AUC Philologica (Acta Universitatis Carolinae Philologica) is an academic journal published by Charles University. It publishes scholarly articles in a large number of disciplines (English, German, Greek and Latin, Oriental, Romance and Slavonic studies, as well as in phonetics and translation studies), both on linguistic and on literary and cultural topics. Apart from articles it publishes reviews of new academic books or special issues of academic journals.
The journal is indexed in CEEOL, DOAJ, EBSCO, and ERIH PLUS.
AUC PHILOLOGICA, Vol 2022 No 2 (2022), 117–129
“If Only They’d Stop Waiting”: Staging Western Canadian Drama In Central Europe
Klára Kolinská
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/24646830.2022.42
published online: 16. 03. 2023
abstract
The best of contemporary theatre in Western Canada presents stories of the historical, cultural, and ethnic diversity of the region while taking a critical stand against the traditional stereotypes of “prairie realism and cowboy iconography” which contributed to the creation of its social, as well as artistic awareness. Western Canadian playwrights reflect in their works the wide multicultural spectrum of their region, without writing mere “ethnic theatre” with limited readability and appeal. This is documented by several instances of producing Western Canadian drama “out of its context” – specifically in Central Europe. In the Czech Republic, it was the productions of Brad Fraser’s Kill Me Now by theatres in Ostrava and Mladá Boleslav in 2017 and 2019, respectively, and the production of Vern Thiessen’s play Lenin’s Embalmers by a Liberec theatre which premiered in December 2017. The article discusses the productions of Western Canadian plays by Czech theatres, with special focus on the dramaturgical decisions and theatrical presentations concerned, as well as on the critical and audience response the productions have received, with the aim to demonstrate that Western Canadian drama presents not only a valuable source for cultural and theatrological study, but also inspiring material for meaningful stage productions in Czech – and potentially European – theatres.
keywords: Canadian drama and theatre; regionalism; Western Canadian theatre; theatre dramaturgy; Vern Thiessen; Brad Fraser
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“If Only They’d Stop Waiting”: Staging Western Canadian Drama In Central Europe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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ISSN: 0567-8269
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