Canadian Drama and Performance in the UK: Featuring Quebec and a Canon

Abstract

According to Todd Marciniak, Cultural Industries Officer responsible for the performing arts in the Cultural Relations office at the Canadian High Commission, London, there is now three times as much production of Canadian drama and performance in Britain - by both British and Canadian companies - as there was ten years ago.2 Regularly visiting Canadian companies include theatre companies Ex Machina and One Yellow Rabbit, the circuses Cirque du Soleil and Cirque Eloize, dance companies La La La Human Steps and O Vertigo and children’s theatre companies Les Deux Mondes and Théâtre Sans Fil. British theatres that produce or host Canadian work regularly include the Traverse, Edinburgh; the Tramway and the Tron Theatre, Glasgow; the Royal Exchange, Manchester; and in London the Royal National Theatre, the Bush Theatre, the Battersea Arts Centre, Riverside Studios and the Finborough Theatre. Festivals that Canadian companies regularly participate in include the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Glasgow Dance Festival, New Moves, the Belfast Festival and BITE, the Barbican International Theatre Event in London. Writers whose plays are often produced in Britain include Michel Tremblay, Brad Fraser, Judith Thompson and George F. Walker.3