Geraldine Anthony
The Work is a necessary addition to the growing number of books on Canadian dramatists. A sequel, in a sense, to Stage Voices, it takes off where that volume ends, bringing the reader up-to-date on twenty-six contemporary Canadian playwrights from Hrant Alianak to Tom Walmsley. The dramatists were chosen on the basis of a substantial body of work produced during the 1970's, and of having received 'too little, if any, critical attention'. (p 7) One wonders why David French and Michael Cook were interviewed since they were included in Stage Voices and have received major critical attention over the past decade. One also questions why two of Canada's most promising dramatists, James Nichol and Steve Petch (neither of whom have received the attention they deserve) were not included.
A stimulating book, The Work comprises a series of recorded interviews. The editors obviously researched their subjects thoroughly, asking a number of perceptive questions fashioned specifically and individually for each playwright. This approach differs radically from that taken by Stage Voices, which comprises a series of in-depth, creative essays written by the dramatists analysing their work; although some general questions were sent (to be used only by those who needed a guide), complete freedom was urged and achieved in creating those essays. Wallace and Zimmerman used the approach which Urjo Kareda pronounced as the only method that should have been used in Stage Voices. It is therefore curious to see if, indeed, Mr Kareda's judgment is sound in this regard.
The answer lies entirely with the reader's expectations. If the reader is looking for a journalistic approach, casual conversations off-the-top-of-the-head, so to speak, on theatre in Canada, on playwrights' frustrations, on issues affecting their work etc, then indeed The Work is a success. But if the reader is seriously concerned with a literary approach, a critical in-depth analysis by dramatists of their plays, then The Work succeeds only partially. One must then weed out all the anecdotal accounts, all the grievances, all the negligible material (which comprises 75 % of the book), in order to cull those occasional bright moments of rare insight which amount to about 25% of The Work.
Among the more perceptive 'conversations' were those with Herschel Hardin, John Gray, Rex Deverell, Rick Salutin and Erika Ritter. Herschel Hardin points out that his plays, Esker Mike and The Great Wave of Civilization, are not anthropological surveys but plays on human dignity, the latter deliberately Brechtian. John Gray emphasizes his aural, rather than visual sense, which results in a kind of stark clarity. He mentions the 'raconteur tradition' and the 'threshing machine period' peculiar to Canada, and the sense of space that qualifies all Canadians. Rex Deverell speaks of the sense of community which motivates his work, and the dialogue in his unconscious mind between a hopeful Theism and a sense of the absence of God. Rick Salutin talks about his attempts to draw a truthful picture of reality, to understand and convey the paradox of a world of plenty where there is still so much misery. As he sees it, history helps him to achieve objectivity, to get a grasp of the real issues. Erica Ritter speaks of relationships in her plays which are political microcosms, of the necessity for comedy in the midst of tragic circumstances, of personal living as an index of society as a whole.
The least productive conversations were those with Sheldon Rosen, Tom Walmsley, Tom Hendry, Ken Gass, Hrant Alianak and Carol Bolt, possibly because they added little to what we already know of their work. Perhaps the 'conversation' method is not for them. Left to their own creative devices, they might have produced more insightful essays. The remaining fifteen dramatists contributed a few new insights on their work which students and scholars can use as springboards to further research.
The Work includes an interesting overview by Robert Wallace on Canadian drama today, with comments about reviews, productions, publications; theatre as a marketable commodity; its future; duplicating successful plays; the financial, social and psychological influences on drama; cultural policies in Canada; workshopping plays - in fact almost every issue on theatre that can be raised in this decade. An omission in this six-page 'Introduction' is any mention of the root cause of mediocrity in Canadian drama, viz, a lack of a solid education among our dramatists in the creative process of playwrighting. Imagine artists, musicians and architects leaping into the creative process without an education! Yet no one seems to think it odd that people are expected to write plays without years of study and preparation.
The major North American playwrights studied the process at such top schools as the Baker '47 Workshop at Harvard, the Drama Department at Yale, the Playmakers School at the University of North Carolina. The development of better creative writing teachers at, for example, the Banff School of Fine Arts and the Canadian university drama departments should be encouraged. Wallace comments, 'The discrepancy between intent and achievement is one of the recurring themes of this book ... What factors interfere with the playwright's intentions as the play moves from the page to the stage?' (p 15) He should also ask: Why is the quality of so many Canadian plays mediocre? Many so-called 'Canadian plays' are merely exercises in writing-exercises that no student of art or music or architecture would ever present as finished products. Theatre is an art; it requires the same long, hard struggle to achieve perfection. Let us no longer put on stage half-formed attempts at dramas, expecting the director, by some miracle, to transform them into art.
With regard to the format of The Work, each conversation is preceded by a photograph of the playwright and followed by a brief autobiographical note, a bibliography of selected criticism, and a checklist of some of the more outstanding plays. No attempt has been made to preface each conversation with a brief critical article. The Coach House Press should be congratulated for this well-bound, nicely published, readable book, with scarcely any typographical errors. The editors, Robert Wallace and Cynthia Zimmerman, are to be commended for undertaking and completing a project of such comprehensive proportions, and thus bringing us up-to-date on our contemporary Canadian dramatists.