Doctorat en philosophie et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The thesis is a record of the writing and rehearsal process which led to the British premiere of the full length Canadian play, Danceland, at The Old Red Lion Theatre, London, in November of 1994. The first chapter is a discussion of the dramatic theories and historical research which informed the initial creative writing process. The second chapter is the final draft of the play itself. The third chapter is a record of the rehearsal and production process, as well as an overview of the major dramaturgical problems which the actors, director and designers encountered during rehearsals of the play. A full cast and crew list and the reviews from the British press are contained in the appendices. The playwright's "experiment" which sits at the heart of this production record is that Aristotle's idea of "place" is essential to the creation of an indigenous, Canadian dramatic literature. The writing process, however, is only the beginning of the translation of drama from the page to the stage; and it is this final, rehearsal and production process which demands that all dramatic theory be placed within the context of believable characterization and dramatic action. / Arts, Faculty of / Theatre and Film, Department of / Graduate

In November of 1965, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was launched in China when a Shanghai newspaper editor, Yao Wen-yuan, published an attack on the play which is translated here, Hai Jui Dismissed from Office. The fact that this event constituted the beginning of what later became a political struggle of vast proportions was recognized only belatedly by most Western analysts. When the Cultural Revolution moved into high gear with the launching of the Red Guard movement in the spring of 1966, vague references were made in some Western commentaries to the fact that the explosion seemed to have been ignited, by the public exposure of a drama which had purportedly satirized the Communist Party and Mao Tse-tung. No one appeared to have any certainty about exactly what the play had said and in what way it satirized Mao and the Party. As far as I am aware, this is the first translation of the entire text of the play, or any part of it, into English. Aside from simply translating the text of the play, the purpose of this thesis is to analyze the events of late 1965 and early 1966 and place them both in chronological order and in political perspective. In this way, it is clearly shown how the attack on Wu Han led to attacks on other "bourgeois" writers and intellectuals. Eventually, this latter group was linked to high officials in the Peking Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Finally, the "cultural" aspect of the Cultural Revolution gave way to a full-fledged political battle within the Party itself. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

My purpose in this work is to examine the major social problems with which the playwrights of the decade between 1930 and 1940 have dealt.

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published_or_final_version / English / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Since the turn of the century Scottish drama has struggled to create drama distinct from England's. The four century dearth in playwriting is attributed to the antipathy of the Scottish Kirk holding sway in Scotland after King James moved his court to London in 1603. Inspired by Dublin's Abbey Theatre, the Scots' dream of a national theatre is traced through three major periods: Rebirth, Inter-war and Postwar. Analysis reveals organismic development where spurts of growth are followed by plateaus of consolidation. An early stage of Kailyard drama was followed by a return to the Scots dialect. Thus they created their own pseudo-indigenous drama. The national theatre torch first carried by the Glasgow Repertory Company in 1909 passed to the Scottish national Players in the 1920s before settling with the Citizens' Theatre in the 1940s. The Post-war Edinburgh Festival has acted like a pressure-cooker to drama. Two Scottish historical studies point to talented writers and theatrical craft in abundance. Nevertheless, first magnitude writers failed to emerge. Scholars identified major weaknesses as: writers poorly based in dramatic theory; bridging the gap between the parochial and universal; historical themes lacking cognizance of the present; and a reliance on derogatory comic stereotypes. This study of three recent Scottish plays, Chinchilla by David Robert MacDonald, Animal by Tom McGrath and The Jesuit, by Donald Campbell concludes that Scottish drama has overcome its weaknesses. It now passes the test of universality without loss of Scottish ethnicity. Dealing with man's relationship to art, his fellowman and God, all three proclaim their Celtic origins through the imaginative use of space, time and consciousness. The authors' sophisticated, poetic use of language indicates that Scottish drama has arrived at last on the threshold of maturity.