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Gallery Royal Canadian Air Farce
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Royal Canadian Air Farce: |
The Royal Canadian Air Farce, whose current membership includes Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy, and Jessica Holmes, got their start on CBC Radio, their first broadcast occurring on December 9, 1973. Over three decades later, the troupe has maintained its status as one of the most beloved and well-known comedy acts in Canada, featuring a form of humour closely tied to (if not entirely dependent on) how it continues to spin out comedy in relation to Canadian national identity.
The selection of clips presented on the CASP website involve comedic representations of Shakespeare in relation to Canadian national identity––and they are telling. Ranging from the earliest radio clip dating back to 1977 ("Shakespearean Quackers") through to the 1993 "Shakespearean Election" (or "Much Ado About the Merchant of Hamlet's Election"), the skits spoof Canadian multiculturalism, political culture, media culture, local Canadian culture (Canadian Tire), regionalism, and any number of other aspects of the Canadian national psyche (such as one may be said to exist).
The skits rife with national references are perhaps funniest to Canadians steeped in the national political and media culture of the country. Nonetheless, the use of Shakespeare, and especially Hamlet, point to a broader context for understanding Canadian culture via its comedy. The fact that the Air Farce seem particularly taken with Hamlet references aligned with the fact that CASP has identified Hamlet as the most adapted play in Canada may indicate the intertextual force of Shakespeare's most famous play. But it may also signify a national obsession with the signifying properties of the play insofar as these tell us something about what it means to be "Canadian."
The preoccupation with Canadian multicultural identity (merged with the Farce's infamous ability to spoof a wide range of Canadian voices and dialects) is not incidental to the sketches presented on the CASP website. As the group's publicity materials point out, the group identity is one of diverse origins with two of the current members (Roger Abbott and Luba Goy) being immigrants from England and Ukraine respectively. If anything, then, these clips point to the uses of Shakespeare in filtering multiple voices that are part of the Canadian landscape. Comic adaptation in this mode plays against the high cultural, colonial associations of the Shakespeare effect even as it presents itself as a popular and widely understood vehicle for imagined archetypes of national identity.
Audio Clip: "Multicultural
Hamlet"
from radio episode #16-22, first aired May 6, 1989 on CBC Radio
recorded in Winnipeg, MB
cast: Roger Abbott, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy, John Morgan
Audio Clip: "Shakespearean Election"
from radio episode #21-5, first aired October 9, 1993 on CBC Radio
recorded at the Glenn Gould Theatre in Toronto, ON
cast: Don Ferguson, Luba Goy, John Morgan
Audio Clip: "Shakespearean Quackers"
from radio episode #4-16, March 19, 1977 on CBC Radio
cast: Roger Abbott, Dave Broadfoot, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy
Audio Clip: "Masterfarce Playhouse: Hamlet"
from radio episode #9-24, first aired May 2, 1982 on CBC Radio
recorded in Waterloo, ON
cast: Roger Abbott, Dave Broadfoot, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy
Video Clip: "Mike (from Canmore) and Shakespearean (Actress)"
Mike (from Canmore) and Shakespearean (Actress) Show Log and Script
Royal Canadian Air Farce Biography
CASP gratefully acknowledges permission of the Royal
Canadian Air Farce to publish these materials to its website.
