Theatre of Neptune

[Denis Salter]

Dear Colleagues: details here about the restaging of The Theatre of Neptune 400 years on are a bit sketchy but no doubt we'll learn a good deal more before too long.--Denis Salter
Canada's first play to be revived
Last Updated Wed, 08 Dec 2004 19:18:49 EST
HALIFAX - A new production of The Theatre of Neptune in New France, Canada's first play, will be staged in 2006.

The production, which will take place on Nov. 14, marks the play's 400th anniversary.

It will be staged along the shores of Annapolis Royal on the Bay of Fundy, where it was originally performed.

"It may be a little cold, but we want it to be at the exact same time, 400 years down to the minute if we can," director Ken Pinto told the Canadian Press at a press conference on Tuesday.

"Hopefully there won't be snow falling."

Written by lawyer and historian Marc Lescarbot, the play was used to lift the spirits of the French settlers at Port Royale, who had survived a fierce winter the previous year.

"Good theatre, real theatre has a purpose. This play was aimed at guaranteeing the survival of this group of people for the rest of the winter," added Bill Van Gorder, a member of the board of Theatre 400, the organization behind the re-enactment.

According to Pinto, Theatre of Neptune was a remarkable production, using cannons, smoke bombs, trumpets and canoes.

The cast includes the god Neptune, and a chorus at one point sings the praises of France's king - a choice that underlines the play's secondary purpose: to forestall a mutiny.

"It's a very simple play, but it's a good play and it started theatre in this country," Pinto said.

Written by CBC News Online staff

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" . . . and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks:
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
 Isaiah 2.4
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Denis Salter
Professor of Theatre
McGill University
853 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, QC
H3A 2T6
(514) 487 7309
d.salter at videotron.ca
denis.salter at mcgill.ca
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