Village Squire, 1977-05, Page 34THEATRE
JAMES ROY
Through his post as Artistic Director of
the Blyth Summer Festival and his work
directing as a guest in other theatres in the
country. James Roy is among the young
lions of Canadian theatre, the talented
young people reshaping the role of theatre
in Canada.
Under his direction the Festival has be-
come a major showplace for new
Canadian theatre, particularly reflecting
the rural roots of the country and the
region. A native of the Blyth area who later
lived around Sarnia and in Clinton before
moving to Toronto to pursue his studies in
theatre, Mr. Roy has seen the theatre
scene in Canada go from virtual
nonexistence to an explosion of creative
energy in a matter of a few short years.
This past winter, through a grant from
the Ontario Arts Council, he was able to
work in England to get a look at how
theatre in that country works and to take a
long range look at what has been
happening in Canadian Theatre.
"There is a sort of myth that theatre in
England is wonderful, far better than
Canadian theatre is or ever will be," he
says, "simply because British theatre has
been going since the 14th century. But I
found getting over there that there aren't
many differences that people are about the
same. There are a lot more working in
theatre there and there are a lot more
theatres, so whereas in this country you
32, VILLAGE SQUIRE/MAY1977.
JAMES ROY...
A director dedicated
to Canadian
theatre takes a look
at the British stage
have about 2500 professional actors, in
England you have almost 10 times that.
Given that sort of numbers, I found there
were a lot of really good actors, a lot of
mediocre ones and a lot of bad ones; the
same kind of proportional breakdown you
have here.
"Technologically theatre in Canada is
about the same, no further ahead, no
further bdhind."
But the one thing that Canadian theatre
has over Britain theatre right now, he says,
is enthusiasm. British theatre at the
moment, following the upsurge of new
playwrites in the 1950's and early 60's is
very tired and tending to rest on 400 years
of tradition rather than on what can be
done, what the possibilities are. That cycle
will likely change, he says, but who knows
how long it will take.
At the moment, Mr. Roy says there is
still a lot of enthusiasm in Canadian
theatre, partly because it is, generally
speaking, fairly young. Even though the
enthusiasm has died down a bit in the last
year or two, there's still a lot more than in
Britain.
In Britain, rather than trying to invent
new things as many Canadian theatres,
often actors and writers are more ready to
borrow ideas from other shows.
One of the differences is the heavier
government funding for theatre in Britain
than in Canada. It results in better theatre
facilities in the first place, better theatre
buildings, etc. but also in better working
funds for the theatre companies, though in
Britain theatre people tend to look with
envy at Germany where funding is much
heavier still, Mr. Roy says. Most
subsidized theatre in Britain get about two
thirds of their money from the various
governments, compared to about one third
here.
In addition, he says, wages are much.
lower there so money goes much farther.
The theatre he worked with, Duke's
Playhouse in Lancaster, he said, had a
budget of about $500,000 but a similar
operation here would have a budget three
times that. The area the theatre served had
a population of about 100,000 people but
the theatre had a full-time staff of about 60.
There are few cities of an equal size in
Canada which have a professional theatre
at all, let alone one of such a size. Regional.
(or provincial as its called there) theatre is
much more plentiful than here in Canada.
One of the interesting things he saw in
Britain, he says, was the support given to
theatre by government which he feels must
be done in Canada if theatre is to survive.
Costs here are soaring, he says, -and ends
just can't be met. Unless more government
money is forthcoming, he sees hard times
ahead for Canadian theatre. In contrast,
even though Britain has serious govern -
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