The Political Playwright

The nexus between art and social consciousness is a central theme in this Bravo-aired documentary on the life of prolific Canadian author George Ryga (1932-1987), who wrote novels and poetry but is best-known for his provocative dramatic works. The son of immigrant homesteaders in rural Alberta, Ryga developed his talent as a means of escaping the dead-end confinement of his childhood environment, but his provincial upbringing instilled a strong sense of social justice, which was reflected in his early television dramas and plays. Ryga was particularly eloquent on the treatment (or more properly mistreatment) of Indians, dramatized most fully in his best-known work, The Ecstasy of Rita Joe. His career was derailed, however, in 1971, when his controversial play Captives of the Faceless Drummer, a thinly-veiled treatment of a hostage episode that led to the passage of the so-called War Measures Act the preceding year, was rejected by the Vancouver Playhouse--a contretemps that effectively led to Ryga being blacklisted from the mainstream theatrical world until a production of his obviously didactic (and unsuccessful) Paracelsus in 1986. The Political Playwright juxtaposes home film footage, still photos, and extensive interviews with family, colleagues, and commentators to create a solid, if technically somewhat ragged, appreciation of this intense, activist writer. Unfortunately, the film fails to make a strong case for the quality of Ryga's work: while people speak at length about its power, the clips from his early television dramas are too brief to have much impact, and the excerpts from his plays are rather crudely staged and stridently acted. Recommended for Canadian libraries, this is an optional purchase elsewhere. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)