Robin C. Whittaker, Ed.: Hot Thespian Action!: 10 Premiere Plays from Walterdale

ROBIN C. WHITTAKER, ed. Hot Thespian Action!: 10 Premiere Plays from Walterdale Edmonton, AB: AU Press, 2008. 569 pp. Robin C. Whittaker has assembled a collection of texts that lives up to its playful title, Hot Thespian Action!:10 Premiere Plays from Walterdale Playhouse. Despite operating continuously since 1958, the Edmonton-based Walterdale Playhouse lacks a national profile--not surprising, given the critical bias facing theatre companies, a fact passionately noted by Whittaker. Readers unfamiliar with the Walterdale might be astonished to discover the scope of productions it has staged, including Edmonton premieres of landmark international works like Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, Pinter's The Caretaker, and Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, as well as Canadian icons such as French's Leaving Home, Tremblay's Les Belles Soeurs, and Ryga's The Ecstasy of Rita Joe. Moreover, the Walterdale has actively encouraged play development, with productions of over sixty new plays in fifty years. In addition to the ten scripts, Hot Thespian Action! includes a critical introduction about the Walterdale, as well as a contextual-izing passage each play. With succinct prose accessible a general readership, Whittaker situates the Walterdale's development in the context of Canadian theatre history. In doing so, Whittaker not only traces the progression of one specific company, but also debunks the mythologized notion that all Canadian theatre companies desire to evolve into professional ones. For scholars, the richest part of the critical introduction stems from Whittaker's repositioning of the word amateur Breaking down the binarized model of versus professional, Whittaker suggests the use of preprofessionals (anticipating future professional work), paraprofessionals (simultaneously pursuing professional work at other companies), as well as nonprofessional[s, showing] little interest in professionalizing, and remain[ing] content with the designation 'amateur' even as they produce compelling works the stage (9). These insightful distinctions appear useful discussions of contemporary Canadian theatre practice, given the number of artists concurrently navigating PACT, Fringe, co-op, and independent theatre environments. With persuasive rationales, Whittaker describes how, contrary to common stereotypes, theatre companies often program experimental and challenging plays; in the case of Walterdale, seasons have regularly included new works, giving the editor a half-century's worth of options this anthology. The ten selected plays span a range of eras, genres, and subjects; the playwrights are both emerging and established. Whittaker notes that the plays were chosen for their quality, readability (on the page), and producibility (in performance) (13). …

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