About the Play:

Walsh is a full-length drama by Sharon Pollock. Sitting Bull is exiled in Canada following the massacre at Little Big Horn. Walsh is a study of the disillusionment of a man who believes in his government's integrity but finds himself betrayed.

Walsh is a historical drama based on Sitting Bull's exile in Canada after the Montana massacre at Little Big Horn. The play examines the relationship between Chief Sitting Bull of the Oglala Sioux and Superintendent James Walsh of the North West Mounted Police. It is the study of the disillusionment of a man who believes in his government's integrity but who is betrayed by that government. "This is the law," Walsh declares, "but where is the justice?"

Walsh premiered in 1973 at Theatre Calgary, with the role of Sitting Bull played by trailblazing actor August Schellenberg, the first Aboriginal person ever to graduate from Canada's National Theatre School (NTS). A subsequent production in 1974 at the Stratford Festival's Third Stage brought Sharon Pollock's writing to wide public attention.

Cast: 3 female, 11 male

What people say:

"Undefinable magic that is the essence of art." — Ottawa Citizen

"Pollock's play takes unrepentant dramatic licence on occasion, but it also puts living flesh on the bare and dusty bones of history." — The Calgary Herald

About the Playwright:

Sharon Pollock, OC FRSC, (1936-2021) was one of Canada's most notable playwrights. Her stage plays have been produced by major and alternative theatres in the United States, Great Britain, Australia, India, Japan, Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, and throughout Canada. She scripted a large number of plays for Young Audiences, wrote for both radio and television, and led playwriting and theatre workshops and labs both inside and outside Canada. She received many honours including the Canada-Australia Literary Award, the Nellie Award for Drama, the Chalmers Award, and two Governor General's Awards. In 2007, and she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.