Rhubarb-o-rama!: Plays and Playwrights from the Rhubarb! Festival

David E. Kemp, former drama professor at Queen’s University, is the
author of The Pleasures and Treasures of the United Kingdom.

Established in 1979, the Rhubarb! Festival has gained a reputation for
presenting plays that are eclectic, irreverent, and truly alternative.
This celebratory volume, which spans the two decades of the festival’s
existence, is edited by Franco Boni, a freelance theatre director who
runs his own theatre company, Simmer Theatre, and who has directed many
plays written by those whose work has appeared under the Rhubarb!
Festival banner.

In addition to the 20 plays chosen by the editor, there are 23
interviews with playwrights, directors, and producers who have
contributed to the festival’s success. With respect to the plays, I
especially enjoyed Hillar Liitoja’s The Panel, an exploration of the
public hysteria surrounding AIDS; Robert Fulford’s Organic Divide, a
sensitive study of a man coming to terms with his homosexuality; and
Darren O’Donnell’s Radio Rooster Says That’s Bad, a clever
examination of the breakdown of communication in our culture.

The Rhubarb! Festival has provided a performance venue for voices that
would not otherwise have been heard. Not only has this unique festival
allowed plays to be developed through performance, but it has also
invited audience input and looked on “failure” as part of an ongoing
process rather than an end point. Sarah Stanley, the current director of
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, sums up the festival’s raison d’кtre
in an eloquent interview that concludes this indispensable book.