora Observer and Salem and Fergus Chronicle, founded in 1859 and edited by John M. Shaw. The American trade journal examined was The New York Clipper, founded in 1853 and published in New York City, which carried information about touring performers across North America.7
The most obvious event through which to look for a relationship between the politics of the nation-state and theatrical culture during this period is Confederation. However, the preliminary results of an examination of the two local newspapers-and I emphasize that they are preliminary-resemble those described in the altercation quoted above. Like Himmelfarb, from the beginning of my research I placed a high priority on establishing a relationship between the national event (the creation of Canada as a political entity) and the theatrical culture of the area. Like the young historian, I found it difficult, through these documents, to 'get to' any relationship between Confederation and the local cultural character, including theatrical culture. Not that these documents did not manifest an interest in national politics. On the contrary, both editors voiced strong political views; both were Liberal, reformist, had little patience with the coalitionist governments in Ottawa, and were nevertheless in favour of Confederation. They did not ignore the debates and intrigues: they editorialized about them.. The heat of political debate, however, stands in marked contrast to the cool depiction of the local celebrations on Confederation day and its anniversary. There were events, to be sure-'pic-nics,' 'cricket, horse-racing, and other amusements too numerous to mention' in Elora (Observer, 5 July 1867). In Clifford there was a village picnic followed by 'three cheers for the Queen and three times three for the New Dominion' (Observer, 12 July 1867). But the tone of the reporting was matter-of-fact, if not negative. In Harriston someone hoisted a flag and fired a cannon on Confederation day but there were 'no public demonstrations of any kind. The places of business were all open, and everyone working with a will, to enable them to meet the additional taxation expected to arise from the working of the government of the New Dominion' (Observer, 5 July 1867). The lack of interest shown by these documents in Confederation and its anniversary is typified by the following report:
The first anniversary of the birthday of the New Dominion passed over Guelph quietly. If no demonstrations were made in its honour it was not because there was a lack of loyalty or national feeling in the inhabitants, but simply because no person had taken the initiative in getting up a popular display.... The afternoon was as quiet and warm as any person could wish it to be, and nothing remarkable occurred by which this, the anniversary of the birthday of what may yet be a mighty nation, could be distinguished from the other days of the year. (Guelph Evening Mercury, 2 July 1868).8
Confederation, based on a reading of these two documents alone, had only a minor effect on the daily life of the community, a mix of small celebration and, apparently, some anxiety. It seemed to have no effect at all on local theatrical culture, however defined. Regular and frequent amateur fundraising concerts, occasional amateur readings and dramatic events, touring lecturers, professional singers, minstrel troupes, an occasional circus and theatrical troupe-all continued without a noticeable change in character or venue or audience, from any evidence in these documents.
The absence of any apparent change in theatrical culture in the late 1860s may or may not come as a surprise. If, like Gertrude Himmelfarb, we consider the political act that created Canada to be what she called a 'main event' in our history, then we ought to be looking for its effect-in local culture, in theatrical culture, and in the documents we have in hand. If, like the young historian, we define the importance of an event by its explicit effect on the documents we have in hand, then Confederation was not a 'main event' in the political and cultural life of Wellington County during this period. After all, the political act that created Canada was not accompanied by the violence or governmental restructuring of American independence. The resulting effect might understandably be less severe, and less immediate. In terms of theatrical culture, perhaps we should not expect any effect at all from national political events. This, it should be remembered, was the point the young historian was making: that certain aspects of cultural life are unaffected by the actions of a nation state except under extreme conditions; and that (in his case) even in the midst of great political change the patterns of life in the local community might not react to what seems profound in another place.9
The absence of change in theatrical culture during this period is corroborated, further emphasized-and then undermined-by a source with a quite different point of view. The New York Clipper was a 'show business' trade journal that published the activities of touring professionals and the theatre managers that booked them, based on information from the professionals themselves and from unpaid local 'stringers.' A reading of this journal for references to performance in Canada during the late 1860s offers no special acknowledgement of the event of Confederation, except an occasional use of the word 'dominion' when describing touring destinations. Otherwise, as a general principle, the journal did not distinguish a northern international border, before or after Confederation. Its touring routes continued to be predominantly north-south, following train and shipping lines (and the dominant trade routes). There are also no alterations in the categories of performance established by the journal, which included 'Dramatic,' 'Circuses,' 'Negro Minstrelsy,' 'Music Hall,' 'Miscellaneous,' 'Amateur,' and 'Foreign Dramatic and Show News.' The new dominion was never considered 'Foreign.' On the other hand, there is a solitary reference that expresses the mood of the region, and its effect on theatrical touring:
L. B. Lent's New York Circus has been doing a good business since they left the Canadas, where business is said to be very bad with all kinds of shows, owing to the scarcity of money and the prejudice existing against all Yankee shows. (New York Clipper, 6 July 1867).
Business seems to have been poor in 'the Canadas' for some months; but it is not easy to 'get to' this kind of audience reaction to the persistent theatrical stuctures through the documents we have at our disposal.
'Getting To' Theatrical Culture
This is not the end of the investigation. The documents themselves represent different definitions for, and different means of assessing, theatrical culture. These 'world views' have an active economic and moral relationship that, in its accommodations, frustrations, and conflicts, is political-if not national. If we, like the Clipper, ignore the political boundary, we can begin to characterize this relationship---between the local and the international (or 'New York'). Confederation, and the idea of the nation state in general, may manifest itself indirectly.
The New York Clipper represents an economic world view that defines theatrical performance as the 'show business,' in the broadest and most 'democratic' terms possible. In effect, any social gathering at which money was exchanged professionally was a part of the 'business.' Just as it made no special distinction between Canada and the United States, the paper was in general evenhanded in its coverage of sport and performance, variety and narrative, opera house and circus tent. It promoted all forms of its businesswith near-equal enthusiasm, including all those listed under 'Miscellaneous': acrobats, tightrope walkers, magicians, lecturers, and panoramas.10 It was not an objective point of view, to be sure. It can be seen as democratic only because it valued economic viability more than social position; in fact, it judged harshly, assessing value by the twin concepts of centralized touring and the exchange of money. The first advocated a homogeneity of culture throughout North America that tended to disregard local interests and sensibilities, and to devalue regional theatrical culture, amateur and professional. The second led to a tendency to ignore moral intent, and no doubt blatantly lie about aesthetic quality.
As might be expected, this definition of and critical approach toward theatrical culture differed from the equally subjective but somewhat different point of view of the local press surveyed. That point of view was biased in favour of the social outlook and goals of the editors and their readers. These views are not difficult to characterize. The activities of the editors give a strong indication of the priorities of their papers. James Innes, editor of the Mercury, was a recent Scots immigrant. He was, among other things, an active participant in the Wellington County railway business. He was on a variety of Boards: of Trade; of the Investment and Saving Society; of Education; of the Mechanics Institute and, later, the Circulating Library; and of the philanthropic St. Andrew's Society. He was a founding member of one of the local Presbyterian churches, which met occasionally in the offices of the newspaper. The writer of the editorials for the Observer during this period, Charles Clarke, was a similarly inclined promoter of whatever would increase the prosperity and good order of the region-prosperity measured in size of population, ease of transportation, and number of manufacturing businesses. He was an immigrant from England, a prosperous local merchant and, among other interests, a member of the 'Sons of Temperance.' Like these men, the population of Guelph and Elora served by the press was literate, in general British by birth or genealogy, Protestant by faith, strict in social morality, urban by inclination, and entrepreneurial and industrial in its economic goals. There were other populations in the region, most prominent among them rural and urban labourers; but these were not an important part of the intended readership of the newspapers. For editors and subscribers the regional goal was to build a prosperous, peaceful, orderly society. The coverage given by the local press to public performances reflected this; value was administered by what we might call an 'instructional imperative.' If it improved the society, according to local definitions of 'improvement,' its presence in town could be justified.
Because the mandate of the Guelph Evening Mercury and the Elora Observer and Salem and Fergus Chronicle was to report on the whole rangeof the local community's social and political life, a definition of 'theatrical performance' is more difficult to determine than for the Clipper. Any of that journal's categories of performance that could be justified by the community, of course, were included-and welcomed into the community as aesthetic and cultural models. The most obvious of these was the category characterized by the Clipper as 'Dramatic,' including musical and non-musical troupes presenting narrative performances. A few such troupes appeared in Guelph around Confederation, the most important of which, by the coverage of the press, was John Townsend's.11 Townsend's two appearances at the Guelph Town Hall in the 1867-8 season were occasions for reviews and editorials supporting the instructional imperative. It was important that Townsend, among the comedies and farces, introduced the roles of Othello and Richard III to the community (at least, he introduced them in a 'professional' context). The reviews encouraged readers to improve their disappointing attendance caused by the 'idea abroad that itinerant theatres are scarcely worthy of patronage . . .' (2 November 1867) The occasion was culturally educational.
Of particular interest are two editorials by a local citizen signing himself 'Innocence.' He took the occasion of Townsend's first appearance to criticize both the behaviour of audiences in Guelph and the inadequate venue for Townsend:
[A]fter passing our handsome stores, approaching our very handsome Market House, and going upstairs prepared to meet a fitting climax in a spacious and elegant room, [a stranger in Guelph] is suddenly admitted into our Town Hall! Oh, ye gods! what can he see? A crowded mass of humanity in front and centre, every available space, including window sills and chimney pieces, occupied by bipeds standing, sitting and poking their legs where they can get a chance; and the background, what? An organ-that king of instruments--enveloped in the physiogs of our young 'hoi poloi'. . . . With those high seats piled up on each side of it, the organ looks like a fine picture in a villainous frame. The stranger groans, but sits down prepared to make the best of a bad job; but beforehis nerves are quieted a collection of howls, diabolical screeches, and outrageous noises are commenced ... (Guelph Evening Mercury, 5 November 1867)
He protests the noise and disrespect shown by the 'gods' (those described surrounding the organ), and includes in their number a group who had forced their way into the performance. The writing of this article appears to have been stimulated specifically by the fact that Townsend was performing two , 'scenes' from Othello. 'Innocence' comments that 'many might think with a make-shift for a theatre, and a limited stage and scenery a tragedy was going it rather too strong' (Mercury, 4 November 1867); he seems genuinely surprised that such a performance could work in that venue. There are several assumptions in this criticism: that Shakespearean tragedy is superior to othergenres; that superior genres require more elaborate and comfortable physical facilities; and that superior cultural fare requires a more sophisticated and educated audience. 'Innocence' has an exclusive definition of 'theatrical performance.'
Townsend's appearance might lead to the conclusion that the touring dramatic performance was the preferred model of theatrical cultural activity promoted in the local press. This model does seem to have carried a special significance; but the press was certainly not as exclusive in its value judgement as 'Innocence' was. Other kinds of touring performances listed in the Clipper-lecturers, concert singers, and especially minstrel troupes were given similar attention to Townsend's, and appeared in the same venue. Like the Clipper, in general the terms 'narrative' and 'characterization' do not define anything that the community itself seems to place in a completely different category from all other forms. There was no venue or occasion or audience or social ritual-and probably not even a general performance structure-that separated the appearance of John Townsend from a minstrel show or a concert singer. 12 These other theatrical performances were defined and justified by their instructional value; when they could not be justified on the grounds of moral or aesthetic education, they were justified by the exhibition of skill.
The instructional imperative, however, did not sanction all categories of performance found listed in the Clipper. The appearance of a circus, for example, was reported, but only by advertisement and brief mention that it ,attracted a large number of country people to town' (my emphasis; Guelph Evening Mercury, 22 July 1868). And there were other entertainers that, unless the Clipper fabricated entire classes of performer, travelled through the region.13 If they performed, the local press did not report their activities in the area; in which case we have no record of their existence from these sources. Of the kinds of performers listed in the Clipper who seem to be excluded, whether from the region or simply from the paper, the most conspicuous is the entire category of 'Music Hall' performers-associated with venues that served alcohol. Less conspicuous-in fact, nearly impossible to see-are the showmen and street performers who were rarely listed in the Clipper, but for whom the journal listed the dates of the annual fall fairs. They made the rounds of outdoor public gatherings, entertaining a largely rural population, or perhaps the urban working poor; but they were invisible to the literate population, and so invisible in the local press.
The implied definition of theatrical performance in the local press does bear some resemblance to the 'show business' of the Clipper. It differs in the more exclusive nature of its instructional imperative. In another important way, however, it is more inclusive; namely, it does not rely on the concepts of touring and professionalism for justification. If we accept a definition that is broader than both 'narrative' and 'professional' the local definition of theatrical performance becomes surprisingly broad and pervasive. The same words used to describe professional performance--'concerts,' 'exhibitions,' 'lectures,' 'entertainments,' 'plays,' and so on-are found in descriptions of many social gatherings in the community, from church teas to military dances to annual art exhibitions. The complaint of 'Innocence' aside, the sanctioning of performances by newspaper coverage appears to be venue-, and not genre-driven. The Town Hall was no more restricted to dramatic productions than the local Mechanics Hall to readings, the Temperance Hall to lectures, the Drill Shed to marching, or a local church to worship. As respectable, controlled venues, they might decide to offer anything they could rationalize as morally and culturally useful. Even 'Innocence' agrees. In his diatribe against the Town Hall and its audience, he longs (somewhat) for the church:
At Tea Meetings and such performances [my emphasis], you may at least have comparative peace, but that arises not from our 'city Fathers' taking any interest in the matter, but from the fact that the 'fry' cannot stand the talk to which they would be subject, nor could they find out the point of the jokes (?), wit (?), and pleasantries (?) at such places to be found. Therein the b'hoys show their sense, and are entitled to some credit. (Mercury 5 November 1867)
He may not enjoy 'Tea Meetings,' but 'Innocence' acknowledges the equal footing of the venue; indeed, he wishes the Town Hall were as restrictive as the local church.
Amateur performances were as subject to the instructional imperative as the professionals. They were given credence and coverage in the press because they improved the minds of the spectators or, in the case of concerts and dances, helped to raise money for a local cause. This kind of justification can be seen in as apparently unrelated events as an art exhibition (in the local Elora drill shed) and a Presbyterian church social, both of which included rehearsed public performances. Concerts in the first case were praised as a means 'to elevate the taste of the people in regard to public entertainments' (Elora Observer, 26 March 1866). The 'recitations, music, etc.' presented at the church social (Observer, 10 December 1866) were described by the press as the 'intellectual part of the entertainment.'
'Getting To' The American Border
Both of these visions of theatrical performance are, in effect, ideological statements, expressing the place and purpose of one part of the culture-theatrical culture-within the fabric of the culture as a whole. Their intentions for theatrical performance are culturally significant---commerce and instruction and have different agendas. Nevertheless, to a great extent they do seek to accommodate each other, as witnessed by the apparent lack of change in the pattern of touring during the period. The local press accommodated a wide range of dubious entertainments within its instructional imperative. When the 'Fakir of Vishnu,' a magician, appeared at the Drill Shed in Guelph, his appearance at that respectable venue was justified in the Mercury by the quality of his program (25, 29, 30 July 1868). The editors of that paper were not above accommodating the Clipper's definition of theatrical performance by stretching its own concept of instruction, for example when it reported an ,exhibition' by a 'billiard expert' at O'Connor's Billiard Hall-'prominent citizens viewed from the gallery' (19-21 September 1868). In turn, the instructional imperative was not lost on the clientele of the New York Clipper, which made reference to educational value and the potential of performances in the classroom. It reported, for example, an appearance in Brantford of the 'Wild Men of Borneo' (9 August 1862) that included an 'exhibition ... to the children of the various schools in that place'; and a Panorama advertised for sale stressed its educational more than its entertainment value (31 January 1863). For the Clipper, this kind of accommodation was a matter of good business; but good business is also at the heart of this journal's fleeting references to frustrations and confrontations with 'the Canadas.' The journal expressed frustration, for example, that business in Canada West declined briefly in 1866 because of 'the Fenian excitement,' the fear of a raid across the border that disrupted normal business and raised the militia. This was a short-lived inconvenience, but it generated a rare reference to national politics-the Fenians in the United States were interested in liberating the British colonies-affecting the theatre during this period. The frustration of the Clipper was that of businessmen inconvenienced by politics; it had no idealism attached with it, and could not be said to have had a lasting effect on a theatrical culture.14
A better example of the conflict possible between the international and local points of view can be found during the American Civil War. For a period early in the war the British considered the possibility of supporting the South in exchange for cotton. British North America dutifully followed British policy; even after that possibility disappeared, considerable sympathy for the South continued. With clear Northern sympathies the Clipper expressed, infrequently but with uncharacteristic anger, its frustration with this 'secesh' (secessionist) sentiment. There are two references, for example, to the relationship between Toronto theatre manager Harry Linden and the Toronto Leader, the 'Principal secesh sheet in Canada.' The first reference notes the Leader's poor treatment of him, and that his business is 'picking up'(16 November 1862). The second reference shows a complete reversal:
The Royal Lyceum, Toronto, under Harry Linden's management, has been doing fearfully bad business for the last two weeks, with no better prospect ahead.... Mr. Loveday has cut acquaintance with Harry in a business point of view, although he has consented to play Harry Cavanagh in the 'Peep o' Day' next (this) week.... It is rather strange that since the Leader ... has veered round in favor of Linden, when six weeks ago it was dead against him, the 'biz.' has gone down headforemost. If Linden wishes to make the 'honey' come in, he's got to engage a few stars, and not choke the public with wretched stock acting ... (7 February 1863).
Although corroborating evidence has been impossible to find, the strong implication from this statement is that 'secesh' sentiment invites a loss of business, possibly from the loss of the 'northern' stars coming in from New York (Mr. Loveday has, unfortunately, not been identified). Even if the published report is not true, it betrays on the part of the Clipper a belief in economic sanction to support political ideology.
The Clipper betrays this otherwise uncharacteristic political activism in references to two performers. On 16 November 1862 it published a report of the appearance of George Henry Russell at the Mechanic's Hall in Hamilton, C.W., 'showing' a panorama:
Mr. Russell says his panorama exhibits with 'wonderftil accuracy, the great Southern Victories under Stonewall Jackson, Lee, Beauregard, etc., etc.' This may answer for the Canadas, but does not Mr. Russell give the victories to the North when he exhibits his panorama in the loyal States? We shall watch Mr. Russell and his panorama.
Just at the end of the war, on 27 May 1865, the journal reports the May 12 appearance of a Professor 0. W. Fowler, lecturer, in Dundas, C.W. He is quoted as publicly professing his northern sentiment, which the paper considers 'worthy of being recorded, when we take into consideration that Dundas is one of the most secession-upholding towns in Canada West.' In the first instance a performer who has accommodated his entertainment to attract and appease the local audience is condemned; in the second a performer who has declared his personal belief in the face of a hostile local audience is deemed heroic. In these three examples the Clipper appears to disparage or threaten a newspaper, a theatre manager, a touring performer, and an entire town.
These references are made in passing, and nearly lost in an otherwise unaffected 'show business.' They do not constitute a strong body of evidence. They are, rather, invitations to further research. They do however emphasize a tension between the international attitude of the trade journal and the local social structures that, after all we have said to the contrary, might be affectedby the political concerns of the nation-state. The touring patterns may not change; and perhaps the structure of performances and the dramatic literature will not change. However, if national political events are sufficiently charged to electrify the local community-and events such as political terror and civil war can do that-then the theatrical culture has been affected through its audience. The accusations against the people of Dundas, for example, stand in for the real accusation, against Canada.
These shifts in audience attitudes allow us to connect theatrical culture to national political events, including Confederation-if we could only 'get to' them. The Clipper's reference to 'prejudice against all Yankee shows' in the summer of 1867, noted earlier, only whets the appetite for more information. Business was apparently poor; and yet the same journal reports on 28 September 1867 that there is a 'grand rush of travelling parties into Her Majesty's dominions. . . . Show agents are more plentiful than commercial "drummers"'. . . . This report is listed under the 'Miscellaneous' category, and gives the names of a number of performers touring Canada West-including minstrel shows, magicians, a 'curiosity show,' vocalists, and others with undetermined specialties, along with John Townsend's dramatic company. No distinction is drawn among them. The rush was, perhaps, a test of the new political currents, since the report concludes with some reservation:
If Queen Victoria's subjects don't trot out their specie with more than ordinary rapidity, some of these travellers willcross the frontier sadder and wiser, and fully concluding that greenbacks are good enough for them.
That is a wary statement coming from a journal that does not generally acknowledge a border with Canada. In all other respects, though, it represents the characteristic attitude of the Clipper. It is economically driven, democratic in its support of the 'show business,' and unaccommodating to local interests.
Quotes Around Everything:
'Getting To' 'Canadian' 'Theatre' 'History'
The definition of 'Theatre' shifts, according to the time and the place, the social orientation of the group in question, and the preconceived world view of both the document and the historian. It is the relative bias of each definition, and the relationship with other such biased points of view, that generates the significance in the study of history. The documents discussed in this article provide a case in point. Each provides for a 'Theatre' that pervades the culture in which it exists. It is everywhere, and it is important. To beginto investigate it, the number of 'Histories' must multiply. The variety of approaches and categories of study, applied to a culturally connected definition of theatrical performance, can generate a significant body of research.
The definitions implied in these three examples of international and local press for the 1860s argues for a broad interdisciplinary approach to the subject of 'Theatre History' that would, even more than the discipline does now, break down the barriers with economics, art, music, dance, sport, folklore, and popular culture. It would have the breadth to accommodate discussion of art exhibitions, temperance lectures, dramatic readings, fall fairs, and dramatic pantomimes written for children15 - all of which fall into the definition provided by the local press of the time. Above all, it would emphasize the strong ties that existed (and exist) between 'Theatre' and all segments of the community. In this way the researcher can be carried into a variety of related disciplines and new approaches that emphasize gender, age, race, ethnicity, class, occupation, religion, and so on. The 'Theatre' of the 1860s, as seen from these vantage points, has a relationship with studies of alcohol and temperance, urban and rural relations, Canada West's black population (especially with respect to minstrelsy), children, the military, the church, and institutions of self-improvement like the Mechanics Societies. If this expanded field of study errs on the side of inclusion, the 'error' is consistent with the diversity, and the methods, of the 'new' history. It mirrors and emphasizes the diversity of relationships within the community, and between communities.
The same diversity that can inform the history of theatre in other ways can also provide an opportunity to study the idea of nationhood. Professor Himmelfarb argues for this in 'Is National History Obsolete?' With reference to a history of France, she says:
[The] fact of diversity ... does not disprove either the fact or the idea of national identity. To think of oneself as a Parisian or provincial does not preclude thinking of oneself as French. Indeed, the first may reinforce the second: one may believe that Paris (or the province, as the case may be) is the 'true' France. So too with differences of party, class, religion, education, taste. National identity does not imply national homogeneity. On the contrary, it is precisely the fact that people are heterogeneous in so many other respects that makes their identity in this one respect all the more significant. (The New History and the Old, p 126)
To the extent that nationhood, both as a concept and in the form of governing political structures, has relationships with other aspects of culture, those relationships become a part of social history, and open to the methods of 'new' history-as military history does when it invades the community, and political theory when it becomes a local tyranny, or a democratic movement. If we accept this, then the ideas about nationhood that pervaded Canada during the 1860s might become a part of our studyof theatre history, and, with a good deal more research, we can 'get to' a national theatrical culture.
Notes
'GETTING TO' CANADIAN THEATRE HISTORY: ON THE TENSION BETWEEN THE NEW HISTORY AND THE NATION STATE
Stephen Johnson
1 GERTRUDE HIMMELFARB, The Old History and the New: Critical Essays and
Reappraisals (Cambridge, Mass: The Belknapp Press of Harvard Univ Press 1987) pp 13-14.
Professor HIMMELFARB is a so-called 'neo-conservative' historian who writes with little
patience about the eccentricities of the 'new' history. She does not dismiss its methods out of
hand; she does argue persuasively against its abuse
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2 We should remember that both of these researchers are stating extreme cases in this altercation.
HIMMELFARB records it for exactly that reason. Of course the American Revolution may
have had a profound effect on the local community studied by the young historian. It may have
happened after the period for which he had accumulated documents. It may have had an effect
not manifested in those documents-records of births do not often give details of changing
political philosophy, for example
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3 See MICHAEL L QUINN, 'Theaterwissenschaft in the History of Theatre
Study,' Theatre Survey vol 32 no 2 (Nov 1991) 123-136 passim; and R W VINCE, 'Theatre
History as an Academic Discipline' in Interpreting the Theatrical Past, ed by THOMAS POSTLEWAIT and BRUCE A MCCONACHIE (Iowa City:Univ of Iowa Press 1989) 1-8. HIMMELFARB stresses the age of the 'new' history, at least fromKARL LAMPRECHT's Kulturgeschichte, the work of JAMES HARVEY ROBINSSON and the Annales d'histoire économique et sociale. See The New History and the Old, pp 1-5
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4 The methods of theatre historians have grown increasingly diverse recently; it requires a broad
definition of 'new' to include NAGLER's approach with those represented in Interpreting the
Theatrical Past. In this, however, the discipline also parallels 'new' history, a term applied to (for example) both Marxist and Freudian approaches, to 'quantohistory' and 'psychohistory'
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5 HIMMELFARB outlines the case against national histories at the same time she argues for
them in her essay 'Is National History Obsolete?' in The Old History and the New. See also
THEODORE ZELDIN, 'Social History and Total History,' Journal of Social History (Winter
1976), who argues the extreme case against national history, and for what he calls 'pointillisme,'
which focuses on the very smallest unit of history possible: the individual 'actors.' In another
article ('Ourselves, as We See Us,' Times Literary Supplement, 31 Dec 1982, quoted by
HIMMELFARB) he says 'all our instincts tell us that there is something different between a
German and an Italian, but then all our instincts tell us that the earth is flat.' A more even-handed sentiment is expressed by ROBERT WALLACE in the preface to Producing
Marginality (Saskatoon: Fifth House Publishers 1990) p 8. He quotes RICHARD SCHECHNER on 'particularist' theatre, described as 'groups ... formed according to gender or race or social class or disability or ideology or age....
Points of view that otherwise would get lost in the dominant discourse. . . .' Prof.
SCHECHNER has since the 1960s been an advocate for the application of the social sciences
to theatre research-and practice-which parallels the application of 'new' methods to theatre
history
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6 This statement assumes homogeneity. It should be remembered that homogeneity, if it exists at
all, may very well have been achieved at bloody cost to the region, and the 'nation-state' may in
fact represent the domination of one culture over another. The homogeneous culture is a
concept undermined by the 'new' history, as new categories-histories from new points of view-multiply. See ZELDIN, WALLACE, note 4
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7 For information on the histories of the Mercury, the Observer and their editors: GAYLE
COLDWELL, 'The Elite and Community Development: An Assessment of James Innes and the
Newspaper's Role in Boosterism in Nineteenth Century Guelph,' a 1986 essay prepared for a
fourth year seminar in the Department of History, Univ of Guelph, available in the Univ of
Guelph Archives; A W WRIGHT, Now and Then: Pioneer Journalism in the County of
Wellington (Mount Forest, Ont 1933, published for the Guelph Historical Society); the Guelph
Evening Mercury Centennial Edition, 20 July 1927; LEO A JOHNSON, History of Guelph
(Guelph Historical Society, 1977); JOHN R CONNON, Elora (1930; reissued 1974 by Wilfred
Laurier Univ with an introduction by GERALD NOONAN). Information on the New York
Clipper comes from the journal, and from STEPHEN M VALLILLO, 'Popular Entertainment
in the Trades,' Performing Arts Resources vol 14 (Theatre Library Association 1989)
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8 Celebrations of Queen Victoria's Birthday were extravagant by comparison and, at least before
Confederation, referred to as 'Our National Holiday' by the press (Observer, 31 May 1866)
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9 The relative importance of an event also changes with time. It may have seemed very strange to
someone living in Guelph or Fergus in 1867-8 that I should be perplexed by the apparent ambivalence
toward Confederation. It seems an important event in retrospect, just as it no doubt seemed an
important event in Ottawa at the time
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10 The word 'panorama' described a wide variety of exhibitions; the form that usually toured to Canada
consisted of one or more painted canvas scrolls. Paying customers watched as the pictures rolled past
(under the appropriate lighting) and the showman spoke. It was a minor entertainment and
instructional form, but it could go far from the railway lines. Scenes of recent battles toured Canada
West during the Civil War, and there is a 'Panorama of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress' advertised for sale
in the New York Clipper, 31 Jan 1863
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11 The Guelph Evening Mercury, 31 Oct and 4 Nov 1867 (Othello); 13 and 16 Apr 1868 (Richard III).
Performances on their first visit were as follows: 31 Oct: 'The Two Lawyers,' 'The Merchant of
Venice,' 'The Timid Lover'; 1 Nov: 'Loan of a Lover,' 'Delicate Ground'; 2 Nov: 'Little Toddlekins,'
'Othello' (two scenes')
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12 An evening with JOHN TOWNSEND consisted of two or du-ee narrative events interrupted by local
concert artists. The standard minstrel show, in comparison, had a firm three-part structure: the
concert, the olio, and the afterpiece. The third part was often a narrative burlesque. The general
structure of both emphasized variety and not continuous narrative
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13 Certainly the Clipper cannot be read without some reservation. It relied for its information primarily
on unpaid stringers and correspondence from its readers. Its specific information must be
corroborated; on the other hand, the quantity of the information it provides constitutes our best record
of the kinds of entertainments travelling in any given month during this period
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14 New York Clipper, 9, 16, 23 June 1866, reporting on the damage to J C MYER's business in Toronto.
The effect of a possible Fenian attack was reported widely and thoroughly in the Wellington County
press, because the local militia was raised and marched to St. Catharines twice in preparation for battle
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15 The Elora Observer, 8 Mar 1867, includes an article entitled 'Children's Comer: Some Good Plays'
that describes one 'play' and one 'game' designed for groups of children. The article raises questions
about the place of children in society, and about the activities of children, that combine cultural and
theatre history, and-since the games of children often represent the last vestige of folk culture-the
study of folklore.
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