SOURCE: Saddlemyer, Ann. “Crime in Literature: Canadian Drama.” In Rough Justice: Essays on Crime in Literature, pp. 214-30. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991.

In the following excerpt, Saddlemyer briefly makes comparisons between Pollock's Walsh and George Ryga's Indian. Saddlemyer then explores the circumstances that lead up to the murders in Blood Relations, and evaluates cause, effect, and blame.

Action … Suspense … Immediacy … Persuasion … Conflict … Revelation … Climax … Resolution. These are the qualities of theatre, of story-telling, and, coincidentally, of the lawcourts. It is not surprising, then, that playwrights have been drawn to depict crime and the criminal on trial from the time of the excellent suspense drama Oedipus Rex; and Canadian dramatists are no exception. Take, for example, The Penguin Book of Modern Canadian Drama: seven of the twelve plays have to do with crime, either domestic or political; one (Fortune and Men's Eyes) is actually set in a jail...