Theatre Passe Muraille is turning to politics to fill the void on its stage left by the cancellation of half the run of Mary Walsh’s Dancing With Rage.
Walsh is currently laid up in St. John’s, Nfld., fighting a severe case of pneumonia. She had been due to bring her Marg Delahunty character to the Toronto stage at the start of the month, but all performances until March 17 have been cancelled.
Fearing that Walsh's entire run may have to be scrubbed, Passe Muraille is putting together a replacement program of two political plays, under the title Dancing Without Mary.
The series will kick off on March 16 with a play reading of Linda Griffith’s Maggie and Pierre, which focuses on former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. Maggie and Pierre premiered at Theatre Passe Muraille in 1980 and was a long-running success.
More controversially, Dancing Without Mary will also see Michael Healey’s Proud finding a stage. Healey will be reading an early draft of the play, which caused a stir last month when Healey claimed his work had been rejected by the Tarragon Theatre over fears it could libel Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Healey will be reading Proud at 7:30 p.m. on March 19.
Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Avenue, 416-504-7529
