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This thesis seeks to examine the nature of political theatre within the postmodern context. I distinguish between the historical alternative theatre and the paradoxical alternative theatre in my work. The historical alternative coincides with the alternative theatre movement developed in Britain between the late 1960s and late 1970s, while in Portugal this movement was mainly designated as independent theatre between 1974 and the 1980s. I start by analysing the narratives of birth and death of the historical alternative theatre movement in the British and Portuguese contexts from the establishment of the movement in the late 1960s to the present. I go on to propose that beyond the historical alternative and within a post-ideology framework, contemporary theatre may still engage with politics by exercising a localised and temporary paradoxical alternative. For my research I selected four long-running and state-funded theatre companies, o bando, Kneehigh, Foursight and Escola de Mulheres, chosen according to two of the categories prominent during the historical alternative movement, community theatre and women's theatre. Through detailed analysis of productions of the four theatre companies, I assess the characteristics of a postmodern political oppositional theatre. My methodological approach covers the longitudinal context of the companies and productions by looking at past productions, funding statements, reviews, practitioners' interviews, theatre programmes and the rehearsal, performance and reception stages of the theatrical process. I start by analysing each company's history and their own mythologies of the alternative, before focusing on two of the central traits of the theatre developed during the historical alternative theatre movement, non-traditional spaces and non-traditional audiences. Each of the four companies has, out of necessity or choice, positioned itself outside of traditional theatre and entertainment circuits for some of its productions, negotiating symbolical and ideological independence side by side with large productions in repertory and/or commercial theatres. Each of the companies fosters, in addition, in their non-traditional places mechanisms that subvert circumstantially the hierarchical values imbued by neoliberal thought. The oppressed take centre-stage. Exposed to the vagaries of the weather, to exiguous or improvised audience spaces, expected to, forced by circumstances or incentivised to interact with fellow spectators and actors, audiences rediscover in the moment of the performance their shared humanity and form fleeting and secular communities of faith.

This thesis deals with the acting, directing and authorial personality of Vitezslav Marcik. The text was based on researches in regional and national press and sorting by that time disarranged Marcik?s archive. An important source of information was the website of Teatr Viti Marcika and also personal recollections of family and colleagues. The main part of the work is clear, chronological account of Marcik?s career in 20 chapters, in which we watch changes of the theatre´s action radius in the course of years and how its repertoire and dramaturgy developed.

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal. / The role of the Canada Council and the Canadian Regional Theatre System in promoting and fostering English-Canadian playwrights and Canadian drama has been a source of considerable controversy but little sustained study since the middle 1960s. This dissertation examines that role through the crucial years from the creation of the Canada Council in 1957 until 1975 when the Council began to lose any real independence as an agency of cultural policy. It begins by examining the state of Canadian theatre in the postwar years prior to the creation of the Council and adumbrates the cultural/political forces that led to that creation: particularly rising Canadian nationalism and the power of the Canadian cultural elite. The confluence of these two forces in the form of the Massey/Levésque Commission sets the stage for the establishment of the Canada Council and, I will argue, also sets in place the basic philosophy of the Council towards theatre repertoire and the place of the English-Canadian playwright within the regional system. Chapter Three details the founding of the Council and its development of policies and practices that were intended to promote Canadian drama within the newly developing Canadian theatre system and then speculates on their likelihood of success. Chapter Four examines the realities of theatre economics in order to asses the impact of Canada Council (monetary) practices in the creation of the regional system and its use of Canadian plays. Chapter Five examines in detail the activities of the Council from its inception until 1969 and shows the very real gap between enunciated policies and actual practices in the development of the regional system particularly as it. affects the use of indigenous artistic material. I will contend that the result of Canada Council approaches and practices (intentional or not) in scholarship and funding, and particularly in the area of direct commissions, was the neglect of the Canadian dramatist in favour of a repertoire of foreign material. Furthermore, the focus of the Canada Council on two conflicting goals, the growth of regional theatres and a conservative fiscal policy aimed at reducing or controlling deficits, exacerbated this neglect. The consequences of this neglect are dealt with in Chapter Six with a discussion of the reaction of cultural nationalists, increasingly dissatisfied with Council practices, that led to the creation and promotion of the alternative theatre movement which produced the first concrete steps in the development of an indigenous drama. Since the alternative theatre movement, in its advocacy and encouragement of Canadian playwrights, occupied the role that the Canada Council was intended to fill, Chapter Six compares the funding patterns that helped set it in place (specifically the Local Initiatives Programs and Opportunities for Youth) with the funding patterns of the Council. I will suggest that these two programs (although not designed for that purpose) were much more successful than the policies and practices of the Canada Council in promoting English-Canadian plays, and specify the reasons why this was so. The dissertation concludes with some speculation on future possibilities in the study of Canadian plays based on their origin within an 'alternative' theatre structure rather than within the mainstream regional system and sums up how the development of the Canadian regional system was, in many ways, accomplished at the expense of the Canadian dramatist. / Le rôle du Conseil des Arts du Canada et du Réseau canadien du théâtre régional de promouvoir et d'encourager les dramaturges canadiens-anglais et le théâtre canadien a été une source de controverse considérable mais pas une source d'études depuis le milieu des années 1960. Cette dissertation examine ce rôle à travers les années cruciales à partir de la création du Conseil des Arts du Canada en 1957 jusqu'en 1975 lorsque le Conseil commence à perdre toute véritable indépendance en tant qu'agence de politique culturelle. Je débute en examinant l'état du théâtre canadien dans les années d'après-guerre avant la création du Conseil et je discute des forces culturelles/politiques qui ont conduit à cette création : surtout le nationalisme canadien montant et le pouvoir de l'élite culturelle canadienne. La confluence de ces deux forces sous la forme de la Commission Massey/Lévesque met en scène l'établissement du Conseil des Arts du Canada et met aussi en place la philosophie de base du Conseil envers le répertoire théâtral et la place du dramaturge canadien à l'intérieur du réseau régional. Le troisième chapitre raconte en détail la fondation du Conseil et le développement de ses politiques et pratiques prévues pour promouvoir le théâtre canadien à l'intérieur du nouveau T- réseau de théâtre canadien et ensuite s'interroge sur leur chance de réussite. Le quatrième chapitre examine les réalités financières du théâtre afin d’évaluer l'impact des pratiques (monétaires) du Conseil des Arts du Canada dans la création du 'réseau régional et son usage des pièces de théâtre canadiennes. Le cinquième chapitre examine en détail les activités du Conseil à partir de sa création jusqu'en 1969 et démontre l'écart réel entre les politiques énoncées et les pratiques réelles dans le développement du réseau régional, particulièrement lorsque cet écart touche l'utilisation de matériau artistique indigène. Je vais soutenir que le résultat des approches et des pratiques (intentionnelles ou non) du Conseil des Arts du Canada en bourse et en financement, et plus particulièrement dans le domaine des commissions directes, se traduit en une négligence du dramaturge canadien en faveur d'un répertoire étranger. De plus, l'intérêt du Conseil des Arts du Canada pour deux objectifs conflictuels, la croissance des théâtres régionaux et la politique fiscale conservatrice visant à réduire ou à contrôler les déficits, aggrave cette négligence. Les conséquences de cette négligence sont étudiées dans le sixième chapitre avec une discussion de la réaction des nationalistes culturels, de plus en plus insatisfaits avec les pratiques du Conseil, qui a conduit à la création et la promotion d'un mouvement de théâtre alternatif qui fit les premiers pas concrets vers le développement d'un théâtre indigène canadien. Puisque le mouvement de théâtre alternatif, dans son soutien et son encouragement des dramaturges canadiens-anglais, a occupé le rôle que le Conseil devait remplir, le sixième chapitre compare le modèle de financement qui a aidé à son établissement (plus spécifiquement l'établissement des Programmes d'initiatives locales (Local Initiatives Programs) et Opportunités pour les jeunes (Opportunities for Youth)) aux modèles de financement du Conseil. De plus, je vais suggérer que ces deux programmes (même s'ils ne sont pas créés dans ce but) ont eu beaucoup plus de succès que les politiques et les pratiques du Conseil des Arts du Canada dans la promotion des pièces de théâtre canadiennes et je vais spécifier les raisons de ce succès. Je conclu la dissertation avec une hypothèse sur les possibilités futures dans l'étude des pièces de théâtre canadiennes basée sur leur origine à travers une structure théâtrale 'alternative plutôt qu'à travers un système régional de la culture prédominante et je résume comment le développement du Réseau régional canadien a été, de plusieurs façons, accompli au détriment du dramaturge canadien.

This study acknowledges that historical antipathies towards gay men have marginalised their theatrical representation in the past. However, over the last century a change has occurred in the social location of gay men in Canada (from being marginalised to being included). Given these changes, questions arise as to whether staged representations of gay men are still marginalised today. Given antipathies towards homosexuality and homophobia may contribute to the how theatres determine the riskiness of productions, my investigation sought a correlation between financial risk in theatrical production and the marginalisation of gay representations on stage. Furthermore, given that gay sex itself, and its representation on stage, have been theorised as loci of antipathies to gayness, I investigate the relationship between the visibility and overtness of gay sex in a given play and the production of that play’s proximity to the mainstream. The study located four plays from across the spectrum of production conditions (from high to low financial risk) in BC. Analysis of these four plays shows general trends, not only in the plays’ constructions but also in the material conditions of their productions that indicate that gay representations become more overt, visible and sexually explicit when less financial risk was at stake. Various factors are identified – including the development of the script, the producing theatre, venue, and promotion of the production – that shape gay representation. The analysis reveals that historical theatrical practices, that have had the effect of marginalizing the representations of gays in the past, are still in place. These practices appear more prevalent the higher the financial risk of the production. / The author would like to sincerely thank Ann Wilson, Ric Knowles, Matthew Hayday, Alan Shepard, Sky Gilbert, Daniel MacIvor, Michael Lewis MacLennan, Conrad Alexandrowicz, Chris Grignard, Edward Roy, Brad Fraser, Cole J. Alvis, Jonathan Seinan, David Oiye, Clinton Walker, Sean Cummings, Darrin Hagin, and Chris Galatchian. / SSHRC, The Heather McCallum Scholarship, Lambda Prize for achievement in lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gendered studies.