In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Drama (2009)
  • Marlene Moser (bio) and Ann Wilson (bio)

The submission of plays and collections for 2009 is eclectic. Again, as in 2008, we see several anthologies, published under particular themes. Here we are happy to hear Shakespeare find voice in several rewritings, from the push-pull title of The Shakespeare’s Mine to the single edition of Shakespeare’s Dog. We also find collections of volume I and II of Love and RelASIANships, edited by Nina Aquino. These collections I find the strongest and of most value for readers and book collectors alike, and so here I begin again. What do the anthologies this year have to offer us and what kind of thematic overtones can we observe in the single editions of plays submitted this year? [End Page 622]

First, we see the continuation of the ‘mining’ of the postcolonial territory that Shakespeare continues to dominate. Ric Knowles has assembled a collection of Anglo Canadian adaptations of the work of William Shakespeare titled The Shakespeare’s Mine. Knowles organizes the plays chronologically, beginning with Cruel Tears (an adaptation of Othello which includes original country and western songs) and ending with Death of a Chief (an adaptation of Julius Caesar from an Aboriginal perspective). The six adaptations in the anthology offer pointed, sometimes surprising, perspectives on the source plays. Knowles introduces each play, describing its genesis and production history; prudently, he leaves the reader to make observations and judgments on the quality and relevance of the plays in today’s context. I was happy to become acquainted with several of these plays, surprised at the sharp and stinging wit of some, reminded of the far reaches and comic-tragic overtones of others as the original texts inspire wildly different storylines and renditions. As Knowles shamelessly acknowledges in the introduction, this collection is assembled, in part, so that it can become a textbook for a course he would like to teach. As he writes, the six plays ‘represent a range of responses to Shakespeare, constitute the text for a course I’d like to teach, and speak to one another in interesting ways across their differences.’ We need these texts more readily available for students and scholars alike.

The first play in The Shakespeare’s Mine is Cruel Tears, a musical extravaganza that I can’t believe I have never heard of before. An irreverent take on Othello, it takes its musicality and its subject matter seriously – barriers of class, social standing, and relationships. The play is authored by Ken Mitchell, and writing credit is also given to Humprey & the Dumptrucks, a band which emerged from Saskatoon in the late 1960s and which wrote the songs for Cruel Tears. The play revolves around the fated romance of Johnny, a truck driver, and Kathy, the company owner’s daughter. After initial resistance to the pairing, the father gives in to his daughter’s wishes and Johnny eventually becomes supervisor. The real estrangement comes with his friends. Jack becomes the Iago-like figure; a scarf innocently given becomes skewed as proof of infidelity. With alcohol fueling emotions, Johnny challenges Ricky to a road race where a car careens out of control. Throughout the scenes are gentle allusions to Othello, but the end makes more direct references with Kathy singing ‘The Willow Song’ before she is strangled by Johnny. Johnny returns to the Blacktop Bar, the scene of much of the action in the play. There he seeks out Jack and stabs him. The play renders the relationships between the men and women convincingly, building tensions and jealousies that are counteracted by the almost forced camaraderie. Into the mix, there is constant drinking and resulting alienation. Although Johnny’s actions are reprehensible, they are played against a backdrop that makes them at least explicable. [End Page 623]

Claudius by Ken Gass is a very different kind of play. Taking its cue from Hamlet, of course, Claudius is a sharp, funny, highly verbal take on the play and the issues inspired by it. The play focuses on Claudius’s murder of his brother, his usurping of the throne, and his marriage to his brother’s widow. Gass probes how the actions of his protagonist...

pdf

Share