Staging Canlit: Reinterpreting the Canadian Literary in English-language Stage Adaptations of Canadian Fiction and Poetry from 1975-2011

This dissertation examines theatrical adaptations of Canadian fiction and poetry performed on Canadian stages between 1975 and 2011. Treating the phenomenon of Canadian literary stage adaptations as a response to specifically Canadian environments of production and reception, this study considers how contextual pressures – whether the result of broad national, economic, and aesthetic trends, or unique material factors – have shaped adapters’ and audiences’ “horizons of expectations” in ways that promote the prioritization of particular visions of “Canadian literariness.” Through the use of three primary case studies comprising five theatrical adaptations, I identify several formal preoccupations that emerge in theatrical adaptation as the result of the Canadian theatre’s engagement with the perceived “literariness” of Canadian literature. In my first case study, I read the 1978 NDWT touring production of James Reaney’s adaptation of John Richardson’s novel Wacousta; Or, The Prophecy as a response to the concerns of thematic criticism, cultural nationalism, and related narratives of cultural maturation prevalent in the period. I then turn to the Canadian Opera Company’s 2004 adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and the 2007 National Arts Centre and Royal Shakespeare Company co-production of The Penelopiad. I argue that in the unique case of Margaret Atwood, as a result of the author’s literary celebrity and cultural iconicity, the success of stage adaptations based on Atwood’s novels is linked to adaptive strategies that prioritize the creation of a literary surrogate for the author on stage. Then, using Necessary Angel’s 1989 adaptation of Coming Through Slaughter and their 2011 adaptation of Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje, I consider how Ondaatje’s experimentalism has contributed to adapters’ decisions to mine the transmedial and experiential possibilities that “poeticity” offers the theatre. Finally, synthesizing the points of connection that emerge from my case studies and the broader body of Canadian literary stage adaptations, I propose features that frame a range of contemporary adaptive practices, including the priority given by adapters and audiences to Canadian stories (or narrative content), Canadian storytellers (narrators, and the process of narration), and Canadian storytelling (in the form of metatheatrical, intermedial, and interdisciplinary approaches).Ph