This critical and irreverent history of the Mummers Troupe demands the attention of theatre enthusiasts everywhere. With wit and polemic, Brookes, the Troupe's director who has experience with 'activist' theatre in Cuba, Central America and the United States, delivers a broadside to establishment views of theatre while arguing for its political role.

Crammed with photographs, excerpts from plays, songs, and one-liners, A Public Nuisance will inform, entertain and provoke casual readers, drama students, theatre historians, and politicians alike.

Chris Brookes is an author, storyteller and independent radio producer whose documentary features have won over forty international awards including the Peabody Award and the Prix Italia, and have been broadcast around the world.

He has directed documentaries for Canadian network television, is a published author and playwright, and has taught documentary storytelling at festivals and workshops across North America and Europe. As a sound artist, his audio art has been exhibited at international festivals and released on CD. He was formerly artistic director of the Mummers Troupe Theatre of Newfoundland and pioneered the use of theatre as a vehicle for community development. He has also produced radio drama for CBC.

He has been inducted to the Nfld & Labrador Arts Hall of Fame, holds an honorary doctorate from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and is a recipient of the Order of Canada.

Brookes currently directs the production company Battery Radio with studios at the bottom of the cliff where Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic wireless message in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Chris Brookes' profile page

"...an immensely lively testament to a remarkable experiment, and a valuable reflection, honest to a fault, on the contradictions of a political theatre that could never get its internal politics straight."

Books in Canada