Course Syllabus: The Theatre of Rob Ford 101

From 2010 to 2015, no fewer than twenty dramatic works have been composed about Toronto’s former Mayor Rob Ford, a politician whose administration was plagued by scandal after scandal and who quickly became the star of an international media spectacle the likes of which the city had not seen before. Theatre artists saw unlimited potential in this unfolding drama: Ford’s public gaffes and buffoonish behaviour provided ample material for slapstick and physical comedy. The media coverage of his apparent misbehaviour reached a fever pitch, and each day seemed to bring another story of Mayor Ford—instigating a municipal conflict-of-interest investigation, arriving inebriated at a major event (again), smoking crack on video, or ranting wildly under the influence. It was decidedly operatic, the stuff of Shakespearean or Greek tragedy. Artists from across Canada (and beyond) answered the call, producing such an abundance of theatrical responses to Ford that they might profitably be treated as constituting a new genre of theatre in their own right, what this piece will refer to as “Fordian theatre.” Here, Levin offers a syllabus for The Theatre of Rob Ford 101, a course that surveys key play texts and productions in this emerging body of work, providing students with a set of critical tools for analyzing their central themes and formal conventions. At the same time, it responds to widespread dismissals of Fordian theatre voiced by journalists and members of the public, begging playwrights to cease writing Rob Ford plays.