Love and Anger (play)

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Love and Anger is a play by George F. Walker.[1] It remains one of his most widely produced plays both in Canada and internationally.

It is the fourth installment of Walker's East End Plays, a series of plays that also includes Criminals in Love, Better Living, Beautiful City and Escape from Happiness.[2]

The play was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama at the 1990 Governor General's Awards,[3] and won the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award[4] and the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play.[5]

Plot[]

The play centres on Petey Maxwell, a lawyer in Toronto who is recovering from a stroke.[6] Formerly a greedy corporate lawyer, he has reinvented himself as a champion of the underdog who runs a one-man legal office with the help of his secretary Eleanor Downey. His first client is Gail, a woman whose husband has been framed for a crime by John "Babe" Connor, the wealthy and powerful publisher of an archly conservative tabloid newspaper; Connor's lawyer Sean, an aspiring politician, is a former law school classmate of Maxwell's who is now married to Maxwell's ex-wife. Maxwell's only other ally is Sarah, Eleanor's mentally ill sister.[6]

At the play's climax, Maxwell stages a mock trial in his office to charge Connor with being "incurably evil", with the trial presided over by Sarah.[6]

Productions[]

The play premiered at the Factory Theatre in 1989.[6] Its original cast comprised Peter Blais as Petey Maxwell, Clare Coulter as Eleanor, Nancy Beatty as Sarah, Benedict Campbell as John Connor, as Gail and as Sean Harris.[6] In March 1990, Eric Peterson took over from Blais in the lead role for several weeks,[7] although Blais returned to the role when the play moved to the Bluma Appel Theatre in May.[8]

The play opened at the Perry Street Theatre in New York City in December 1990, with Saul Rubinek in the lead.[9] A 1996 production at the West Coast Ensemble Theatre in Los Angeles starred Ian Buchanan as Petey Maxwell.[10]

References[]

  1. ^ New, W. H., Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. University of Toronto Press, 2002. ISBN 0802007619. Entry "Walker, George F.", pp. 1182-1185.
  2. ^ "Escape a race to the punchline". Toronto Star, February 23, 1992.
  3. ^ "Familiar names in awards hunt". Edmonton Journal, November 16, 1990.
  4. ^ "Playwright wins Chalmers 2 years in row". Ottawa Citizen, February 15, 1990.
  5. ^ "Three Doras each for Billy the Kid, Love and Anger". The Globe and Mail, June 26, 1990.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Love And Anger simply stunning". Toronto Star, October 12, 1989.
  7. ^ "But who will play Petie Maxwell? Love and Anger heading to St. Lawrence Centre". The Globe and Mail, March 1, 1990.
  8. ^ "Blais returning to Love and Anger". Toronto Star, April 29.
  9. ^ "Love and Anger reaction: New York critics differ on George F. Walker play". The Globe and Mail, December 18, 1990.
  10. ^ "Review: ‘Love and Anger’". Variety, June 4, 1996.
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