Writing professor is guest speaker at Stratford Festival
August 21, 2017
King’s assistant professor, Dr. Michelle Hartley, was a guest speaker at the Stratford Festival on August 8, 2017.
Table Talk is an event that includes a buffet lunch followed by a talk on one of the season's theatrical productions. Dr. Hartley spoke about Sharon Pollock’s “The Komagata Maru Incident.” The play is based on the true story of a shipload of emigrants from the British Raj who were denied entry to Vancouver in 1914.
“It's a fascinating play for its portrayal of historically institutionalized and widespread racism in Canada. Also for its indictment of much of the city's population for indulging in the vices of voyeurism and racism,” says Dr. Hartley. The play opened August 19 and runs until September 24.
Dr. Hartley discussed the historical context of the incident and the lack of historical material available in the mid-1970s when Pollock was writing the play. She is delighted to revisit “The Komagata Maru Incident” after viewing two very different directorial takes on the play from students in Canadian Drama over the past two years.
Dr. Hartley has been teaching Canadian literature and drama, children's literature and writing for 10 years. She was a guest speaker at Table Talk last year and spoke on “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.” She is the first Assistant Professor of Writing in the newly renamed Department of English, French, and Writing at King’s University College.