The farm show : a collective creation by Theatre Passe Muraille

A collective collaboration by Theatre Passe Muraille [Founded in 1968. Its intention was create a distinctly Canadian voice in theatre. It was conceived with the notion that theatre should transcend real estate and that plays can be made and staged anywhere- in barns, in auction rings, in churches, bars, basements, lofts, even in streetcars.] The Farm Show is arguably the most significant collective creation in TPM's history. In 1972, Paul Thompson and a group of actors went out into farming country around Clinton in southwestern Ontario. They lived with the farmers, worked with them, watched them and learned their stories. Then Thompson, who had been raised in farm country, required his actors to create a play, each being responsible for his or her own part. It was part of an idea that became a theme in later work: to help Canadians find new heroes and to move away from the Davy Crockett types. The impact of The Farm Show was guaranteed by the fact that the community the show was built around saw it first and received it positively. The show premiered in the same barn the actors used for rehearsals.[ Later it was made into a successful film by Michael Ondaatje titled The Clinton Special: A Film About The Farm Show.]107p.illus. [3 copies found in Worldcat ]