In search of the great Manitoba play

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Summer, 2002

Kevin Longfield is that rare author: one with lots of intelligence and humour but almost no ego. His From Fire to Flood, A history of theatre in Manitoba (Signature Editions 2001) is a deceptively readable examination of Manitoba theatre from 1967 to the present. It embraces a short sketch of the great theatre movements of the Western world, the political history of the province and an introduction to Ojibway storytelling traditions (among other topics), without ever overloading the reader or adopting an elevated tone.

Remarkably, Longfield has found a context in which to discuss such very different beasts as the Manitoba Theatre Centre, the Winnipeg Fringe, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Primus Theatre, Rainbow Stage, Winnipeg Jewish Theatre and the Popular Theatre Alliance as if they were all part of one movement. Which, in a sense, they are.