Early Stages: Theatre in Ontario, 1800-1914

Anton Wagner is an assistant professor of Theatre at York University in
Toronto.

This collection of eight essays, by contributors as prominent as
Robertson Davies and J.M.S. Careless, is an essential text for anyone
interested in theatre in Ontario. The essays provide a broad overview of
the province’s cultural history, the influence of British regiments
and garrison theatre to the rise of an indigenous Canadian theatre, the
wide repertoire of foreign touring companies, the economics of show
business in the nineteenth century, the great popularity of vaudeville
and variety theatre, and the different types of performance halls and
theatre buildings in the province. A chronology of important events form
1800 to 1914, a useful index and bibliography, and several dozen
photographs bring to life the artists, companies, and theatres that the
contributors discuss.

A second volume of essays, also edited by Saddlemyer, will extend this
history of Ontario theatre from 1914 to the present.