Friday, February 27, 2009
It's really frustrating that theatre suffers so much in Canada, a nation BRIMMING with artists. It's extremely tempting to say that Canadian drama just isn't as good as British or American drama, but this might just be a flawed perspective. Really, I don't have much perspective on it. It just seems like the Canadian plays I've read are good, but they're still missing something overall. I don't know if this is true or not, but it's hard to shake that off, either way. Maybe it's the reluctance to look at them in a better light because they haven't been produced abroad. Like the only way we can be sure if a play is good is if the outside world--that is, NOT Canadians, will love it and accept it and produce it in their theatres. That way it's not just our bias toward Canada-ness, but the actual quality of the piece stands up on its own, without our support. And our homegrown drama is still very young, since it only really took off in the 60's. And we didn't have the wonderful combination of actors, acting teachers and bright and talented directors and writers to galvanize our theatre at the right time and the right place like the kind that America saw in the 40's and 50's with the likes of Strasberg, Stella Adler, Marlon Brando, Elia Kazan, Tennessee Williams. We've a ways to go yet.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I think the Canadian arts scene in general is a little bizarre. There is some wonderful, innovative stuff going on, but it seems like none of it's going on out in the open. I didn't even know there were artist-run centres in Calgary until this year. It's like Canadian art is being produced exclusively for Canadian artists and/or those who are in the loop enough to know where to look.
I dunno, Liam. I think the Canadian arts scene is very unique and quirky, and while we don't have as big of an arts scene as, say, England, we have a fantastic one! Just because we lack dramatic theorists and masters such as Lee Strasbourg or Elia Kazan doesn't mean that our arts scene is missing anything. We still have phenomenal artists and playwrights such as Eugene Stickland, Marie Brossard, Daniel MacIvor and Paul Gross (hee hee. I love him too much).
I think Rita makes a good point though.. Canadian art does seem to be made only for those looking for it. I think that the globalization of the arts scene has produced a generation of Canadians who aren't looking deeply into homegrown arts and are becoming acclimatized to American/English productions. I think that if we found a way to get more Canadians interested in local arts, the arts scene would take off.
I agree that alot of purely Canadian theatre seems to be kind of a niche one.
Most of the canadian theatre (and film) I've seen tend to tell very localised stories, about ordinary people with connections to canadian land. I like it, but it doesn't really resonate with non-canadians, unlike (in my experience) many stories told by other writers.
My 2 cents.
Post a Comment