Shakespeare in Canada

by Brydon, Diana; Makaryk, Irena R.

• ISBN13: 9780802036551
• ISBN10: 0802036554
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

Is there a distinctly Canadian Shakespeare? What is the status and function of Shakespeare in various locations within the nation: at Stratford, on CBC radio, in regional and university theatres, in Canadian drama and popular culture? Shakespeare in Canadabrings insights from a little explored but extensive archive to contemporary debates about the cultural uses of Shakespeare and what it means to be Canadian. Canada's long history of Shakespeare productions and reception, including adaptations, literary reworkings, and parodies, is analysed and contextualized within the four sections of the book. A timely addition to the growing field that studies the transnational reach of Shakespeare across cultures, this collection examines the political and cultural agendas invoked not only by Shakespeare's plays, but also by his very name. In part a historical and regional survey of Shakespeare in performance, adaptation, and criticism, this is the first work to engage Shakespeare with distinctly Canadian debates addressing nationalism, separatism, cultural appropriation, cultural nationalism, feminism, and postcolonialism.

Author Biography

Diana Brydon is Robert and Ruth Lumsden Professor of English at the University of Western Ontario. Irena R. Makaryk is Professor of English at the University of Ottawa.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction: Shakespeare in Canada: 'a world elsewhere'?	p. 3
Beginnings: Institutionalizing Shakespeare	p. 43
Pioneer Shakespeare Culture: Reverend Henry Scadding and His Shakespeare Display at the 1892 Toronto Industrial Exhibition	p. 47
The Imperial Theme: The Shakespeare Society of Toronto, 1928-1969	p. 66
'A Stage for the Word': Shakespeare on CBC Radio, 1947-1955	p. 92
Stratford and the Aspirations for a Canadian National Theatre	p. 108
Shakespeare on Stage	p. 137
Shakespeare Canadiens at the Stratford Festival	p. 141
A National Hamlet? Stratford's Legacy of Twentieth-Century Productions	p. 159
'Le Re-making' of le grand Will: Shakespeare in Francophone Quebec	p. 174
Learning to Curse in Accurate Iambics: Shakespeare in Newfoundland	p. 192
Liberal Shakespeare and Illiberal Critiques: Necessary Angel's King Lear	p. 212
Critical Debates and Traditions	p. 231
Continuity and Contradiction: University Actors Meet the Universal Bard	p. 235
Canadian Bacon	p. 255
Canada, Negative Capability, and Cymbeline	p. 274
Frye's Shakespeare, Frye's Canada	p. 292
Reimagining Shakespeare	p. 309
Nation and/as Adaptation: Shakespeare, Canada, and Authenticity	p. 313
Undead and Unsafe: Adapting Shakespeare (in Canada)	p. 339
Normand Chaurette's Les Reines: Shakespeare and the Modern in the Alchemical Oven	p. 353
Othello in Three Times	p. 371
Afterword: Relocating Shakespeare, Redefining Canada	p. 395
Research Opportunities in Canadian Shakespeare	p. 410
References	p. 417
List of Contributors	p. 455
Index	p. 461
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.