John Hirsch and the Critical Mass: Alternative Theatre on CBC Television in the 1970s

Abstract

This article examines John Hirsch's attempts to bring Canadian theatre artists and stage plays to television during his tenure, as Head of CBC English Language Television Drama in the 1970s. When the CBC appointed John Hirsch, they gave him a strong mandate to strengthen the drama department's relationship with Canadian theatre by bringing some of the best plays and performances to television, and by recruiting new talent from the theatre. To fulfill this mandate, Hirsch initiated a bold, comprehensive strategy; yet a series of historical forces, ranging from financial and economic to cultural and aesthetic, made the full realization of his strategy very difficult. By examining the problems that confronted Hirsch's theatre projects, this article will show how historical circumstances specific to the 1970s impeded the success of the projects, and will further suggest that more recent technological, structural and cultural developments related to television production and reception may have generated an environment more conducive to the achievement of successful collaborations between theatre and television.