Berto_Tony_201307_PhD .pdf - University of Guelph

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Gay Theatre in Canada
Gay Canadian theatre appears to originate in the sixties. Its development is aligned
with the evolution of professional Canadian theatre, as the economic, social, and political
conditions for both inform the terms of what was staged and how it produced meaning for
an audience. In the mid-sixties a notable shift occurred in Canadian theatre as the effects of
the recommendations of the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts,
Letters and Sciences (or Massey Commission) began to be realised. Theatre infrastructure
came into place through funding that began to be disbursed through the Canada Council in
1957. By the mid 1960s, the predominance of foreign theatre in Canada began to be
challenged as arts funding became available for both the construction of new performance
spaces and the creation of Canadian plays by Canadian playwrights and theatre companies.
In 1965 John Herbert’s Fortune and Men’s Eyes, the first Canadian play explicitly dealing
with homosexuality, was seen in a workshop performance at Stratford (Carson 210).
However, the performance was closed to the public due to a presumed antipathy to the
play's contents (which featured characters in drag and coercive gay sex in a reformatory
setting). The play went on to successful productions in New York and around the world.
Yet a Canadian company did not mount a version of the play until 1975.
In this era, it was often easier for some Canadian theatres to program plays from
other cultures than homegrown works, as works from foreign cultures and languages were
presumed to have a “universal appeal” (Czarnecki 283). Alternative theatres, such as
Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto, programmed avant garde work by gay playwright Jean
Genet in 1969. That same year, the company was charged under obscenity laws for a play
concerning bestiality (Futz). Yet in this seemingly daring climate, written-in-English,