A Preliminary Bibliography and Database of Canadian Theatre Reviews

Over the past quarter century, there has been a growing scholarly recognition of the importance of theatre criticism in the development and maturation of Canadian theatre and drama. Yet despite this growing awareness, there have been only a few book-length studies of even major critical figures such as Nathan Cohen, Herbert Whittaker and Robertson Davies.

As a result of this lack of easily-accessible, in-depth research on major critics and periods in English-Canadian cultural history, a general public misconception existed that there were no major-English-Canadian critics prior to 1945 and that the quality of past theatre reviewing was generally poor and without critical standards.

The purpose of this Preliminary Bibliography and Database of Canadian Theatre Reviews is to provide access to a wide body of reviews and critical data on which a factual analysis of the work of specific critics and their critical aesthetic can be based.

The Bibliography was made possible by a grant of $50,000 in 1989 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for a project entitled “Canadian Theatre Criticism: English Canada,” organized by Anton Wagner. The grant enabled twenty-seven Canadian theatre historians at seventeen universities across the country to analyze the history and practice of theatre criticism in English Canada from the late 1700s to 1992.

The final research team consisted of the following project participants:

Anton Wagner, Department of Theatre, York University
Yashdip Singh Bains, Department of English, University of Cincinnati
Patrick O'Neill, Department of English, Mount Saint Vincent University
Ross Stuart, Department of Theatre, York University
Douglas Arrell, Department of Theatre, University of Winnipeg
Robert Lawrence, Department of English, University of Victoria
Denis Salter, Department of English, McGill University
Ramon Hawthorn, Department of French Studies, University of Guelph
Tony Stephenson, Department of Theatre, York University
Jennifer Harvie and Richard Paul Knowles, Department of Theatre, University of   Guelph
Don Rubin, Department of Theatre, York University
Alan Somerset, Department of English, University of Western Ontario
Denyse Lynde, Department of English, Memorial University
Mayte Gómez, Department of Theatre, York University
Jim Noonan, Department of English, Carleton University
Moira Day, Department of English, University of Alberta
James Hoffman, Department of Theatre, East Kootenay Community College
Malcolm Page, Department of English, Simon Fraser University
Diane Bessai, Department of English, University of Alberta
Denis Johnston, Department of Theatre, University of British Columbia
Boyd Neil, unaffiliated writer and critic, Toronto
Ira Levine, Faculty of Applied Arts, Ryerson University
Alan Filewod, Department of Theatre, University of Guelph
Leanore Lieblein, Department of English, McGill University
Robert Nunn, Department of Drama and Film Studies, Brock University

SSHRC funding provided project participants with a research assistant for an average of 200 hours to assemble a computer inventory and selected hard copies of reviews from microfilm. These reviews then provided the data which contributors analyzed to write major essays about the practice of theatre criticism, the critical aesthetic, and the impact of critics on live theatre and dramatic writing.

In 1999 the University of Toronto Press published Establishing Our Boundaries: English-Canadian Theatre Criticism, edited by Anton Wagner, consisting of the following 18 essays and a selected bibliography that resulted from this research project:

Introduction: "Establishing Our Boundaries: English-Canadian Theatre Criticism"
--Anton Wagner

 Editor/Critics:

"From Puffery to Criticism--William Lyon Mackenzie, Joseph Howe and Daniel Morrison: Theatre Criticism in Halifax and Toronto, 1826-1857"
--Patrick O'Neill

Reviewer/Critics:

"The Critic as Reviewer: E.R. Parkhurst at the Toronto Mail and Globe 1876-1924"
--Ross Stuart

"The Cosmopolitan, the Cultural Nationalist and the Egocentric Critic: Harriet Walker, Charles W. Handscomb and Charles H. Wheeler in Winnipeg , 1898-1906"
--Douglas Arrell

Cultural Nationalism:

"Hector Willoughby Charlesworth and the Nationalization of Cultural Authority, 1890-1945"
--Denis Salter

"Saving the Nation's Aesthetic Soul: B.K. Sandwell at the Montreal Herald ,1900-1914, and Saturday Night, 1932-1951"
--Anton Wagner

"Becoming Actively Creative: Dr. Lawrence Mason, The Globe's Critic, 1924-1939"
--Anton Wagner

"Herbert Whittaker, Reporting From the Front: The MontrealGazette, 1937-1949, and the Globe and Mail, 1949-1975"
--Jennifer Harvie and Richard Paul Knowles

"Criticism in a Canadian Social Context: Nathan Cohen's Theatre Criticism, 1946-1971"
--Don Rubin

"In Anger and Hope: Oscar Ryan at the Canadian Tribune, 1955-1988"
--Mayte Gómez

"The Classical Humanist: Jamie Portman at the Calgary Herald , 1959-1975, and the Southam News Service, 1975-1987"
--Moira Day

"The Archetypal Enthusiast: Urjo Kareda at the Toronto Star , 1971-1975"
--Denis Johnston

"The Critic as Cultural Nationalist: Don Rubin at the Toronto Star , 1968-1972, and the Canadian Theatre Review, 1974-1983"
--Ira Levine

The Post-Nationalist Period:

"Subverting Modernisms in British Columbia : Christopher Dafoe at the Vancouver Sun , 1968-1975"
--James Hoffman

"Journalist or Critic? Brian Brennan at the Calgary Herald , 1975-1988"
--Diane Bessai

"The Iconoclast Sceptic on the Beat: Gina Mallet at the Toronto Star , 1976-1984"
--Alan Filewod

"Establishing Contact Between Two Cultures: Marianne Ackerman at the Montreal Gazette , 1983-1987"
--Leanore Lieblein

"Theatre – Transgression or Tribal Celebration? Ray Conlogue at the Globe and Mail, 1978-1997"
--Robert Nunn

Selected Bibliography:

--Anton Wagner

 

It must be stressed that -- because of the scope, duration and complexity of the Canadian Theatre Criticism: English Canada project -- SSHRC funding was not sufficient to enable enumeration, annotation and inclusion in the data bank of the voluminous writings of Nathan Cohen, nor to edit and proofread the entries in the data bank and to make them available on the internet for public access. The Atlantic Canada Theatre Site has taken on the challenge of shaping the quarter-million lines of original data into a working research site.

Each of the more than 20,000 entries of original data consisted of up to 13 fields of information as follows: name of critic or pseudonym, title of review/feature, informative subtitle, name of publication, volume, number, date of publication, page, author, play, director, venue of production, and comments. Because of inconsistencies in field definitions and data entry within the formatting of the original research, the search engine provides options for research based on three particular fields and a general search capacity encompassing significant data fields at once.

The contributors to this Preliminary Bibliography would like to acknowledge the work of the following research assistants:

With the additional financial assistance from the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities’ Ontario Work-Study Plan, the following York University students compiled data on Marianne Ackerman, Augustus Bridle, Lawrence Mason, B.K Sandwell (Munday Knight, pseud.) and Oscar Ryan (Martin Stone, pseud.) and assisted with computer data entry: Phil Arnold, Alina Arro, Edward Hamilton Clark, Scott Duchesne, Krista Ellis, Mayte Gómez , Jessica Lee, Michael Mcleod and John Salvia. Their work was supervised by Anton Wagner. Donna Dawson supervised all data entry and greatly assisted with the administrative management of the project.

At Carleton University , David Wylynko compiled data on Audrey Ashley, under the supervision of Jim Noonan. (Jim Noonan’s essay “The Making (and Breaking) of a Regional Theatre Critic: Audrey Ashley at the Ottawa Citizen 1961-1985” was published in Theatre Research in Canada 17:1 in 1996.)

At the University of Alberta , Carl Bessai and John Bessai compiled data on Brian Brennan, under the supervision of Diane Bessai, and Wendy Philpott and Andrew Houston compiled data on Jamie Portman, under the supervision of Moira Day.

At Brock University , Lisa Csele compiled data on Ray Conlogue, under the supervision of Robert Nunn.

At the University of British Columbia , data was compiled on Urjo Kareda by Carol Nesbitt and Kairiin Bright, under the supervision of Denis Johnston.

At the University of Guelph , Karen Fockler compiled data on Gina Mallet, under the supervision of Alan Filewod; Lynn Luby, Josephine Shannon and Sharon Tallon compiled data on Samuel Morgan-Powell, under the supervision of Ramon Hathorn; and Jenniver Harvie compiled data on Herbert Whittaker, under the supervision of Ric Knowles.

At Memorial University , Bruce Brenton and Lisa Stowe compiled data on Newfoundland reviewers under the supervision of Denyse Lynde.

Robert Lawrence provided the data entries for the 209 anonymous critics, 24 of which date from 1884 to 1900.

The project participants are grateful to Donna Dawson for transmitting this data bank to Dance Collection Danse in 1992, where the late Lawrence Adams maintained the data for over a decade. We are grateful to Amy Bowring for her assistance in forwarding this bibliographic data from Dance Collection Danse to Edward Mullaly at the University of New Brunswick in 2003 and express our thanks to Prof. Mullaly for making the data bank accessible through the Atlantic Canada Theatre site at the University of New Brunswick.

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Anton Wagner
Project Co-ordinator
Canadian Theatre Criticism: English Canada
2005