Village Squire, 1976-11, Page 30THEATRE
1837: The Farmers' Revolt tells the story of the farmers of Ontario growing impatient with the
injustices of the Family Compact and in Dec. 1837 planning a resolution. The show was a hit for
Theatre Passe Muraille in 1974 and is coming back to the area this month.
The day Canada almost became a republic
recalled by Theatre Passe Muraille
Back in the spring of 1974 a lot of people shivered their way
through a performance of 1837: The Farmers' Revolt in little
auction rings across western Ontario. This month they will
have the chance to see a repeat of the show but this time in
the warmth and comfort of real theatres.
Despite the cold, many people came away from those
auction barns saying this was the best play from Theatre
Passe Muraille yet. and many critics agreed. That's saying
something because it had only been about two summers
before that the same company had produced the highly
acclaimed Farm Show, based on farm families the actors had
come to know after staying near Holmesville for a summer.
It was the second reincarnationâ–ş of the theme of the 1837
Upper Canada rebellion led by the Toronto firebrand William
Lyon MacKenzie. Two years earlier, the troupe had done a
show called simply 1837. Now, they decided to rework the
show from the farmers' point of view since, though
Mackenzie got the publicity, it v. as the farmers of the
province who v.ere the backbone of the rebellion.
They came out to the country and started rehearsals in
Memorial Hall in Blyth. though the shoe: has never been
performed there yet because at the time the theatre was still
judged unsafe for public performances. They delved into the
28, Village Squire/November 1976
background of people like William Tiger Dunlop and Col.
Anthony Van Egmond and into the grievances of the farmers
of western Ontario. They pieced the shoe: back together.
toured the area with it, then in the fall took it back into
Toronto to rave reviews.
In a way that was just since the rebellion vias exported from
the western Ontario farms to Toronto in 1837. though it drew
but not in the reviews.
The farmers of Western Ontario were ripe for rebellion in
• 1837. They had been lured to Huron and Perth counties by the
Canada Company which sold them land and promised roads.
schools and other services. But after they had settled in the
bush, after they had cleared the land and managed to plant
crops, they found the roads and schools weren't coming. at
least not very fast.
Van Egmond had been the man in charge of hacking the
Huron road through the bush to Lake Huron. He settled on a
huge tract of land near Seaforth where the village of
Egmondville now bears his name. He was one of the most
distressed by the state of affairs. The Huron road was still just
a muddy trail. Farmers found it nearly impossible to get their
crops to market now that they had their farms to the point
they were producing crops.