Lee MacDougall - First Director

From: Lee MacDougall [Leeword@rogers.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2013 8:32 AM
To: Cindy Couch
Subject: Re: Glory Days

Hi Cindy:

Good to hear from you, and great to hear that you are directing a production of Glory Days. I had a great time rewriting the play, and directing it at Theatre Aquarius. 

I'm not sure what version of the play you have, as I know that Bill Freeman rewrote the play before he had it published. Bill knows much more about the history of the union and about the strike than I do, so I would trust his version of events.

A lot of the research I found on the net was in the history of Stelco in Hamilton, Ontario. They had great photo's of the strike, and of the various characters involved.

As for the signs, I don't know if the strikers made their own signs. In my limited experience in Canadian strikes, I think most of the time the strikers make their own signs. There is usually a home-made feeling about the signs. The voting would be run by the union, and would be run quite officially, with ballot boxes, etc. The prejudice against the Italians and the Polish was quite strong in Canada after the war. Many immigrants from Europe settled in Canada, and were called Displaced Persons, or DP's. There was not a lot of assimilation in those days, so the Anglo Saxon Canadians (Management) would have a superior attitude to the working class immigrants. Some of them. The White Anglo Saxon Protestant (Wasp) workers would get along quite well with the other workers. 

As for the poignant scenes: the relationship troubles between the couples were the most heart-wrenching for me. As the pressures of the strike started to be felt at home, between the couples. That's what the audience will relate to, human emotions are always what the audience connects to I believe. The passion of the strike, the music, the solidarity that the strikers felt on the line, and the fact that they won; all those elements go towards making a strong emotional journey for the actors, and hopefully for the audience as well.

All the best with your production!

Lee MacDougall

Lee MacDougall
Leeword@rogers.com
www.leemacdougall.ca