Sharon Pollock
Encyclopedia
Sharon Pollock is a Canadian
playwright
, actor
, director
, who lives in Calgary, Alberta. She has been Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary
(1984), Theatre New Brunswick
(1988–1990) and Performance Kitchen & The Garry Theatre, the latter which she herself founded in 1992. In 2007, she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
. Among these Pollock is also a mother, grandmother and wife. Sharon Pollock is one of Canada’s most notable playwrights, and is a major part of the development of what is known today as Canadian Theatre.
As a young school child, Pollock was not too interested in academics, but enjoyed reading very much, and at a young age developed a passion for history. Pollock attended Charlotte Street Primary School and, for grade 10, Fredericton High School, where she was the president of the Drama Club. When Pollock was in grade ten, she and a friend skipped school for three weeks straight to sneak into the local cinema and watch movies. When they were caught, Pollock’s father sent her to King’s Hall, an Anglican private school, because he believed that if Pollock could skip school for three weeks and still get good grades, then there was no way her schooling was challenging enough. At this young age Pollock and the same friend, Jane Hickman, created “The Secret Two Club”, for they both shared the desire to be writers, instead of housewives or teachers like the women around them. As well as her interest in drama and writing, Pollock was actively involved in the sports teams at King’s Hall and was editor of the school magazine.
In Pollock’s later teenage years her family began to fall apart. Her mother felt stifled in the role of housewife and was worn down by her husband’s constant unfaithfulness. Eloise Chalmers committed suicide in 1954 when Pollock was 18. The same year, Pollock enrolled in the general arts program at the University of New Brunswick (UNB), where she was also an active member of the Drama Society. She met her future husband, Ross Pollock, at UNB where he was in his fifth year of the environmental forestry program.
The young couple eloped, and by 1956 they had their first child, Jennifer. In the same year they moved to Toronto where they lived for the next eight years. During this time, the couple had four more children, Kirk (1957), Melinda (1959), Lisa (1961) and Michele (1963).
Pollock joined a theatre group in Toronto, directing a handful of high school kids (1962–63). Sharon refers to this directing stint as “the blind leading the blind”. Ross openly abused his wife; Pollock admits attempting to kill him by grinding up high hormone level birth control pills her father sent her. She put the powder into his food. This attempt at murder was unsuccessful. In 1964, after another violent physical attack by her husband, Pollock left Ross and returned to Fredericton with her five children. She hoped to be with her family, but her family was not as she had left it. Her father had remarried and had two more children with his new wife.
Pollock followed Ball west, hoping that this move across Canada would allow her and her children the opportunity to start fresh, to leave the emotional baggage
of her family behind her. The 1960s were a booming time in Canadian Theatre. There were regional theatres and festivals popping up all over the country. After their move to Calgary, Pollock and Ball began touring with Mitchell’s theatre group The Prairie Players. They traveled around small towns in Alberta performing in any space they could find. If they were lucky, the troupe would earn $35 a week. Shortly after, in 1967, Pollock joined the MAC 14 Theatre Society, which was the merge of The Musicians and Actors Club of Calgary and a theatre group called Workshop 14. The MAC 14 club was the founding Company of Theatre Calgary. In this same year, Pollock’s sixth child, Amanda, was born to Pollock and Ball. The '60s and early '70s were not easy for Pollock and her family. They lived in barely acceptable living conditions, on an extremely scarce income. In about 1967-68 Pollock began writing plays.
After having the opportunity to experience life as an actress, Sharon wanted to see what it was like to be on the writing and production side of theatre. Her main motivation to write instead of perform was the lack of Canadian playwrights. In expressing her determination to write Canadian plays Sharon says “I wanted other actors to stand up and say my words, to speak directly through an experience I shared with those other Albertans and Canadians.” Pollock was becoming frustrated with how even as an actor she rarely felt her voice was heard. Pollock was tired of reproducing others work and longed to hear a Canadian voice on stage. She was trying to fill a gap. The way theatre was those days she felt that no one even wanted to hear a Canadian voice, or a Canadian story. Pollock’s first work was Split Seconds in the Death of, a radio play that was broadcast on CBC on November 22, 1970. These were the days of radio, when a radio play drew a bigger audience than a theatre did. Already in this first script Pollock is pushing the boundaries of the realist narrative. Pollock followed Split Seconds in the Death of with two other Radioplays, 31 for 2 and We to the Gods both in 1971, all for CBC Radio.
. In Walsh Pollock dramatizes one of the most disturbing events in Canadian history, that of the injustices done to the Sioux Nation in 1877-1881. In Walsh, The Komagata Maru Incident and One Tiger to a Hill, Pollock examines historic events and tells them in a way that the audience will question the reality between the official story and what is shown on stage.
Throughout her career Pollock continues to use history, that of Canada, such as in Whiskey Six Cadenza (1983), Fair Liberty’s Call (1993), or End Dream (2000); as well as her own personal history in plays such as Generations (1980), or Doc (1984) as fuel for her plays.
Blood Relations (1980) is one of Pollock’s most well known and influential plays. Blood Relations premiered at Theatre Three in Edmonton in March 1980. Originally written as My Name is Lisbeth which premiered in 1976 at the Vancouver Playhouse, Blood Relations is the story of Lizzie Borden, based on historical facts. Lizzie Borden supposedly murdered her father and stepmother. Pollock explores the meaning of the effect that it would have on this community if Lizzie Borden was in fact a murder. While the play does touch on feminist issues, Pollock was criticized for making it less of a feminist play and more of a general political play.
Throughout Pollock’s playwright career, her strong opinions about Canadian theatre motivated her to create a theatre of her own. Her hopes were that she could create a place for artistic talent to flourish and provide diversity She wanted the Garry Theatre to be ‘created by artists for artists.’
The Garry Theatre opened in 1995 in the lower income area of Calgary. Pollock is so passionate about theatre that she was adamant that The Garry not pay her royalties. She was adamant about people from all walks of life having the opportunity to experience theatre that if you could not afford a ticket you were still invited to view the plays. Prior to the opening of the Garry Theatre, Pollock worked as the artistic director at the Theatre Calgary
in 1984 as well at The New Brunswick Theatre in 1988. She left both of these jobs because of a difference of opinions. She strongly disagreed with the ‘institutionalization’ of the theatre and the direction it was heading.
, Alberta
.
See also: List of Canadian writers, List of Canadian playwrights
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, director
Artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...
, who lives in Calgary, Alberta. She has been Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary
Theatre Calgary
Theatre Calgary, theatre company in Calgary, Alberta, established as a professional company in 1968.-History:The origin of the company dates back to the 1940s, when students of Betty Mitchell, a drama teacher at Calgary's Western Canada High School, established an amateur group known as "Workshop...
(1984), Theatre New Brunswick
Theatre New Brunswick
Theatre New Brunswick is the only professional theatre company in New Brunswick Canada. It began operation in 1968, and has been successfully operating since that time.-Artistic directors:*Walter Learning *Malcolm Black...
(1988–1990) and Performance Kitchen & The Garry Theatre, the latter which she herself founded in 1992. In 2007, she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
. Among these Pollock is also a mother, grandmother and wife. Sharon Pollock is one of Canada’s most notable playwrights, and is a major part of the development of what is known today as Canadian Theatre.
Major works
- Split Seconds in the Death of (1970, CBC, Radioplay)
- 31 for 2 (1971, CBC, Radioplay)
- We to the Gods (1971, CBC, Radioplay)
- A Compulsory Option (1972, New Play Centre)
- The B Triple P Plan (1972, CBC, Radioplay)
- Walsh (1973, Theatre Calgary)
- The New Canadians (1973, Playhouse Holiday, TYA)
- Supersition Throu’ the Ages (1973, Playhouse Holiday, TYA)
- Waiting (1973, CBC, Radioplay)
- Wudjesday? (1973, Playhouse Holiday, TYA)
- The Larsens (1974, CBC, Radioplay)
- A Lesson in Swizzelry (1974, 1975, Caravan Touring Troupe)
- Portrait of a Pig (1974, CBC, Television)
- And Out Goes You? (1975, Vancouver Playhouse)
- In Memory Of (1975, CBC, Radioplay)
- The Komagata Maru Incident (1976, Vancouver Playhouse)
- The Komagata Maru Story (1976, CBC, Radioplay)
- My Name is Lisbeth (Original version of Blood Relations) (1976, Vancouver Playhouse)
- Ransom (1976, CBC, Television)
- Country Joy (1978, CBC, Six 30-min Radioplays)
- Generation (1978, CBC, Radioplay)
- Chantaqua Spelt E-N-E-R-G-Y (1979, Alberta Theatre Projects)
- Generation (1979, CBC, Radioplay)
- Mail vs. Female (1979, Lunchbox Theatre)
- The Person’s Case(1979, Access Television)
- Sweet Land of Liberty (1979, CBC, Radioplay)
- One Tiger to a Hill (1980, Citadel Theatre)
- Generations (1980, Alberta Theatre Projects)
- Blood RelationsBlood Relations (play)Blood Relations is a psychological murder mystery by Sharon Pollock. The play is based on historical fact and speculation surrounding the life of Lizzie Borden and the murders of her father and stepmother, crimes with which Borden was charged....
(1980, Edmonton Theatre Three) - Mary Beth Goes to Calgary (1980, CBC, Radioplay)
- Mrs. Yale and Jennifer (1980, CBC, Eight Radioplays)
- Whiskey Six Cadenza (1983, Theatre Calgary)
- Intensive Care (1983, CBC, Radioplay)
- Doc (1984, Theatre Calgary)
- Prairie Dragons (1987, Quest Theatre)
- Getting it Straight (1988, Women in the Arts Festival, Winnipeg Manitoba)
- It’s All Make-Believe, Isn’t it?-Marilyn Munroe (1991, ATP Brief New Works Festival)
- The Making of Warriors (1991, CBC, Radioplay)
- Constance (1992, CBC, Radioplay)
- Fair Liberty’s Call (1993, Stratford Festival)
- Saucy Jack (1993, The Garry Theatre)
- Death in the Family (1993, The Garry Theatre)
- Moving Pictures (1999, Theatre Junction)
- End Dream (2000, Theatre Junction)
- Angel’s Trumpet (2001, Theatre Junction)
- The Making of Warriors (2003, Co-operative Theatre)
- Man Out of Joint (2007, Downstage)
Pollock's Early Years
Mary Sharon Chalmers was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick on April 19, 1936, to Eloise and Everett Chalmers. Eloise had been a nurse prior to marrying Doctor Everette Chalmers. Sharon was raised in a family and time when appearances and family ties were extremely important; although her mother knew her father was unfaithful to her, she refused to leave him. Sharon had a younger brother, Peter Chalmers, who was born October 19, 1937. When Sharon was younger her parents often took her and her brother on trips. Trips such as to Banff, Vancouver, and through the U.S. Pollock had exposure to large scale American Musical Theatre as the family also traveled to New York, where she was able to see popular musicals such as Annie Get Your Gun, South Pacific, and Oklahoma!As a young school child, Pollock was not too interested in academics, but enjoyed reading very much, and at a young age developed a passion for history. Pollock attended Charlotte Street Primary School and, for grade 10, Fredericton High School, where she was the president of the Drama Club. When Pollock was in grade ten, she and a friend skipped school for three weeks straight to sneak into the local cinema and watch movies. When they were caught, Pollock’s father sent her to King’s Hall, an Anglican private school, because he believed that if Pollock could skip school for three weeks and still get good grades, then there was no way her schooling was challenging enough. At this young age Pollock and the same friend, Jane Hickman, created “The Secret Two Club”, for they both shared the desire to be writers, instead of housewives or teachers like the women around them. As well as her interest in drama and writing, Pollock was actively involved in the sports teams at King’s Hall and was editor of the school magazine.
In Pollock’s later teenage years her family began to fall apart. Her mother felt stifled in the role of housewife and was worn down by her husband’s constant unfaithfulness. Eloise Chalmers committed suicide in 1954 when Pollock was 18. The same year, Pollock enrolled in the general arts program at the University of New Brunswick (UNB), where she was also an active member of the Drama Society. She met her future husband, Ross Pollock, at UNB where he was in his fifth year of the environmental forestry program.
The young couple eloped, and by 1956 they had their first child, Jennifer. In the same year they moved to Toronto where they lived for the next eight years. During this time, the couple had four more children, Kirk (1957), Melinda (1959), Lisa (1961) and Michele (1963).
Pollock joined a theatre group in Toronto, directing a handful of high school kids (1962–63). Sharon refers to this directing stint as “the blind leading the blind”. Ross openly abused his wife; Pollock admits attempting to kill him by grinding up high hormone level birth control pills her father sent her. She put the powder into his food. This attempt at murder was unsuccessful. In 1964, after another violent physical attack by her husband, Pollock left Ross and returned to Fredericton with her five children. She hoped to be with her family, but her family was not as she had left it. Her father had remarried and had two more children with his new wife.
Pollock's Life in the Theatre
When Pollock returned to Fredericton, she arrived just in time for the Beaverbrook Playhouse to open, a new theatre in town. Pollock found a job running the Playhouse Box Office. At the Playhouse Pollock, along with some of the members from the UNB Drama Society, formed “The Company of Ten”, which performed 6 shows in the 1964-65 season, then dissolved the following year. (81) During this time Pollock had begun dating fellow actor Michael Ball. In Calgary in 1965, Victor Mitchell had been starting up a Drama Department at the University of Calgary and offered Ball a position starting in January 1966.Pollock followed Ball west, hoping that this move across Canada would allow her and her children the opportunity to start fresh, to leave the emotional baggage
Emotional baggage
Emotional baggage can be defined as 'Painful memories, mistrust and hurt carried around from past sexual or emotional rejection'.It is an image of 'a big sack that you carry around with you at all times...[with] every disappointment, trauma, and wrong that you've ever experienced....This image, the...
of her family behind her. The 1960s were a booming time in Canadian Theatre. There were regional theatres and festivals popping up all over the country. After their move to Calgary, Pollock and Ball began touring with Mitchell’s theatre group The Prairie Players. They traveled around small towns in Alberta performing in any space they could find. If they were lucky, the troupe would earn $35 a week. Shortly after, in 1967, Pollock joined the MAC 14 Theatre Society, which was the merge of The Musicians and Actors Club of Calgary and a theatre group called Workshop 14. The MAC 14 club was the founding Company of Theatre Calgary. In this same year, Pollock’s sixth child, Amanda, was born to Pollock and Ball. The '60s and early '70s were not easy for Pollock and her family. They lived in barely acceptable living conditions, on an extremely scarce income. In about 1967-68 Pollock began writing plays.
After having the opportunity to experience life as an actress, Sharon wanted to see what it was like to be on the writing and production side of theatre. Her main motivation to write instead of perform was the lack of Canadian playwrights. In expressing her determination to write Canadian plays Sharon says “I wanted other actors to stand up and say my words, to speak directly through an experience I shared with those other Albertans and Canadians.” Pollock was becoming frustrated with how even as an actor she rarely felt her voice was heard. Pollock was tired of reproducing others work and longed to hear a Canadian voice on stage. She was trying to fill a gap. The way theatre was those days she felt that no one even wanted to hear a Canadian voice, or a Canadian story. Pollock’s first work was Split Seconds in the Death of, a radio play that was broadcast on CBC on November 22, 1970. These were the days of radio, when a radio play drew a bigger audience than a theatre did. Already in this first script Pollock is pushing the boundaries of the realist narrative. Pollock followed Split Seconds in the Death of with two other Radioplays, 31 for 2 and We to the Gods both in 1971, all for CBC Radio.
Career as a Playwright
Having discovered her passion and talent for writing, Pollock wrote her first full-length play, A Compulsory Option, a dark comedy about three men whose paranoia might be realistic. A Compulsory Option premiered in 1972 and was the first production by Vancouver’s New Play Centre, they play also won an Alberta Culture playwriting competition. In November 1973 Pollock premiered her second full-length play Walsh at Theatre CalgaryTheatre Calgary
Theatre Calgary, theatre company in Calgary, Alberta, established as a professional company in 1968.-History:The origin of the company dates back to the 1940s, when students of Betty Mitchell, a drama teacher at Calgary's Western Canada High School, established an amateur group known as "Workshop...
. In Walsh Pollock dramatizes one of the most disturbing events in Canadian history, that of the injustices done to the Sioux Nation in 1877-1881. In Walsh, The Komagata Maru Incident and One Tiger to a Hill, Pollock examines historic events and tells them in a way that the audience will question the reality between the official story and what is shown on stage.
Throughout her career Pollock continues to use history, that of Canada, such as in Whiskey Six Cadenza (1983), Fair Liberty’s Call (1993), or End Dream (2000); as well as her own personal history in plays such as Generations (1980), or Doc (1984) as fuel for her plays.
Blood Relations (1980) is one of Pollock’s most well known and influential plays. Blood Relations premiered at Theatre Three in Edmonton in March 1980. Originally written as My Name is Lisbeth which premiered in 1976 at the Vancouver Playhouse, Blood Relations is the story of Lizzie Borden, based on historical facts. Lizzie Borden supposedly murdered her father and stepmother. Pollock explores the meaning of the effect that it would have on this community if Lizzie Borden was in fact a murder. While the play does touch on feminist issues, Pollock was criticized for making it less of a feminist play and more of a general political play.
Throughout Pollock’s playwright career, her strong opinions about Canadian theatre motivated her to create a theatre of her own. Her hopes were that she could create a place for artistic talent to flourish and provide diversity She wanted the Garry Theatre to be ‘created by artists for artists.’
The Garry Theatre opened in 1995 in the lower income area of Calgary. Pollock is so passionate about theatre that she was adamant that The Garry not pay her royalties. She was adamant about people from all walks of life having the opportunity to experience theatre that if you could not afford a ticket you were still invited to view the plays. Prior to the opening of the Garry Theatre, Pollock worked as the artistic director at the Theatre Calgary
Theatre Calgary
Theatre Calgary, theatre company in Calgary, Alberta, established as a professional company in 1968.-History:The origin of the company dates back to the 1940s, when students of Betty Mitchell, a drama teacher at Calgary's Western Canada High School, established an amateur group known as "Workshop...
in 1984 as well at The New Brunswick Theatre in 1988. She left both of these jobs because of a difference of opinions. She strongly disagreed with the ‘institutionalization’ of the theatre and the direction it was heading.
Future Projects
Sharon is currently writing for the Atlantic Ballet Company and in March 2011 made her musical theatre debut with Calgary's Verb Theatre and their production of Ron Chamber's acclaimed play "Marg Szkaluba (Pissy's Wife). In a four star review The Calgary Sun wrote "...So controlled and carefully delineated is Pollock’s performance that she truly does become this remarkable woman who languished far too long under the belief she was unintelligent, unattractive and undeserving."CalgaryCalgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
.
Awards
- Dominion Drama Festival Best Actress Award for The Knack (1966)
- Alberta Culture Playwriting Competition for A Compulsory Option (1971)
- Governor General’s Award for Drama for Blood Relations (1981)
- Golden Sheaf Award for The Person’s Case, Television(1981)
- Alberta Achievement Award (1983)
- Chalmers Canadian Play Award for Doc (1984)
- Governor General Award for Drama for Doc (1986)
- Canadian-Australian Literary Award (1987)
- Honorary Degree, University of New Bruniswick (1987)
- Japan Foundation Award (1995)
- Harry and Martha Cohen Award for contributions to Calgary Theatre (1999)
- Honorary Degree, University of Calgary (2004)
Works On Pollock
- Anne Nothof, ed. Sharon Pollock: Essays on her Work, Guernica Press, 2000.
- Craig Stewart Walker, "Sharon Pollock: Besieged Memory," The Buried Astrolabe: Canadian Dramatic Imagination and Western Tradition, McGill-Queen's UP, 2001.
- Zimmerman, Cynthia. Sharon Pollock: Collected Works. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2005
- Grace, Sherrill. Making Theatre: a life of Sharon Pollock. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2008
See also: List of Canadian writers, List of Canadian playwrights