Noises Off-Right: Theatre in the Toronto Region

Abstract

In their two-volume chronicle of the history and evolution of the theatre in Ontario from the early 1800s to the early 1970s, aptly titled Early Stages (volume 1) and Later Stages (volume 2), editors Ann Saddlemyer and Richard Plant have constructed a rich collection of essays that traces the development of theatre in the province, beginning with the early, mainly imported touring troupes which led to the advent of early indigenous theatricals produced by numerous amateur companies. These travelling companies explored the theatrical landscape of the period and led the way for the development of plays, playwrights and the birth of a professional Canadian theatre in Ontario. This history ends with the burgeoning of cultural nationalism in the mid-1960s and early ’70s. These two volumes are indispensable guide-posts for anyone attempting a reading of the state of our theatre in 1998. If Early Stages and Later Stages tell us anything about the present stage, it is that Toronto seems to have been destined to become a major centre for theatrical production.