Setting the Stage - Hardcover

Whittaker, Herbert; Rittenhouse, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0773520023 ISBN 13: 9780773520028

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1999

Synopsis

In Montreal Whittaker witnessed the early careers of actors such as Christopher Plummer, Gratien Gélinas, John Colicos, Jean Gascon, Denise Pelletier, and Amelia Hall. He worked in close collaboration with many pioneers of the Little Theatre Movement, the Dominion Drama Festival, and Canadian theatre in general, such as Martha Allan, Charles Rittenhouse, and Pierre Dagenais. His involvement with Dagenais' L'Equipe allows him to report on the early days of francophone theatre in Montreal and the cross-fertilization between Martha Allan's Montreal Repertory Theatre and actor-directors such as Dagenais, Gratien Gélinas, and Yvette Brind'Amour. He also gives us glimpses of the early theatrical spaces in the city that no longer exist, as well as some, such as the Salle de Gésu and the Monument-National, that have survived. This engaging memoir of exciting times is prefaced by a personal tribute from Christopher Plummer and set in context through an introduction, chronology, and bibliography by Jonathan Rittenhouse. Illustrated with a selection of Whittaker's stage and costume designs as well as photographs, Setting the Stage provides a captivating visual record of the period and is a must for everyone interested in Canadian theatre, Canadian arts, culture, and Montreal.

About this title

Review

"For all of us young writers and actors, he helped lay the ground rules, he was there when we needed him ... Whittaker had nothing tangible to endorse when he began. He had to get behind a whole country largely Calvinist in its indifference to things artistic and convince it that within its boundaries such a thing as art actually could exist ... I don't think there is anyone who has done more to free our country of its old prejudices toward homegrown talent than Herbert Whittaker." Christopher Plummer, from the Preface. "Herbert Whittaker was Montreal's quintessential man of theatre." William Weintraub in City Unique: Montreal Days and Nights in the 1940s and '50s. "Setting the Stage is a rich and valuable work in which readers will discover forgotten or unknown chapters of Quebec and Canadian theatre. Whittaker introduces us to forgotten theatre companies and organizations and bears witness to the vitality of a particularly fertile period." Jean-Marc Larrue, Theatre Department, Coll?ge de Valleyfield. "an interesting book on a major figure in Canadian theatre." Anton Wagner, Anton Wagner Productions.

Synopsis

"Setting the Stage" is the story of Montreal's theatrical cultures and their part in the development of Canadian theatre - a story that only Herbert Whittaker, Canada's first and foremost theatre critic, can tell. Before his long and distinguished career with the Globe and Mail, Whittaker had already had three careers in Montreal - as stage designer, theatre director, and critic for the Montreal Gazette. In "Setting the Stage" Whittaker recreates the vibrancy of the Montreal theatre scene in the 1930s and 40s and gives vivid portraits of important Canadian actors, directors, and producers. He highlights the enriching interaction and tensions between francophone and anglophone artists and companies at a time when both English and French artists were struggling to establish a professional theatre. In Montreal Whittaker witnessed the early careers of actors such as Christopher Plummer, Gratien Gelinas, John Colicos, Jean Gascon, Denise Pelletier, and Amelia Hall. He worked in close collaboration with many pioneers of the Little Theatre Movement, the Dominion Drama Festival, and Canadian theatre in general, such as Martha Allan, Charles Rittenhouse, and Pierre Dagenais.

His involvement with Dagenais' L'Equipe allows him to report on the early days of francophone theatre in Montreal and the cross-fertilization between Martha Allan's Montreal Repertory Theatre and actor-directors such as Dagenais, Gratien Gelinas, and Yvette Brind'Amour. He also gives us glimpses of the early theatrical spaces in the city that no longer exist, as well as some, such as the Salle de Gesu and the Monument-National, that have survived. This engaging memoir of exciting times is prefaced by a personal tribute from Christopher Plummer and set in context through an introduction, chronology, and bibliography by Jonathan Rittenhouse. Illustrated with a selection of Whittaker's stage and costume designs as well as photographs, "Setting the Stage" provides a captivating visual record of the period and is a must for everyone interested in Canadian theatre, Canadian arts, culture, and Montreal. Herbert Whittaker was theatre critic at the Montreal Gazette from 1935 to 1949 and at the Globe and Mail from 1949 to 1975. He now lives in Toronto where he most recently staged the North American premier of Tom Stoppard's "The Invention of Love".

He is the founding chairman of the Canadian Theatre Critics Asssociation and is the author of five previous books. Jonathan Rittenhouse is professor of theatre at Bishop's University.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0773520023
• ISBN 13: 9780773520028
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240