Kathy K.Y. Chung, U of Toronto
Sites of Mourning: Place, National Identity, and Mourning in Jason Sherman’s An Acre of Time and Sharon Pollock’s Fair Liberty’s Call

This paper examines Jason Sherman’s An Acre of Time (2001) and Sharon Pollock’s Fair Liberty’s Call (1993) to consider differing theatrical representations of the interrelations between place, national identity, and mourning. While the two plays are different in many ways both locate their exploration of national identity in the historical interactions of individuals and communities with a single, small, regional place: an acre of land in Ottawa and a “virgin forest” in New Brunswick. In addition, both Sherman and Pollock populate their dramas with a variety of communities (Native peoples, explorers, settlers, politicians, and administrators) responding to a variety of losses.  In fact, the central figure of each play is a mother mourning the death of her child/ren. This comparative study of An Acre of Time and Fair Liberty’s Call will explore questions such as: How do the two plays articulate the link between mourning, place, and identity? What differing theatrical strategies are used to saturate the stage space with regional and national identity or meaning? Do loss, suffering, and mourning function as unifying or divisive experiences (or both) for the different communities in Sherman’s and Pollock’s drama? And how do the narratives of the central figure/mourner relate to the drama as a whole and function to convey and highlight their creators’ ideas about our national identity and future.