NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. UMI® u Ottawa L'Universite canadienne Canada's university ITTTT FACULTE DES ETUDES SUPERIEURES 1=J FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND ET POSTOCTORALES U Ottawa POSDOCTORAL STUDIES l.'Universii^ cantidienne Cnnaria's university Lia Marie Talia AUTEUR DE LA THESE / AUTHOR OF THESIS Ph.D. (English Literature) GRADE/"DEGREE Department of English 7AWLTOcaOEPAi^TCl«W The Madwoman in the Theatre: A Re-evaluation of Canadian Women Playwrights and the English Canadian Dramatic Canon, 1966-1977 TITRE DE LA THESE / TITLE OF THESIS Cynthia Sugars DIRECTEUR (DIRECTRICE) DE LA THESE / THESIS SUPERVISOR CO-DIRECTEUR (CO-DIRECTRICE) DE LA THESE / THESIS CO-SUPERVISOR EXAMINATEURS (EXAMINATRICES) DE LA THESE/THESIS EXAMINERS Mary Arseneau David Staines Janice Fiamengo Jerry Wasserman Gary W. Slater Le Doyen de la Faculte des etudes superieures et postdoctorales / Dean of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The Madwoman in the Theatre: A Re-evaluation of Canadian Women Playwrights and the English Canadian Dramatic Canon, 1966-1977 Lia Marie Talia Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Supervised by Professor Cynthia Sugars Department of English Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Lia Marie Talia, Ottawa, Canada, 2009 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-59524-4 Our file Notre r6f6rence ISBN: 978-0-494-59524-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extra its substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. ••I Canada Table of Contents Abstract 3 Acknowledgements 4 Dedication 5 Introduction: Female Things 6 Chapter I Aviva Ravel: New Age, New Woman? 48 Chapter II Beverley Simons: Exorcising Powerful Women 98 Chapter III Carol Bolt: Politics and Murder, No Laughing Matter 146 Chapter IV: Sharon Pollock: "Women can't be direct" 194 Conclusion 246 Bibliography 257 2 Abstract The period 1966-1977 saw the emergence of both the Canadian feminist movement and a new Canadian drama. This thesis explores how the work of four English Canadian female playwrights reflected both in their groundbreaking early work. Aviva Ravel, Beverley Simons, Carol Bolt, and Sharon Pollock were each concerned with women's roles and changing conventional perceptions of women. This may in part explain why critics view the early work of these four playwrights as proto-feminist rather than feminist. All four playwrights, although they often disavowed a feminist intent, wrote plays that reflected the ideological tenets of second-wave Anglo-American feminism. However, their plays also often depict a decidedly vexed feminist vision. They critiqued restrictions imposed on women, while simultaneously arguing for the importance of women's empowered contribution to society, but often their message is obscured by ambiguous characterizations, structures, and conclusions. In this way, these playwrights asserted a feminist vision and challenged authority and stereotypical depictions of women on stage, while attempting to evade the antipathy of audiences and critics. The feminist reflections of these four female playwrights during the initial stages of the second-wave feminist movement in Canada provide a fascinating glimpse into how these writers were able to create a role for themselves in Canadian theatre against the backdrop of the women's liberation movement. They may have concealed their feminist sympathies to varying degrees; however, they nonetheless put women's concerns centre-stage and began an examination of identity politics and gender socialization, especially in relation to the notion of the performance of gender roles, that has continued for decades. 3 Acknowledgements I started the doctoral program at the University of Ottawa in September 2001. Over the past seven years my life has changed enormously, to the extent that I barely recognize the person I was when it all began. The many challenges of the past number of years have altered my life radically and, ultimately, positively. I have many people to thank for their help along the way. My supervisor, Professor Cynthia Sugars, has been a model of academic vigour and excellence as well as personal grace and insight. Her knowledge and expertise have consistently helped me hone my ideas and sharpen my focus and observations. She has provided me with an exceptional level of support, in terms of providing employment, helping me weather the challenges of the Ph.D. program, shoring up my sometimes (often?) flagging spirit, and offering kindness and understanding throughout a number of intensely personal trials. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with her. I also wish to express my appreciation to Professor Janice Fiamengo whom I assisted with the organization of the hugely successful symposium "The Animals in this Country." Her compassion and intellectual integrity taught me important lessons about honour in academia. Thanks to my brother, Peter, and to my many other friends and supporters including Atef Laouyene, Beverley Armitage, Sandra Banfield, Heather Duff, Barbara Francis, Tanya Glofcheskie, Jane Hadley, Josephine Kealey, Danielle Kingsley, Lisa Krueger, Angie McMurray, Amanda Mullen, Katie Munnik, Brie McMannus and Zack Euler, Heather Mitchell, Robyn Paton, Kathryn Prince, Angela Robbeson, Sandi Stoliar, and Susie Waldman. Diane Corcoran, our Graduate Administrator, deserves her own special mention for being so consistently helpful. I am grateful to playwrights Aviva Ravel and Sharon Pollock for generously meeting to talk about their work and to writer Muriel Gold, who also welcomed me into her home for an interview. I also took a playwriting course with Carol Bolt at Humber College many years ago, and I am thankful to have had the unique opportunity to have known her as a teacher. A special thank you to Appolonia Steele at the University of Calgary's Special Collections. Also thanks to JCC's Eiran Harris and Eddie Paul, and the staff at the National Library of Canada. Thanks to Larry MacDonald for access to his personal archives. My colleagues in the Association of Theatre Research have also been generous with their assistance, especially Gregory Reid. Jerry Wasserman, Sherrill Grace, and Cynthia Zimmerman have also offered helpful insights and encouragement. My late mother always believed in me and her financial bequeathal allowed me to focus on my studies in ways I would never have been able to do otherwise. My father has also been particularly helpful throughout this project offering me generous financial support and asserting his faith that I would eventually finish this project and venture out into the "real" world. I am most grateful for my daughter Annabelle, who anchors me in my real world by each day showing me the joy, depth, strength, and truth of love. More than any other role, it is motherhood that has transformed my soul and changed me for good, forever. 4 In loving memory of my mother, Anna Blanche Lawson/Tagliamonte, 1930 - 2002, and dedicated with love to my daughter, Annabelle Margaret McGrath, b. 2006. Introduction: Female Things "[F]eminist" and "feminism" refer first and foremost to a politics which developed out of consciousness raising and political activism and has only latterly, with the establishment of women's and gender studies within academia, been equated with a body of theory. Although it signifies an ideological movement and therefore a metanarrative, this movement has never had a single, clearly defined, common ideology or been constituted around a political party or central organisation or leaders or an agreed policy or manifesto, or even been based upon an agreed principle of collective action. As a result, feminism has always for the most part consisted of diverse