Curtains Up Winnipeg

Disclaimer: this is not a review. This is a new project. Proceed accordingly.

Years and years ago, I was at the outdoor market at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival when a saw a Book. A Book I had been looking for most of my life and didn’t know it. It was big, and it was juicy and it had thin pages. It also had the word “Drama” on the cover, which if you follow astrology I am very into as a Leo. I had to have it, and $15 later I did. The back promised a selection of plays and essays following the history of theatre to the present. It seemed like, and still seems like, the coolest thing to me.

It did not occur to me that this was a textbook that people whine about having to buy, one that there are a million used copies of all out there in the world. As far as I was concerned it was a magic book to fill in the gaps of my life as a theatre goer. Well I had been lucky enough to experience a lot of theatre for my age, I knew enough to understand how little I knew. I had quietly let go of my not particularly serious interest in acting not so long ago, but nothing could stop me from loving theatre. I read that book reverentially. Every page turn was an act of ceremony.

I also never finished. I got to Bertolt Brecht, absurdism and breaking down the fourth wall, and then I got distracted by one of the hundreds of things that distract me throughout my life. I’ve always regretted that. It seems like it would be good to know some staple plays that get referenced regularly. I want to understand movements and change over time. After writing my own, I kind of just want to read more plays.

Which brings us to the present, my new project on the blog: I’m going to read the Bedford introduction to Drama and write about it. All the essays. All the plays. An exhaustive look at an intro textbook. Now, I understand that tastes change and work has been done to make survey textbooks more inclusive. All that said, I will be using the fourth edition for one very important reason:

(clears throat)

I already own it.

That’s it. No chasing around used book stores for newer editions. God forbid I spend $150 on the newest edition. I’m one woman over here chasing her love of theatre, and sometimes practical choices have to be made. Such as bribing your cats with treats to get good pictures for your blog since the derby babies haven’t learned how to cuddle me while I read yet…

Then there are other accommodations that have to be made sometimes. Having to move around my review schedule based on tornado warnings when I was booked for Shakespeare in the Ruins. Not making it to Rattle last night due to leaving my phone in an Uber. Waiting to start this project until I could 1) find the book, 2) finish the novel I was reading and 3) take time away from my play which is currently being rehearsed. At the end of the day, you just make it work. No one is going to suffer significantly if my review goes up with some delay.

So back to the blogging project: I’d ideally like to bring in other theatre compilations once I’m done this one. I have a two volume collection of Latin American plays I’d love to look at, for one. I’d also happily do a Michel Tremblay read along in French if I can get people to participate with me.

This is also a good time to say that if you would like to write for this blog, I may need some help this season. I got a new job connected to theatre which means there could be an issue of conflict of interest. If you want to write, I can arrange the ticket hook ups. Please feel free to spread the word.

Now, for the actual reading. Even if I can’t convince my cats to participate in the process.