Canadian Drama and the Critics. Rev. ed.

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

This work enjoyed substantial attention from Canadian theatre and
literary pundits when it was first published in 1987 and then reprinted
in 1989. It is, and remains, a virtual critical com-panion to three
anthologies of Canadian drama: The Penguin Book of Modern Canadian Drama
(1984), Richard Perkyns’s Major Plays of the Canadian Theatre
1934–1984 (1984), and Jerry Wasserman’s Modern Canadian Plays
(1994). It assembles a broad selection of immediate critical responses
to 43 important Canadian plays and has been called “a critical map to
our drama,” even pulling in a few responses from beyond our
geographical borders. Yet the volume is firmly focused on the plays
themselves and not on the art of the critique. Conolly has done a great
service by bringing together diasporic pieces in a volume that will sit
neatly on the shelf beside the now-standard Canadian drama anthologies.
It will be especially useful for teachers and students.