Main entry:

Carson, Neil.

Title & Author:

Harlequin in Hogtown : George Luscombe and Toronto Workshop Productions / Neil Carson.

Publication:

Toronto ; Buffalo : University of Toronto Press, ©1995.

Description:

xi, 247 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-233) and index.
1. Don Valley Quixote -- 2. Strolling Player -- 3. Building a Company -- 4. Finding a Voice -- 5. Collaborative Creation I: Hey Rube! and The Mechanic -- 6. Adding the Language: Before Compiegne -- 7. Going Professional -- 8. Collaborative Creation II: Woyzeck and The Golem of Venice -- 9. The Search for Audiences -- 10. Political Entertainment: Mr Bones -- 11. Broadway Beckons -- 12. Chronicling the Revolution: Che Guevara -- 13. Collaborative Creation III: Chicago '70 -- 14. The European Repertoire -- 15. New Perspectives -- 16. Old Wine in New Bottles: Ten Lost Years -- 17. The Indignant Muse -- 18. A Vintage Season -- 19. Looking Backward -- 20. New Blood -- 21. Board Games -- 22. Catastrophe Averted -- 23. Harlequin in Hogtown -- 24. Final Act -- 25. Curtain-Call.
Also issued online.

Summary:

From the beginning, Luscombe envisaged his new company as part of an international contingent of artists determined to further the cause of socialism through art. He saw himself as part of a tradition which sought to bring about change by 'educational' rather than political or revolutionary means ... Unfortunately, Canadian audiences, unlike their counterparts in Russia, Germany, or England, appeared to be stubbornly indifferent to live theatre.
The challenge facing the new company, therefore, was how to break through that indifference and make their audiences look at themselves and their country with new eyes. Ideally, what was needed was original Canadian plays ... Until such new works were available, however, Luscombe and his actors would have to make up their repertoire from the existing stock of world dramatic literature. But instead of treating these 'masterpieces' of bourgeois theatre with the respect normally paid to them, Luscombe intended to follow the example of Vsevolod Meyerhold, Erwin Piscator, Bertolt Brecht, and Joan Littlewood. Those directors had shown how the classics of earlier periods could be made relevant to contemporary audiences.

Resources:
Table of contents

ISBN:

0802006809
9780802006806
0802076335 (pbk.)
9780802076335 (pbk.)

Subject:

Luscombe, George, 1926-1999.
Luscombe, George 1926-
Luscombe, George.
Toronto Workshop Productions History.
Toronto Workshop Productions.
Experimental theater Ontario Toronto History.
Théâtre expérimental Ontario Toronto.
Experimental theater
Experimentelles Theater
Experimenteel toneel.
Ontario Toronto
Toronto
Theatre History
Canada

Form/genre:

History

Holdings:

Location: Library main canada 248260
Call No.: PN2306.T62 T67 1995
Status: Available