Necessary evils: Strangers, outsiders and outports in Newfoundland drama

This dissertation examines the dramatic literature of post-Confederation Newfoundland within the context of Stranger figuration and other degrees of alienation. It is here argued that a continuing feature of Newfoundland culture is its identification with Strangeness and its consistent self-definition through a filter of otherness. The figure of the Stranger, and other related figures of alienation, occurs repeatedly within the emergent drama of the region. Using a method of literary analysis which combines sociological aspects of otherness with a close reading of both the language and physical action of each play, a selection of plays are introduced as examples of this pattern of Stranger figuration. The first two chapters introduce and define the terms of analysis used within the dissertation, and the rationale for play selection. The political, social, and cultural histories of Newfoundland are inextricably intertwined. Short accounts of the political and social events which may be regarded as pivotal in assisting with the development of this alienated stance are included. The theatrical history of the island's people is followed from its early manifestations as popular folk tradition in the outports to the convention-based theatre favoured by the emerging bourgeoisie in St. John's from the 19th century onward. The development of an indigenous theatre community took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This development may be seen as a response to the amateur theatre tradition, which generally eschewed local playwriting, and which used as its model the neo-Aristotelian narrative framework popular in Britain. The new professional community, in contrast, strove to incorporate Newfoundland subject matter and performance modes into its work. In so doing it produced, in general terms, two streams of theatrical production: the collective creation and the playwright-driven script. Both types of theatre have consistently maintained the sense of Newfoundland and Newfoundlanders as Strangers within Canada and the wider world. In recent years this cultural self-definition has grown to include an awareness of Strangeness which may be found within the region's own micro-communities. The final chapter provides an analysis, within this critical framework, of nineteen plays written between 1945 and 2002.

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