Théâtre

THEATRE 79 comic gibberish barely comprehensible to an English-speaking audience. Invisible Kids, less theatrical and perhaps more overtly political, focuses on non-violent strategies for dealing with racial harassment. Both speak effectively to current issues in a non-patronizing way. As an actor in the original New Canadian Kid, Colin Thomas was one of the inventors of the gibberish. His own play, One Thousand Cranes (Simon and Pierre, 83, $9.95}, is an emotionally compelling drama that also aims to empower. But he's dealing with a much less tangible and more problematical issue than race or language: the fear of nuclear annihilation . Two stories intersect. Buddy, a contemporary Canadian boy, lives in terror of the bomb. Flash back to Japan, 1954: energetic, athletic nine-year-old Sadako develops leukemia as a result of exposure to radiation from the Hiroshima bomb blast when she was a baby. Buddy doesn't know what to do and doesn't think anyone cares. Sadako finds hope in folding a thousand origami cranes, symbols of long life. Sadako dies, but her story inspires kids all over the world to fold cranes for peace. With the help of his mother, Buddy thinks about things he might do: organize a peace march or a peace dance, write letters to politicians or to pen pals in Russia. Though Thomas specifies that the play be shown only to children eight or over, I would think it would be most effective pre-high school, before kids get too cynical. Canadian Theatre Review 6o (Fall 1989, $6.50), a special issue on 'Adolescents and Theatre,' contains two plays. Ruth Smillie's Zeke and the Indoor Plants (46-64), with music and lyrics by Jan Randall, hilariously takes the piss out of teenage rock-and-roll culture while giving juniorhigh audiences a chance to participate in developing skills to cope with difficult situations. For instance, a parent won't let one of the teenage band members play the final set because it's past her curfew. The audience is then given a chance to propose solutions (e.g., negotiating a new curfew with her parents). The participational elements are cleverly and formally built into the structure of the play, but with a reliance on the actors' improvisational skills to allow optimum flexibility for students' suggestions. Except for the rather bizarre conclusion proposing that the students make their own videos (how does your average thirteen-yearold afford a video camera?}, this is a wonderful play. Also included in the issue is Kristal Dreams by David Pody (65-77), a play about the pressures on teens to abuse alcohol and drugs. Theatre BARBARA MCEWEN De nos jours il y a tant d'activite theatrale qu'il est quasiment impossible 80 LETTERS IN CANADA 1989 de tout examiner, encore mains de consacrer certains domaines. De ce fait, il semble exister de plus en plus de pieces se situant en marge des grands courants theatraux au Quebec. Est-ce que cette marginalite sociale implique une marginalite artistique? Le terme 'en marge' s'applique-t-il a juste titre a la dramaturgie au feminin? Consideree sous I'angle traditionnel, la reponse serait affirmative , qu'on le veuille ou non. Quai qu'il en soit, c'est la parution d'un nombre de textes accordant la place principale, ou toute la place, a la femme, qui constitue une des tendances interessantes de l'annee passee. Dans certains cas, il s'agit d'une deuxieme edition de pieces ecrites et creees il y a des annees, telles que La Saga des poules mouillees de Jovette Marchessault, et La Lumiere blanche de Pol Pelletier. Dans d'autres cas, ce sont des pieces tout a fait recentes, comme Caryopse ou le Monde entier de Laurence Tardi, Baby Blues de Carole Frechette, La Rupture des eaux de Maryse Pelletier, ou encore L'Abominable Homme des sables de Jean Barbeau, qui fait avancer l'auteur (du mains c'est ce qu'il dit) vers l'ecriture d'un personnage feminin. Les raisons de ce phenomene - si phenomene il y a - ne sont pas claires. Etait-il question chez les editeurs d'une promotion envue de cette annee 1990 ou on allait...