Harlequin in Hogtown: George Luscombe and Toronto Workshop Productions

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

This meticulously researched book follows George Luscombe and his
cohorts chronologically from the first glimmers of a fresh theatrical
vision, which was to become Toronto Workshop Productions, to the final
embers of what became a smoke-and-mirrors quest for funding of the
Alexander Street Theatre Project. Neil Carson’s prose is
entertainingly equal to the task of finding and characterizing the
“stepchild of the alternative theatre movement” at each stage of its
development. In a genre given to sprawling recitation of events, one
appreciates Carson’s particular talent for succinct analysis. The
profile of George Luscombe is nearly synonymous with that of TWP; he can
easily be seen as the Canadian equivalent of Joan Littlewood or Dario
Fo. One welcomes this timely, readable history.