Theatre Lethbridge, 1885-1988: A History of Theatrical Production in Lethbridge, Alberta

Ian C. Nelson is assistant director of libraries at the University of
Saskatchewan and director of La Troupe du Jour, Regina Summer Stage.

This is a hefty tome, comprising 434 pages and some 40 in-text tables
plus 131 pages of other tables in a series of appendices. There are also
many illustrations, usually historical production photographs,
but—surprisingly given the otherwise obsessive creation of
tables—these are not made immediately accessible through an index or
list. The lists and tables range from the genuinely useful and
analytical to the curious (e.g., two tables of backstage and onstage
participants in Coaldale Little Theatre activities between 1953 and
1975, divided into categories of very or moderately active and two
roles, three to five roles, or six to ten roles).

The major interest of the textual material is as a history and
compendium of community involvement in creating, promoting, and
maintaining theatre activity (Mann uses a broad definition that includes
ice shows) in Lethbridge and its environs. The approach is roughly
chronological, although the author tries to characterize each period
with a theme indicative of the kind of theatrical growth or interest
that was predominant. He does an excellent job of identifying
participants and their other roles in the community. It is interesting
to note, for instance, the importance of the NWMP and of churches in the
initiation of theatrical activity. The infamous “British connexion”
also seems evident from the names and accents evoked. The tome is also
valuable in quoting at length the critical reception that productions
and performers received.

This book will serve essentially as a kind of community scrapbook and
compendium. The author does draw various social and economic conclusions
within the text, but his most pungent analyses are given in the
seven-page epilogue.