''Love and Anger'' is a play by George F. Walker. It remains one of his most widely produced plays both in Canada and internationally. It is the fourth installment of Walker's ''East End Plays'', a series of plays that also includes ''Criminals in Love'', ''Better Living'', ''Beautiful City'' and ''

Escape from Happiness ''Escape From Happiness'' is a play by Canadian playwright George F. Walker."Escape a race to the punchline". ''Toronto Star'', February 23, 1992. It was first produced in July 1991 in New York City, and was first produced in Canada at the Factor ...

''. The play was a shortlisted finalist for the

Governor General's Award for English-language drama The Governor General's Award for English-language drama honours excellence in Canadian English-language playwriting. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry or drama was divided. Because the awar ...

at the 1990 Governor General's Awards, and won the

Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award The Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award was a Canadian literary award given to Canadian plays produced by any professional Canadian theatre company, and having performances in the Toronto area. The prize had a monetary value of $25,000, and wa ...

and the

Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play The Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in Toronto theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to prese ...

Plot

The play centres on Petey Maxwell, a lawyer in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

who is recovering from a stroke."Love And Anger simply stunning". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', October 12, 1989. Formerly a greedy corporate lawyer, he has reinvented himself as a champion of the underdog who runs a one-man legal office with the help of his secretary Eleanor Downey. His first client is Gail, a woman whose husband has been framed for a crime by John "Babe" Connor, the wealthy and powerful publisher of an archly conservative tabloid newspaper; Connor's lawyer Sean, an aspiring politician, is a former law school classmate of Maxwell's who is now married to Maxwell's ex-wife. Maxwell's only other ally is Sarah, Eleanor's mentally ill sister. At the play's climax, Maxwell stages a

mock trial A mock trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting ...

in his office to charge Connor with being "incurably evil", with the trial presided over by Sarah.

Productions

The play premiered at the

Factory Theatre Factory Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded as Factory Theatre Lab in 1970 by Ken Gass and Frank Trotz, and it was run for almost 20 years by Dian English. Factory was the first theatre to announce that it would ...

in 1989. Its original cast comprised

Peter Blais Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

as Petey Maxwell,

Clare Coulter Clare Coulter (born 1942) is a Canadian actress."Coulter, Clare"
''Canadian Theatre Ency ...

as Eleanor,

Nancy Beatty Nancy Beatty is a Canadian actress. Best known as a stage actress,"Veteran actress lands the mother of all mother roles in The Glass Menagerie". '' Calgary Herald'', November 30, 1999. she has also appeared in film and television roles. On stage, ...

as Sarah,

Benedict Campbell Benedict Campbell (born June 12, 1957) is a Canadian actor whose work has consisted primarily of providing voices for television cartoons, video games and acting on stage, particularly at Canada's Stratford Festival between 1965 and 2000. Early i ...

as John Connor, Dawn Roach as Gail and

Hardee T. Lineham Hardee T. Lineham is a Canadian actor.Martin Morrow, "Ex-Calgarian wins Best Actor award". ''Calgary Herald'', July 7, 1993. He is most noted for his performance in the 1996 film ''Shoemaker'', for which he was a Genie Award nominee for Best Suppor ...

as Sean Harris. In March 1990,

Eric Peterson Eric Neal Peterson (born October 2, 1946) is a Canadian stage, television, and film actor, known for his roles in three major Canadian series – '' Street Legal'' (1987–1994), '' Corner Gas'' (2004–2009), and '' This is Wonderland'' ...

took over from Blais in the lead role for several weeks, although Blais returned to the role when the play moved to the

Bluma Appel Theatre The St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts is a performing arts theatre complex located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Situated on Front Street one block east of Yonge Street, it was the City of Toronto's official centennial project, commemorat ...

in May. The play opened at the Perry Street Theatre in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in December 1990, with

Saul Rubinek Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a German-born Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright. He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on '' Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on ''Frasier'', Lon Cohen on ''A N ...

in the lead. A 1996 production at the West Coast Ensemble Theatre in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

starred

Ian Buchanan Ian Buchanan (born 16 June 1957) is a Scottish television actor who has appeared on multiple American soap operas including ''General Hospital'', ''Port Charles'', ''The Bold and the Beautiful'', ''All My Children'', and ''Days of Our Lives''. ...

as Petey Maxwell."Review: ‘Love and Anger’"
''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', June 4, 1996.

References

{{Reflist, 30em 1989 plays Plays by George F. Walker Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning plays