Ten Lost Years

L-R: Bill Morrow, Michael Doggett, Donald Mitchell, Thomas Cherney

A portrait of the Great Depression and its effect upon this country, Ten Lost Years suggests a variety of scenes “from farmyards to highways, from kitchens to boxcars, from shop floors to hobo jungles, from spiritual deserts to centres of government” as it views the economic catastrophe on personal and national scales.

Andrea Van Slyke (left) and Martha Reid

The play is based on the 1973 book of the same name by Barry Broadfoot, who travelled all over Canada interviewing ordinary people and compiled their stories and memories of the Great Depression. Their words, exactly as told to Broadfoot, are the text of the play.

They tell of failed farms and businesses, of riding the rails back and forth across the country in a mostly fruitless search for work, of rising unemployment, falling wages and the shame of taking government relief.

L-R: Grant Buckler, Craig Norton, Anne-Marie Bergman and Thomas Cherney

First staged in 1974 by Toronto Workshop Productions, Ten Lost Years was an example of the collaborative production techniques pioneered by TWP founder and director George Luscombe. It was later produced on CBC Television. CBC.ca named it as one of 14 plays that changed Canadian theatre.

L-R: Lynn Kerr, Michael Doggett, Andrea Van Slyke, Bill Morrow, Anne-Marie Bergman and Serena Ferzli

We would like to acknowledge that this production takes place on the traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples. We honour and give thanks to the land, its inhabitants and their enduring cultures.

Cedric Smith

Born in Bournemouth, England, Cedric Smith came to Canada aged 10, dropped out of school to become a folksinger and later took up acting. He won a Gemini award for his role in the TV series Road to Avonlea.

George Luscombe

George Luscombe grew up in Toronto, studied theatre in England, and in 1958 founded what became Toronto Workshop Productions, of which he was director until 1986. He favoured collaborative productions and adaptations of non-theatrical material.

Jack Winter

Born in Moose Jaw and educated in Montreal and Toronto, Jack Winter wrote plays, films, TV scripts, fiction and nonfiction, and taught theatre and creative writing at several universities in Canada and the U.K.

Barry Broadfoot

Barry Broadfoot was born in Winnipeg in 1921 and started work as a reporter at the age of 17. He worked as a journalist and oral historian, travelling across Canada to interview many ordinary people for books about the Great Depression, World War II and other topics.

Admission $20 (plus Grand Theatre surcharge). Tickets available through Kingston Grand Box Office, 613-530-2050 and online, until 2 p.m. on day of performance, and at the door (cash, debit, Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay or Android Pay) on performance nights when available. Seniors and members $16 at the door on Thursdays only. Children and students $10.

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