Political Stages: Gay Theatre in Toronto, 1967 – 1985 By John Paul Frederick Halferty A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by John Paul Frederick Halferty 2014 ii Political Stages: Gay Theatre in Toronto, 1967 – 1985 John Paul Frederick Halferty Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies University of Toronto 2014 Abstract This dissertation constructs an analytical history of gay theatre in Toronto from 1967 to 1985, a period that saw the radical reformation of the city’s gay community and its not-for-profit theatre industry. It undertakes this research using a cultural materialist theoretical frame that enables it to recover the history of gay theatre in Toronto and connect this history to the contemporary development of gay community and theatrical production in the city. By recovering the history of gay theatre in Toronto, this dissertation demonstrates its seminal importance to the history of gay culture in Canada, and to Canadian theatre history. To construct its narrative of gay theatre history in Toronto, this dissertation focuses on three pioneering gay playwrights, John Herbert, Robert Wallace, and Sky Gilbert, historically contextualizing these within three distinct eras of contemporary gay history and Toronto theatre history. Chapter one addresses the years prior to the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada in 1969, analyzing the theatrical development of John Herbert’s Fortune and Men’s Eyes, and the political significance of the New York production’s tour to Toronto’s Central Library Theatre in October 1967. Chapter two examines the rise of gay liberation and the iii Alternative theatre movements, 1969 to 1976, recovering the production history of Robert Wallace’s long-neglected play, No Deposit, No Return. Chapter three investigates the backlash against gay liberation, the consolidation of gay community as a political minority, and the emergence of AIDS, 1977-1985, focusing on the early career of Sky Gilbert, and the significance of his play, Drag Queens on Trial. Paying close attention to the politics of gay identity and community in Toronto, and providing a thick description of the biographical, social, cultural, and political discourses that shaped the lives of these playwrights and impacted the production and reception of their plays, this dissertation reveals the important part gay theatre played in the reformation of Toronto’s gay community and its not-for-profit theatre industry in this foundational period. iv Acknowledgments This dissertation would not have been completed without the support of many, many people. First, I would like to acknowledge and thank my supervisor, Andrea Most, and my committee, Michael Cobb and Alan Filewod, each of whom guided me in very particular and important ways on this journey. I would also like to thank my esteemed colleagues and friends. Some read drafts, others listened to me as I thrashed out ideas, all graciously gave of themselves: Nina Arsenault, Joel Benabu, Derek Billsman, Kirk Brant, Natalie Corbett-McCallum, Tyler Curtis, Sean Edgecomb, John Grundy, Natalie Harrower, Brendan Healy, Jeremy Hoisak, Elio Iannacci, Leslie Katz, Frances Latchford, Michelle MacArthur, Ken Nielsen, Stephen Low, Michael Trent, Mark Turner, Derek Wagler, and Keren Zaiontz. I am blessed with a large and loving family. I thank my mother and father, Rosaleen and Patrick Halferty, whose love for me is simply awesome. My siblings, Magda Moore, Patrick Halferty Jr., Roisin Young, Richard Halferty, and Anne Camastra inspire me in ways they do not know, while the love of my late brother Cathal Halferty remains in my heart a touchstone. My wonderfully talented nieces and nephews bring constant surprise and joy to my life; Erin Young, Melissa Moore, Patricia Young, Shannon Moore, Domenic Camastra, Rachael Halferty, Patrick Camastra, Rebecca Halferty, Michaela Camastra, Benjamin Halferty, Grace Halferty, and Paget Halferty, I love each and every one of you. Finally, I would like to thank the teachers who shaped my life. My OAC English teacher, Ms. Amanda Towe, was the first person who ever made me feel that I could write. Without Robert Wallace, I would never have gone to graduate school; he remains an example of the kind of scholar that I hope to become. My former teacher, and my best friend, Kym Bird has acted as my unofficial supervisor. Without her sage advice, her unflagging encouragement, and her v endless help and support, none of this would have been possible. She is an exemplary scholar, the most generous of teachers, and I dedicate this dissertation to her with love, respect, and the deepest thanks. vi Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….........ii Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………………iv Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter One: Theatrical Protest Before Gay Liberation: John Herbert and Fortune and Men’s Eyes at the Central Library Theatre…………...35 “The Good City”……………………………………………………………………..39 Rejection in Toronto and the Status of Political Performance………………….........55 Theatrical Protest Before Gay Liberation……………………………………………70 Chapter Two: Nascent Communities, Conflicting Politics: Gay Liberation and Toronto’s Alternative theatre Movement, 1967 –1976……...………………………………………109 Reforming Community: The Gay Liberation Movement in Toronto………………114 Illusion and Reality: Hosanna at the Tarragon……………………………………..133 Gay Liberation Theatre: No Deposit, No Return………………………………….........151 Chapter Three: The Gay Mainstream and the Birth of Queer: Sky Gilbert, Drag Queens on Trial, and the Development of Gay Theatre and Community in Toronto, 1977 –1985………….....……………………………….……………………...184 Crises and Consolidation: Gay Politics in Toronto, 1977 – 1985 …………….........186 “To make dying gay”: Early Responses to AIDS……………………………..........196 Becoming Radical: Sky Gilbert and the Early Years of Buddies in Bad Times……206 Parodic Politics: Drag Queens on Trial……………………………………….........220 Coda: After Drag Queens…………………………………………………………..247 Conclusion: More than a Stage…………………………………………………………...254 Works Cited…………………………….…………..……………………………………...263 1 Introduction Another problem Theatre Toronto has […] is the overemphasis on homosexuality in [its] plots. Ten years ago [homosexuality] might have been considered titillating – but today it’s as taken for granted as problem drinking or marital discord and not many people enjoy a constant repetition of those themes either. Although the spokesmen for the theatre protest that this sexual aberration has not been dominant in the dramas it has produced, it has been a part of five of the eight plays given so far. Dubarry Campau, Toronto Telegram, 1 March 1969. In January 1968, Theatre Toronto was set to take the city by storm. It rose from the ashes of the Crest Theatre and Canadian Players, after these companies both ceased production in 1966, leaving a vacuum in Toronto’s professional theatre market. Appropriate to the growing metropolis in the 1960s, Theatre Toronto was to be a thoroughly modern venture, “a completely contemporary theatre, bringing to Toronto new plays that have attracted serious critical attention” (William Graham qtd. in Monette and Prosser 68). It hired British theatre director and actor Clifford Williams to be its artistic director; fresh from success at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Williams was to act as a theatrical “prophet” “lead[ing] [Toronto] out of the dramatic desert” (Blaik Kirby qtd. in Johnston 14).1 Resident of the newly refurbished Royal Alexandra Theatre, the company hoped to become a Broadway-like house, producing professional theatre for the educated and affluent classes, and its ambitions were met with much good will. It garnered financial support from every level of government, corporate sponsors, and an excited public that eagerly bought more than 1 Graham was Theatre Toronto’s board president and Kirby a board member. 2 11,000 subscriptions to a theatre company that had yet to produce a single play. A year later, at the beginning of its second season, the company was in a very different position. Its subscriptions dropped by 50% (Johnston 15). Williams resigned a couple of days after the opening of the season’s inaugural play, Christopher Marlow’s Edward II, a critical failure despite the talents of Stratford star William Hutt in its titular role. By season’s end, Theatre Toronto posted a deficit of $32,500 (Brissenden) and closed its doors, its board amalgamating with the still-under-construction St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts (Johnston 15). Theatre Toronto’s spectacular failure is surely a complex matter, caused by various artistic, managerial, and political forces. But what are we to think of Dubarry Campau’s opinion? That Theatre Toronto’s downfall was at least partially due to an “overemphasis” on homosexuality in its plays? Coming from London, where, like in New York, a number of plays with homosexual characters and “themes” enjoyed success in the 1960s, Williams perhaps misjudged the tastes of provincial Toronto audiences when he programmed plays like The Killing of Sister George by Frank Marcus, which focuses on a lesbian couple, and Edward II.2 Weighing in on the matter, William Hutt took a different view than Campau, arguing the “problem” of homosexuality is a matter of public interest and misguided interpretation: I was not in Toronto last year, but I heard that the theatre was obsessed with homosexuality.