Drama

drama 65 university of toronto quarterly, volume 73, number 1, winter 2003/4 New, W.H. Riverbook and Ocean. Oolichan. 100. $14.95 Norris, Ken. The Way Life Should Be. Wolsak and Wynn. 88. $15.00 Page, P.K. Planet Earth. Porcupine=s Quill. 208. $19.95 Pal, Rajinderpal S. Pulse. Arsenal Pulp. 110. $15.95 Payerle, George. The Last Trip to Oregon. Ronsdale. 116. $14.95 Poetry and Spiritual Practice: Selections from Contemporary Canadian Poets. Edited by Susan McCaslin. St Thomas Poetry Series. 152. $20.00 Priest, Robert. Blue Pyramids: New and Selected Poems. ECW. 204. $16.95 Rhodes, Shane. Holding Pattern. NeWest. 112. $9.95 Robinson, Matt. How We Play at It. ECW. 84. $15.95 Rogers, Linda. The Bursting Test. Guernica. 186. $12.99 Sibum, Norm. Girls and Handsome Dogs. Porcupine=s Quill. 120. $14.95 Smith, Douglas Burnet. Helsinki Drift. Beach Holme. 86. $12.95 Souaid, Carolyn Marie. Snow Formations. Signature. 96. $12.95 Souster, Raymond. Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Oberon. 100. $13.95 Spalding, Esta. The Wife=s Account. Anansi. 80. $16.95 Sweeney, Matthew. A Picnic on Ice: Selected Poems. Véhicule. 150. $16.00 Tessier, Vanna. Peppermint Night. Broken Jaw. 64. $13.95 Christl Verduyn. Silt. Guernica. 80. $12.99 Wayman, Tom. My Father=s Cup. Harbour. 126. $16.95 Weier, John. The Violinmaker=s Lament. Wolsak and Wynn. 96. $15.00 Wilson, Sheri-D. Between Lovers. Arsenal Pulp. 112. $15.95 Woods, Elizabeth Rhett. Family Fictions. Wolsak and Wynn. 90. $14.00 Workman, Hawksley. hawksley burns for isadora. With paintings by Beverley Hawksley. ECW. 62. $24.95 Wynand, Derk. Dead Man=s Float. Brick. 98. $15.00 Zitner, Sheldon. Before We Had Words. McGill-Queen=s University Press. 112. $16.95 Zonailo, Carolyn. The Goddess in the Garden. Ekstasis. 88. $14.95 Drama BRUCE BARTON The selection of 2002 published drama submitted for review was surprisingly limited in number, and the absence of such playwrights as Judith Thompson, George F. Walker, Brad Fraser, Daniel MacIvor, and Djanet Sears, to name only a few, resulted in a particularly quiet year. The factors involved are, no doubt, multiple, and related to ongoing turbulence in the industry areas of publication and distribution (e.g., Blizzard=s continuing organizational challenges), coupled with the coincidental hiatus of many of the nation=s best-recognized dramatic authors. Nonetheless, the smaller field of submissions yielded an assortment of strong, clear dramatic voices, 66 letters in canada 2002 university of toronto quarterly, volume 73, number 1, winter 2003/4 including some highly promising early contributions and a number of confident, mature works from established writers. One can only speculate on the reasons why so many of the plays in the 2002 selection of drama focus on the two World Wars. Kevin Kerr=s Unity (1918), Norah Harding=s Sometime, Never, R.H. Thomson=s The Lost Boys, Stephen Massicote=s Mary=s Wedding, and David French=s Soldier=s Heart all address the personal and communal repercussions of war; however, the variety of dramaturgical strategies and intentions is marked. Recipient of the 2002 Governor-General=s Award for Drama in English, Kevin Kerr=s Unity (1918) is a rich pastiche of lyricism, overt symbolism, and social commentary. Located in Unity, Saskatchewan, the story effectively conflates global armed conflict with the rampant international spread of influenza that killed millions of people worldwide in the autumn of 1918 (estimates range from twenty to fifty million). A fictitious account based on actual historical conditions, the play creates a structurally loose-knit portrayal of a tightly wound community B one isolated by distance, fear, and ignorance in the face of an enemy that knows no boundaries or distinctions of class, gender, or belief. Featuring a large cast of finely drawn and regularly eccentric characters, the many, often short scenes enact the myriad, complex points of connection and interaction between the community inhabitants as they strive to maintain diverse and contradictory interpretations of normalcy amid extreme situations of loss, apprehension, and confusion. Particularly striking are the figures of Sunna, the fifteenyear -old niece of the recently deceased mortician, who single-handedly takes on the task of preparing and disposing of an ever-increasing...