Collective Creations & Theatre Passe Muraille

1837: the farmers' revolt, The Farm Show, Maggie and Pierre
A collective creation is the product of a cohesive theatre group's exploration of a given topic through
research and the improvisation of scenes and characters. These improvisations are criticized and
reworked until a basic shape for a play emerges under the guidance of a director. However, as Paul
Thompson, the major proponent of collective theatre in English Canada, emphasized:
the actor is more than a puppet. He's got his observations and he's quite as capable as
anybody else of making a statement. Although a rough script might record the main shape of
the play for stage-management purposes, most collective creations do not exist in written form
at all. Only the most successful productions might be scripted for publication: for example,
Rick Salutin's 1837: the farmers' revolt (1975, prod. 1973), The farm show (1976, prod. 1972),
and Linda Griffiths' and Paul Thompson's Maggie and Pierre (1980, prod. 1979).all
productions of Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto.
Often associated with words like alternate, documentary, agit-prop, and populist, collective
creation began in France in the early 1960s with Roger Planchon and came to Canada via Thompson,
who joined Theatre Passe Muraille and became its artistic director in 1972. Since then the collective
method has had an important and widespread influence on Canadian theatre. Collective companies
sprang up from Newfoundland to British Columbia and, in the post-1967 years, created plays with
national and regional Canadian subjects where none had existed. The number of collective companies
has declined, but the subjects of collective plays have broadened, and the rather loose collage format
of early collective creations has developed into a more coherent narrative structure. The great appeal
of a collective creation lies in the actors' sense of commitment and immediacy, while its main
weakness is a tendency to be predictable in attitudes and theatrical devices.
A quite different, but equally important, way in which collective creation influenced Canadian drama
was in its emphasis on workshop development of a playwright's new work. The initial script was
improvised upon by actors, sometimes vetted by an audience, before the playwright tackled the final
version of the play, incorporating what he or she learned from the collective workshop. Many
successful plays grew out of this process: Carol Bolt's Buffalo jump (1972) was collectively
workshopped with Theatre Passe Muraille in 1972; Ken Gass's Hurray for Johnny Canuck! (1975) was
the result of Toronto's Factory Theatre Lab's treatment in 1974; and Rex Deverell's Medicare! (1981)
was a collaboration with Regina's Globe Theatre in 1980.
Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille has been the major theatre collective in Canada, with over thirty
collective creations to its credit, including Doukhobours (1972, prod. 1971), I love you, Baby Blue
(1977, prod. 1975), The west show (1975, prod. 1976), and Les maudits anglais (1984, prod. 1978). It
directly and individually influenced most of the collectives in Canada throughout the 1970s. The
Mummers Troupe of Newfoundland with They club seals, don't they? (prod. 1978), Saskatoon's 25th
Street House with Paper wheat (1978, prod. 1977), Edmonton's Theatre Network with Hard hats and
stolen hearts (prod. 1977) and its Catalyst Theatre's Stand up for your rights (prod. 1980)all
followed Theatre Passe Muraille's pattern of critical examination of social issues in an episodic
framework.
Credit: Rubina Chandler