Love and Whisky: The Story of the Dominion Drama Festival and the Early Years of Theatre in Canada, 1606-1972

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

Love and Whisky by Betty Lee seems to be the first in a Canadian Theatre History series published by Simon and Pierre. I say “seems to be” as we are given no details as to future titles in the series nor indeed any kind of general series introduction. The book is, in fact, a reprinting in paperback form of a 1973 hardback publication by McClelland and Stewart. There has been no updating nor indeed any significant mention of the book’s previous publication. However, the publication inadequacies do not detract from the fact that Betty Lee’s informal and lively account of the history of the Dominion Drama Festival makes attractive reading.

From 1932 to 1970 the Dominion Drama Festival was the nation’s most spectacular cultural event. Months of painstaking adjudication culminated in the staging of the best amateur theatre in Canada, with further adjudication to choose the prize-winning performances. The book documents the struggle of such pioneers as Leonard Brockington, Pauline McGibbon, and Vincent Massey, helped by a band of enthusiastic volunteer workers, to maintain a culture venture supported only by corporate and volunteer funding — a venture which did much to establish a truly Canadian identity. The reader may well be surprised at the galaxy of famous names connected with the Festival — Yousuf Karsh, Guy Beaulieu, Jean Gascon, and Lorne Greene. Betty Lee is at her best when describing the innovative ways the fledgling organization managed to find funding, the public jurors and the private power struggles, and the ultimate transformation into Theatre Canada.

Two chapters are devoted to the history of theatre in Canada, which the average layman will find interesting; but one wishes that an attempt had been made to assess the impact that the Dominion Drama Festival has had on the Canadian theatre of today. Betty Lee’s research is full and comprehensive, however, and she writes in a wholly accessible way for a general audience. While one may have reservations about the importance of the events described in the book in relation to Canadian theatre in the ‘80s, for those with any interest in the developing mosaic of Canadian cultural life Love and Whisky will provide a wealth of information and detail that will, at the very least, assist us in fully understanding the development of the arts in Canada.