Carroll Aikins's play The God of Gods (1919) has been out of print
since its first and only edition in 1927. This critical edition not only
revives the work for readers and scholars alike, it also provides
historical context for Aikins's often overlooked contributions to
theatre in the 1920s and presents research on the different staging
techniques in the play's productions.
Much of the play's historical significance lies in Aikins's vital role
in Canadian theatre, as director of the Home Theatre in British Columbia
(1920-22) and artistic director of Toronto's Hart House Theatre
(1927-29). Wright reveals The God of Gods as a modernist Canadian work
with overt influences from European and American modernisms. Aikins's
work has been compared to European modernists Gordon Craig, Adolphe
Appia, and Jacques Copeau. Importantly, he was also intimately connected
with modernist Canadian artists and the Group of Seven (who painted the
scenery for Hart House Theatre).
The God of Gods contributes to current studies of theatrical modernism
by exposing the primitivist aesthetics and theosophical beliefs promoted
by some of Canada's art circles at the turn of the twentieth century.
Whereas Aikins is clearly progressive in his political critique of
materialism and organized religion, he presents a conservative
dramatization of the noble savage as hero. The critical introduction
examines how The God of Gods engages with Nietzschean and theosophical
philosophies in order to dramatize an Aboriginal lover-artist figure
that critiques religious idols, materialism, and violence. Ultimately,
The God of Gods offers a look into how English and Canadian theatre
audiences responded to primitivism, theatrical modernism, and
theosophical tenets during the 1920s.
