Author Description

The primary aim of this study is a critical survey of the Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC) during the "founding" years of 1975 to 1983. Over the course of this period the GCTC went through its most fundamental changes, which were fuelled by an underlying conflict. At the root of this conflict were two contesting mandates. The central objective of the first mandate was to produce a particular kind of Canadian theatre and, to a lesser extent, promote Canadian culture in general. This mandate was divided into two ventures. The first was an ongoing resistance to the encroachment into Canada of American, and, to a lesser extent British, culture in favour of the nurturing of a "Canadian" culture. This second venture sought not only to produce Canadian drama, but Canadian drama that was considered to be "socially relevant".The central objective of the second mandate was to address issues that directly affected the people of Ottawa using the principles of "social justice". The appeal of the company in this phase was its close connection and its commitment to various activist communities in the city, as opposed to acting on the larger objectives of cultural nationalism. The main project of this mandate was to conceive and produce plays that addressed issues and events that were uppermost in the minds of people who shared similar politics as the members of the company. These issues and events were located both inside and outside the country, which constituted one of the major breaks with the founding mandate. This study will examine the GCTC's gradual shift from the first mandate to the second mandate during the period in question.This study also examines the brief existence of two other Ottawa-based companies, The Penguin Theatre (PTC) (1976--1983) and Theatre 2000 (T2000) (1978--1983). Through an examination of the work of these theatres I will argue that during the brief time all three were in existence (GCTC, PTC and T2000) from 1978 to 1983 they constituted an avant-garde movement that posed a serious challenge to the National Arts Centre and the amateur companies in English-speaking Ottawa.