Francophone Theatres of Western Canada: Investing in Their marginality/Les Theatres Francophones De l'Ouest Canadien: Investir Sa Marginalite

Far removed from the francophone centres of Eastern Canada and their theatrical institutions, those who create theatre in the West are at work in the extreme margin of the Canadian Francophonie. Investing in their own marginality, FrancoCanadian theatre artists in the West describe little-known realities in plays whose theatricality reflects the contexts from which they arise. The exploration of identity generated by a cultural hybridization either imposed or consensual--which appears as much in the text as it does in the performance itself--, the openness to a diversity deemed necessary to survival, the involvement of a community in the development of its theatre, and the promotion of the Metis language and culture are among the many aspects of research to be found in these collected articles that highlight not only the preoccupations and the aspirations of the artists working within the francophone communities of Western Canada, but the dramatic means that shape their creations. Those who took part in the 2011 conference on Western Canadian theatre organized by Marie-Diane Clarke in Saskatoon were able to appreciate firsthand the dynamism of the Fransaskois theatre community assembled around the Troupe du Jour, a dynamism that is explored in several articles included in this issue. With the inauguration of the Centre de production in 2011, the Troupe acquired space and greater means to pursue the elaboration of a Fransaskois drama repertoire already begun some ten years earlier with the establishment of the Cercle des ecrivains. Playing a central role in supporting the Troupe du Jour through the provision of dramatic texts, the Cercle has significantly contributed to the emergence of such a repertoire and provided support to authors, enabling them to complete their written work with a view towards a stage production. As Mariette Theberge and Francine Chaine demonstrate in their article, the approach adopted by the Cercle is designed as a systematic process of textual development resulting from a firm decision to create a Fransaskois repertoire that has given rise to the creation of a number of texts. In her study of the route taken by the University of Saskatchewan's Unitheatre from its founding in 1969-70 up until the inauguration of the Troupe du Jour's Centre de production, Marie-Diane Clarke traces the development of a theatre and a drama repertoire that reflects increasingly diverse Fransaskois realities. As recommended by the report of the Commission sur l'inclusion de la communaute fransaskoise, submitted in 2006 to the Assemblee communautaire fransaskoise under the title De la minorite a la citoyennite, (1) such diversity is to be counted upon to contribute to the dynamism of the Saskatchewan Francophonie. This openness to difference also encourages Fransaskois authors to explore their bilingualism in plays that depict the linguistic duality that is at the heart of their story and of their daily life. In the same spirit of openness, most productions of these plays are accompanied by English surtitles in order to reach not only an anglophone audience but also anglophone artists with whom such a dialogue is deemed essential. Madeleine Blais-Dahlem's play, La Maculee, created by the Troupe du Jour in 2011, was a result of this process of textual development established by the Cercle des ecrivains. In her study of the play, Louise Forsyth emphasizes the condition of the pioneering women isolated within the vastness of the prairies, caught between two languages, subject to the pressures of men and the Church, and for whom madness could offer a way out. She also examines how BlaisDalhem's play mines the aesthetic possibilities of bilingualism. Joey Tremblay and Jonathan Chistenson's play, Elephant Wake, is the subject of two studies that underline the work's textual and theatrical originality. Nicole Cote explores the resilience of the Franco-Canadian minority of the West, whose survival entails constant negotiations with the hegemonic group. …

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