Canadian Mosaic II

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

This anthology of plays features dramatic characters who are “acutely
aware of their ancestors’ struggles.” It also features predictable
variety in its ethnic perspectives and some unevenness in writing.

Like the Sun by Veralyn Warkentin agonizes over the Irish Potato Famine
immigration, but reads like a heavy polemic. Beautiful Deeds/De beaux
gestes by Marie-Lynn Hammond weaves song with surprising confessional
narrative from two grandmothers of Canada’s two solitudes. The
touching and hilarious Mom, Dad, I’m Living with a White Girl by Marty
Chan alternates a real-life situation with an over-the-top fantasy of
the Yellow Peril. Aviva Ravel’s Gently Down the Stream invests the
oft-used scenario of “two men on a bench” with surprising
observations. The House on Hermitage Road is a splendid radio play that
explores the Trinidadian roots of Dirk McLean. W. Ray Towle’s The
Golden Door is concerned with the Canadian–Japanese World War II
internment scandal.

Performance rights, variously listed under “performance
permission,” “copyright,” or

“acknowledgments,” are missing in the case of Marie-Lynn Hammond’s
play. Translations of foreign phrases and historical explanations are
offered in a dog’s breakfast of inconsistently organized footnotes and
endnotes. More concerted editorial effort would have been welcome.