Country-Western Adaptations

Know'st thou this country? (Twelfth Night, 1.2)

These images, drawn from Country-Western adaptations of Shakespeare done in Canada, point to an important imaginary and physical space in which national identity is created. In Shakespeare, the word "country" occurs frequently in the history plays as a marker of the way in which these plays comment on English national aspirations, especially in relation to issues of emergent nationhood and its consolidation.

Though largely an urban culture now, Canada has vast physical spaces and a rich history derived from its relationship to non-urban spaces. Moreover, the country-western has a rich mythology associated with regional identity that is part of the common grammar shared by Canadians who struggle with the East-West split of the country (not to mention the North-South geographical axis that separates the provinces from the territories). "Country" signifies an authentic and traditional space from which nation derives and without which it would not be possible. But is this necessarily so? The contested interpretations of what makes a "country" knowable frequently rely on the capacity to formulate an authentic relationship with rustic, non-urban spaces from which the natuion is thought to derive. No surprise then that CASP has found a number of adaptations of Shakespeare in which issues of identity are filtered through plays that explicitly contextualize the imaginary space of the country-western.

Cruel Tears (1976), Ken Mitchell and Humphrey and the Dumptrucks

Link to Streaming Audio: Songs from Cruel Tears
Link to Database