George F. Walker
George F. Walker | |
---|---|
Born | (1947-08-23) August 23, 1947 (age 77) Toronto, Ontario |
Occupation | Screenwriter, Playwright |
Nationality | Canadian |
Spouse | Susan Purdy |
Website | |
georgefwalker |
George F. Walker (born August 23, 1947) is a Canadian playwright and screenwriter. He is one of Canada's most prolific playwrights, and also one of the most widely produced Canadian dramatists both in Canada and internationally.
Early years
Walker was born in Toronto, Ontario, on August 23, 1947, to Florence and Malcolm Walker.[1] He was raised in the east end of Toronto, which was considered a working-class neighbourhood.[2] This neighbourhood is what made him loyal to the city lifestyle, which is shown in his work later on in life.
He attended Riverdale Collegiate Institute but did not graduate from high school. After he dropped out of high school he worked a variety of different jobs, and while doing these jobs he had been writing many stories and poems.[2] When working at a job as a taxi driver he saw a pamphlet from the Factory Theatre Lab inviting scripts to be submitted.[3]
Career
Walker has written over 30 stage scripts and has also written many television shows, radio shows, and also some movies. Some of the television shows that he had written for were Due South, The Newsroom, This is Wonderland, The Line and Living in Your Car,[4] and the film Niagara Motel. Most of his screen projects are cowritten with Dani Romain.
Walker was first known for his playwriting.[5] In 1997, he published a cycle of six new plays, all of which took place in the same suburban motel room. He wrote plays for most of his career but since 2000 he has worked more in television and film.
In 2006, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2009, he received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.[6]
Plays
- Prince of Naples (1971)
- Ambush at Tether's End (1971)
- Sacktown Rag (1972)
- Bagdad Saloon (1973)
- Beyond Mozambique (1974)
- Ramona and the White Slaves (1976)
- Gossip (1977)
- Zastrozzi, The Master of Discipline (1977)
- Filthy Rich (1979)
- Rumors of Our Death (1980)
- Theatre of the Film Noir (1981)
- Science and Madness (1982)
- The Art of War (1983)
- Criminals in Love (1984)
- Better Living (1986)
- Beautiful City (1987)
- Nothing Sacred (1988)
- Love and Anger (1989)
- Escape from Happiness (1991)
- Tough! (1993)
- Suburban Motel (1997): Problem Child, Criminal Genius, Risk Everything, Adult Entertainment, Featuring Loretta, The End of Civilization
- Heaven (2000)
- And So It Goes... (2010)
- King of Thieves (2010)
- Dead Metaphor (2013)
- The Burden of Self Awareness (2014)
- The Ravine (2014)
- Parents Night (2014)
- The Bigger Issue (2015)
- We the Family (2015)
- The Crowd (2016)
- The Damage Done (2016)
- The Chance (2017)
- Fierce (2018)
- Kill the Poor (2018)
- Orphans for the Czar (2022)
Works about George F. Walker
- Chris Johnson, Essays on George F. Walker: Playing with Anxiety. Winnipeg: Blizzard Publishing, 1999
- Craig Walker, "George F. Walker: Postmodern City Comedy," The Buried Astrolabe: Canadian Dramatic Imagination and Western Tradition. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press
- (in German) Sabine Schlüter: Das Groteske in einer absurden Welt. Weltwahrnehmung und Gesellschaftskritik in den Dramen von George F. Walker. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2007
References
- ^ "volume 1". contemporary canadian authors. 444 front st. west toronto: gale canada. 1996.
{{cite encyclopedia}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ a b "volume 60:canadian writers since 1960 second series". dictionary of literary biography. 835 pendoscot building detroit: gale research. 1987.
{{cite encyclopedia}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ "Craig Walker"[dead link]
- ^ http://this.org/magazine/2010/08/16/george-f-walker-hbo-canada/.html[permanent dead link] "Emily Landau"
- ^ Lane, H. (2006), George F. Walker, Toronto, Ontario: Playwrights Canada Press
- ^ "George F. Walker biography". Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
External links
- Official website
- George F. Walker at IMDb
- An Interview with George F.Walker, Legend Library, TheatreMuseumCanada
- NFB vignette Capturing George, produced for the 2009 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.
- George F. Walker entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia Archived 2010-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
- v
- t
- e
- Sharon Pollock, Blood Relations (1981)
- John Gray, Billy Bishop Goes to War (1982)
- Anne Chislett, Quiet in the Land (1983)
- Judith Thompson, White Biting Dog (1984)
- George F. Walker, Criminals in Love (1985)
- Sharon Pollock, Doc (1986)
- John Krizanc, Prague (1987)
- George F. Walker, Nothing Sacred (1988)
- Judith Thompson, The Other Side of the Dark (1989)
- Ann-Marie MacDonald, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) (1990)
- Joan MacLeod, Amigo's Blue Guitar (1991)
- John Mighton, Possible Worlds and A Short History of Night (1992)
- Guillermo Verdecchia, Fronteras Americanas (1993)
- Morris Panych, The Ends of the Earth (1994)
- Jason Sherman, Three in the Back, Two in the Head (1995)
- Colleen Wagner, The Monument (1996)
- Ian Ross, fareWel (1997)
- Djanet Sears, Harlem Duet (1998)
- Michael Healey, The Drawer Boy (1999)
- Timothy Findley, Elizabeth Rex (2000)
- Kent Stetson, The Harps of God (2001)
- Kevin Kerr, Unity (1918) (2002)
- Vern Thiessen, Einstein's Gift (2003)
- Morris Panych, Girl in the Goldfish Bowl (2004)
- John Mighton, Half Life (2005)
- Daniel MacIvor, I Still Love You (2006)
- Colleen Murphy, The December Man (2007)
- Catherine Banks, Bone Cage (2008)
- Kevin Loring, Where the Blood Mixes (2009)
- Robert Chafe, Afterimage (2010)
- Erin Shields, If We Were Birds (2011)
- Catherine Banks, It Is Solved by Walking (2012)
- Nicolas Billon, Fault Lines: Three Plays (2013)
- Jordan Tannahill, Age of Minority: Three Solo Plays (2014)
- David Yee, carried away on the crest of a wave (2015)
- Colleen Murphy, Pig Girl (2016)
- Hiro Kanagawa, Indian Arm (2017)
- Jordan Tannahill, Botticelli in the Fire and Sunday in Sodom (2018)
- Amanda Parris, Other Side of the Game (2019)
- Kim Senklip Harvey, Kamloopa: An Indigenous Matriarch Story (2020)
- Hannah Moscovitch, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes (2021)
- Dorothy Dittrich, The Piano Teacher: A Healing Key (2022)
- Cliff Cardinal, As You Like It: A Radical Retelling (2023)