Canadian Alternative Theater Essay examples -- Richard III 3 William S

My Kingdom For a Canadian resource mansion The Richard III That Never WasOf all the parts she be givened in her brief time as an actress during the late 1960s, thepart my mother remembers near fondly is one she never got to perform the role ofRichard IIIs hump in planetary house unfashionable Murailles take of Richard III. The productionwas conceived of more than twenty years before I was born, and Ive never seen videorecordings, photographs, or even a review of the piece. In fact, the play was cancelled forfinancial reasons before it was ever performed. Despite this, for me, my mothers role inthe 1969 vision of Richard III represents a fascinating, and humorous, moment in whichShakespeare and my own Canadian history come together. More than this, the failedproduction, rehearsed at the Theatre Passe Muraille during the early days of Torontosexperimental sign of the zodiac scene, is proxy of a significant change in attitude towardShakespeare, towards Britain, and towards wha t a Canadian Shakespeare or even aCanadian theatre meant and could mean.In 1969, the Theatre Passe Muraille was based in the Church of the Holy Trinity a traditionally liberal perform tucked between the towers of the Eaton centre in the heart ofdowntown Toronto. Twenty-five years later, when I was eight, I would go to the samechurch for a summer camp offered by a non-profit arts organization run by my mother,who had long since given up acting. I would play theatre games on the same courtyardstones. In 1969, however, my mother and the forty-odd members of the Theatre Passe 2Muraille had just moved in, and the church was just becoming one of the most importantcentres for alternative theatre in Canada.The Theatre Passe... ...inst anidea of The Bard as the ultimate symbolisation of British, and therefore legitimate, culture. Asmy mother said, you want to free yourself from your colonial roots, and the management to dothat is to do contemporary, immediate theatre. The Theatre Passe M uraille adaptationwas non an attempt to embrace the canonic Shakespeare as a symbol of violet culture,but an attempt to express something immediate and Canadian using Englands greatestwriter. 6Works CitedJohnston, Denis W. Up the Mainstream The Rise of Torontos substitute Theatres,1968-1975. Toronto University of Toronto Press, 1991.Daniel Fischlin and Mark Fortier. General Introduction. Adaptations of Shakespeare.Eds. Daniel Fischlin and Mark Fortier. London Routledge, 2000. 1-22.Press Release. Theatre Passe Muraille. 1969.Shakespeare, William. Richard III. Oxford Oxford UP, 2000.