1837: William Lyon Mackenzie and the Canadian Revolution

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

Rick Salutin is a playwright, journalist, and editor of This Magazine.
1837, the product of a collaboration between Salutin and Toronto’s
Theatre Passe Muraille way back in 1973, won the Chalmers Canadian Play
Award and has since become an integral part of Canadian theatre history.
The play, which is as fresh and exciting today as it was when it took
the country by storm in the 1970s, combines a sympathetic understanding
of William Lyon Mackenzie with an informed study of the cause to which
he devoted his life. Included in this new edition is a 180-page analysis
of the events surrounding the revolt, a fascinating portrait of
Mackenzie himself, and a production diary written by Salutin, which
chronicles the play’s early history.

Every school and university library in Canada should have a copy of
this seminal play, as should anyone who professes an interest in
Canadian theatre.