From history and politics to fantasy and farce, the first flourish of women's theatre in Canada questioned the discourses that formed and informed ideas of gender, sex, and sexuality. While still seduced by an abiding belief in the truth of separate spheres that mark out the hierarchies of men's and women's roles, these plays, in a variety of genres, challenged conventional notions of the private and public in the service of women's rights and social reform. Blowing up the Skirt of History revives ten theatrical comedies that staged the promise of social change, empowered a counterpublic of politically vocal and socially powerful women's voices, and put women's artistic work and lives in the spotlight. When middle- and upper-class women participated in the theatre - as audience members, as playwrights, and as producers - they in turn signalled its authenticity and acceptability. Informed by feminist materialism and public sphere theory as categories of reclamation and analysis, the book's general introduction situates the plays in Canadian women's history, politics, ideologies of gender, theatrical modernism, colonialism, and a newly industrializing nation. Introductions to each work explore the playwrights' biographies, their political activity, and their literary output. Additionally they recount each play's production history and historicize the ways in which it intervenes in the ideologies of the age. Blowing up the Skirt of History reconstructs a long-overlooked corpus of early dramatic writing and restores it to Canadian theatrical history. These plays, and others like them, are exemplars of the types of theatre that became increasingly appropriate to and supportive of middle- and upper-class Anglo-Canadian women's culture over the turn of the twentieth century.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Date published
- ©2020.
- Description conventions
- rda
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- C812/.40809287
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 23
- Distributor
- Canadian Electronic Library (Firm),
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- n-cn---
- ISBN
- 9780228004257 0228003326
- LCCN
- PR9196.37.W65
- LCCN Item number
- B57 2020eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- NLC
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (xiv, 407 pages)
- Published in
- Ottawa, Ontario
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)kck00241705 (OCoLC)1223101296 (CaOOCEL)458989
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- YDX
Table of Contents
- Cover 1
- BLOWING UP THE SKIRT of History 2
- Title 4
- Copyright 5
- Dedication 6
- Contents 8
- Figures 10
- Acknowledgments 14
- Introduction 18
- 1 ) Laura Secord: The Heroine of 1812 70
- Introduction 70
- Playtext 77
- 2 ) A Mock Parliament 140
- Introduction 140
- Playtext 149
- 3 ) Slumberland Shadows: A Christmas Drama for Wee Ones 171
- Introduction 171
- Playtext 180
- 4 ) The Joggsville Convention (For All Women) 194
- Introduction 194
- Playtext 203
- 5 ) The Red Cross Helpers: A Patriotic Play 228
- Introduction 228
- Playtext 237
- 6 ) The Soldiers 257
- Introduction 257
- Playtext 266
- 7 ) The Wooing of Miss Canada 277
- Introduction 277
- Playtext 285
- 8 ) My Soul-Mate: A Musical Comedy 301
- Introduction 301
- Playtext 312
- 9 ) Acadia: A Play in Five Acts 338
- Introduction 338
- Playtext 345
- 10 ) A Demonstration in Scientific Salesmanship 363
- Introduction 363
- Playtext 376
- Appendix A: Bibliography of Playwrights Included in This Edition 382
- Appendix B: Abbreviated List of Popular Amateur Theatre in the 1920s 388
- Bibliography 390
- Contributors 408
- Index 410
