Magnetic Idea – Canada’s National Theatre Festival

Does Canada need a national theatre festival? “The very undertaking both addresses some obvious lacks and points to some troubling challenges. English-Canadian theatre artists don’t tour enough, leaving pockets of dynamic activity in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto and Halifax that are largely mysterious to the other centres. Performers on Vancouver’s burgeoning small theatre scene, for example, complain they can’t find affordable venues in Toronto, to introduce their work to the country’s largest theatre centre. So, the festival program put together by artistic director Mary Vingoe is consciously transnational.”