Michael Healey's very funny play 1979 received several productions. Kevin Loring's Little Red Warrior and his Lawyer has had at least two and deserves more. Shaw astonished me several years ago by staging Rick Salutin's 1837: The Farmers Revolt. The list you've posted is a handy reminder that a lot of plays do have long lives. Or did. I'd kind of like to see anyone else take a shot at Billy Bishop Goes to War, to see whether it can survive independently of its creators.
In concert music as in theatre, it seems Canada doesn't have much of a canon, which I take to be your point. Finnish conductors have to decide what they think about Sibelius, Czechs Dvorak and Janacek. The Comédie Française and the Globe, and so on. I don't know who would claim that next year's plays or concerts are based on anything the creators heard in Canada in their youth. Several years ago I urged the NAC to identify a handful of plays and orchestral pieces they could revive, to try to promote the notion of a national lineage, but of course most of that stuff promptly became Problematic, so we're back to creation without recreation.
I have seen (and loved) 1979 but the explanatory panels make it eeeever so slightly clunky. It did get fairly good reviews in London UK the other month; I didn't think it could travel, but that's the MH touch for ya.
Yes the Problematic thing is another issue facing a potential canon of works. I am hoping against hope that it's just a phase, that it may go away as THE top priority when assessing a work of art. I was shocked to read in the Star a few years ago that--words of their then chief permalancer critic--The Drawer Boy is "problematic" too. Wait how why? Things have gotten really mad if the DB is ideologically suspect.
Christine sends the list of the 50 notable plays https://royalmtc.ca/PDF/50-Significant-Canadian-Plays.aspx
Michael Healey's very funny play 1979 received several productions. Kevin Loring's Little Red Warrior and his Lawyer has had at least two and deserves more. Shaw astonished me several years ago by staging Rick Salutin's 1837: The Farmers Revolt. The list you've posted is a handy reminder that a lot of plays do have long lives. Or did. I'd kind of like to see anyone else take a shot at Billy Bishop Goes to War, to see whether it can survive independently of its creators.
In concert music as in theatre, it seems Canada doesn't have much of a canon, which I take to be your point. Finnish conductors have to decide what they think about Sibelius, Czechs Dvorak and Janacek. The Comédie Française and the Globe, and so on. I don't know who would claim that next year's plays or concerts are based on anything the creators heard in Canada in their youth. Several years ago I urged the NAC to identify a handful of plays and orchestral pieces they could revive, to try to promote the notion of a national lineage, but of course most of that stuff promptly became Problematic, so we're back to creation without recreation.
I have seen (and loved) 1979 but the explanatory panels make it eeeever so slightly clunky. It did get fairly good reviews in London UK the other month; I didn't think it could travel, but that's the MH touch for ya.
Yes the Problematic thing is another issue facing a potential canon of works. I am hoping against hope that it's just a phase, that it may go away as THE top priority when assessing a work of art. I was shocked to read in the Star a few years ago that--words of their then chief permalancer critic--The Drawer Boy is "problematic" too. Wait how why? Things have gotten really mad if the DB is ideologically suspect.
I agree with you on Billy Bishop. I’d also be curious to see if Wingfield Farm could stand up to a different “cast”.
The Ecstasy of Rita Joe by George Riga. It's been done a lot and I think retains its historical significance.
EDIT: After I posted this, I see this play is included in the list Lydia posted. Sorry for the repeat.
great add; lots of people won't be aware of it as it's from the 1960s