photography by Michael cooper
Synopsis
The Canadian Pacific Scandal is a newly-devised chapter of Michael Hollingsworth's epic cycle of fifteen plays known as The History Of The Village Of The Small Huts. The play vividly animates the past and gives a fresh perspective to present issues and 'scandals'.
Part six in the cycle, Canadian Pacific Scandal dramatizes the expansive aspirations of "the little colony that grew" as post-Confederation Ottawa sets its sights on the rich resources of the West. The time is the 1870's, the height of the Victorian Age, as society is shaken by the revolutionary trade and communications technologies of the day -- the railway and the telegraph lines that follow its track. As the play begins, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald is establishing the traditions of Federal-Provincial relations -- wooing British Columbia into Confederation with a railway, and making a side deal to swap the CPR Contract for a large campaign donation. When the 'Pacific Scandal' explodes, Macdonald's Conservatives are defeated and the Liberals take power. Metis leader Louis Riel is elected by a landslide but denied his seat by Orange Lodge fanatics. Strained by life on the run, Riel enters an asylum and suffers a crisis of faith. Wilfrid Laurier takes his fight for a secular society into federal politics, wins a Liberal seat from Quebec, and meets his political muse, Emily Lavergne. In the next electoral showdown, the governing Liberals run on a platform of honest government and a ban on alcohol -- Macdonald trounces them with whisky in one hand and dodgy campaign donations in the other, establishing another Canadian tradition of preferring a sinner to a scold.
In VideoCabaret’s trademark rapid fire staging-style, scenes are conjured up in a 'black-box' set where seven actors use quick-change costumes and scene-setting props to portray twenty-eight characters who appear and vanish magically, 'edited' by lighting effects. VideoCabaret's distinctive stagecraft is beloved by audiences, influential with artists, and honoured by 20 Dora Mavor Moore Awards and scores of Nominations. Since 1976 the company has created more than 40 productions written and directed by Michael Hollingsworth and Deanne Taylor, including plays, operas, and the multi-media cabarets that gave the company its name.
Hollingsworth’s history plays combine comedy, tragedy, pathos and farce to dramatize Canada's history from Chief Donnacona and Jacques Cartier to modern times. The original productions premiered from 1985 to 1999, delighting audiences with their spectacular style and hearty substance.
Characters
John A. Macdonald is the "great am I" of Canadian politics, a generous, charming drunk who likes to play hardball. In the course of the play, this Tory Leader is Canada's first Prime Minister, then disgraced Oppostion Leader, then Canada's third PM. A political genius, Macdonald is the ultimate power junkie of the Victorian Age, a man who will do anything to be Prime Minister. Anything.
Lady Agnes Macdonald is the second wife of Sir John A. Macdonald, a woman who hen-pecks the ultimate rooster.
Alexander Galt is a Father of Confederation, Finance Minister in Macdonald's Cabinet, fundraiser for the Conservative party.
George-Étienne Cartier is Prime Minister Macdonald's Quebec Minister, a Father of Confederation, and a master of federal-provincial politics. His strategy for bringing British Columbia into Confederation
is to promise them a railroad.
Hugh Allan is the Founder of Canada Steamship Lines and one of the great Capitalist Robber Barons of Canadian History, a boring bully with a vulgar genius for business. He is the first to secure the CPR Contract by making generous donations to the Conservative Party, and the resulting "Pacific Scandal" forces John A. Macdonald to resign as Prime Minister.
Alexander Mackenzie is a former stonemason from Sarnia and Leader of the Liberal Party, known as the "Clear Grits". A sober, honest man of integrity, he rides the " Pacific Scandal" into the Prime Minister's office where he runs a sober, honest, tedious government, serving as Prime Minister, Minister of Customs and Finance Minister. In 1878 he runs for re-election with a prohibition on alcohol as his central policy, and is trounced by John A. Macdonald's National Policy.
Donald Smith controls the Hudson Bay Company and has the Bank of Montreal as his personal piggy bank. He delivers the proof to Liberal Leader Mackenzie that Prime Minister John A. has taken a bribe from Hugh Allan, and later wins the Canadian Pacific Contract for himself.
Edward Blake is a former premier of Ontario, a Minister in Alexander Mackenzie's Cabinet, and destined to take over as Leader. A member of Ontario's Family Compact, educated at Oxford and Cambridge, he is a brilliant man who enjoys exploring the fine nuances of both sides of an argument and debating both sides eloquently. He is famous for creating the "Compact Theory of Confederation".
George Brown is a founder of the Reform Party (a forerunner to the Liberal Party), the founder, Publisher and Editor of the Globe and Mail, and a man who lives by his motto: Journalism Governs.
Wilfrid Laurier is a young lawyer with a bright future who decides to dabble in local politics. With the help of his friend Joseph LaVergne, Laurier wins a parliamentary seat from Arthabaskaville for Mackenzie's Liberal Party, and begins his rise to power in Ottawa.
Zoe LaFontaine is the wife of Wilfrid Laurier, and she loves him more than life itself. Earthy and generous, naive and simple, she would rather have stayed in Arthabaskaville.
Joseph LaVergne is Wilfrid Laurier's law partner, ardent campaign worker and closest friend. This does not prevent Laurier from forming an even closer relationship with Joseph's wife, the femme fatale Emily Lavergne.
Émilie Lavergne is the wife of Joseph LaVergne, and intimate of Wilfrid Laurier. Her cosmopolitanism and social polish help shape the young Wilfrid into the Great Laurier. Their rumoured affair and 'love-child' create enormous strife in the Laurier and LaVergne households.
Bishop Ignace Bourget is the Bishop of Quebec, an ardent persecutor of free-thinkers, intellectuals, and cloven-footed Liberals.
Louis Riel is the founder of Manitoba and Saskatchewan and one of the most important characters in Canadian History. Formerly a law student in Montreal -- where he befriended Rodolphe LaFlamme, the young Wilfrid Laurier and other members of the free-thinking demimonde -- Riel returned to Manitoba and led the Métis people in the Red River Rebellion. Though now a hunted man with a price on his head, Riel is elected 3 times as an MP from Manitoba; each time he is not allowed to take his seat. Riel gives up on democracy and goes underground where, overcome by feelings of anger, frustration and paranoia, he has a nervous breakdown and undergoes treatment by the Barnabès.
Rodolphe LaFlamme is the mentor of Louis Riel and Wilfrid Laurier, who worked in his law office as a lawyer and law-clerk respectively. LaFlamme basks in the glory of his two protègés.
Doctor Fabien Barnabé is a friend of Louis Riel's patron Rodolphe LaFlamme. Barnabe and his sister Evelina supervise Riel's recovery from a nervous breakdown, using the 'scientific breakthroughs' of the day, the quack practices of Phrenology (head-bumps) and Theosophy. After two years with the Barnabés, Riel is committed to a mental asylum.
Evelina Barnabé is Fabien's twin sister, and the love of Louis Riel's life. While Fabien is demonic, Eveline is angelic. She helps administer cures to Fabien's patients while she hides a dark secret.
The Nun runs the Beauport Mental Asylum with an iron hand. She torments Louis Riel. Riel goes mad.
Madame Julie Riel is the mother of Louis Riel. As a young girl she wanted to be a nun but fell in love with Louis Riel Sr. She raised young Louis with tremendous religious conviction and was the dominant person in Riel's life.
Alexandre Lépine is Riel's boyhood friend, Leader of the Métis Militia during the Red River Rebellion, and Riel's bodyguard.
Alexandre Taché is the Red River priest who was Riel's first mentor
and lifelong friend.
Click Here to download a pdf version of the script.
Bibliography
Canadian Pacific Scandal
Partial Bibliography
Brown of the Globe Vol I & II by J.M Careless
Road to Confederation by Donald Creighton
The Man from Halifax, Sir John Thompson, Prime Minister by Peter Waite
The Life and Times of Confederation by Peter Waite
The Confederation Debates - Canadian Historical Review
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography edited by Ramsay Cook U of T Press
The Life of John A. Macdonald by E.B. Biggar
The Memoirs of Sir John A. Macdonald by Joseph Pope
Reminiscences by Richard Cartwright
The Galts: A Canadian Odyssey by H. B. Timothy
John A. Macdonald ( 2 Volumes ) The Young Politician and the Old Statesman by Donald Creighton
The Creation of Manitoba by Alexander Begg
The Red River Journal by Alexander Begg
The French Canadians by Mason Wade
Louis Riel by George Stanley
The Birth of Western Canada by George Stanley
Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party (Vol 1 & 2) by John Willison
Life and Letters of Sir Wilfrid Laurier by O.D. Skelton
Laurier: The First Canadian by Joseph Schull
Laurier: A study in Canadian Politics by John Dafoe
Laurier and a Liberal Quebec by H. Blair Neatby
Laurier by Robert Rumilly
Arduous Destiny: Canada 1874-1896 by Peter Waite
Clear Grit by Dale Thomson
George-Etienne Cartier by Alastair Sweeny
Manitoba: Birth of a Province by W.L. Morton
