Steeped in Canadian culture

My Theatre of Memory: A Life in Words
by Adriana A. Davies

Gananoque: Guernica Editions, 2023
$25  /  9781771837705

Reviewed by Carol Matthews

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In her memoir My Theatre of Memory Adriana Davies asks herself a familiar question: “Why do people write memoirs?” and replies “I suppose it is a way of passing on information to those who care about us – family and friends being the foremost.” She proposes that “the act of remembering is essential to the human condition.” But her book is more than a history recorded for loved ones. It offers distinct and detailed descriptions of various aspects of her life and work with a range of locations which could be of interest to a variety of readers.

At the start of her memoir, Adriana sets the background of her early years in Italy: “My childhood was one of freedom – freedom to discover and to explore – within the security of an extended family and a close-knit community.” Her memories are vivid as she describes the smells “that made the world shimmer:” the bad smell of outside lavatories and the good smell of geraniums, roses, and pots of basil and food. She recalls her kindergarten experience at a local convent with its cool terrazzo floors made up of small black and white squares and the nuns showing children the embroidered cloths that they were making for their chapel.

Settling in Edmonton in 1951 was not so easy for immigrants and, although her father was able to locate work when he had arrived two years earlier, many Italian families experienced difficulties in finding employment. While the family isn’t poor, there is no money for luxuries as Adriana is growing up, and she keenly feels the divide between the “English” children and the immigrant children.

Although she is set back a year in order to be taught English, Adriana’s parents are both committed to supporting their children’s education. Their father reads them English fairy tales to help them learn the language, and in turn, the children begin to teach their mother what they learn. Adriana especially loves reading Dick and Jane stories, not only as a way of learning English but also as a model of what a “normal” family looks like.

A quick learner, Adriana receives good marks in elementary school, and in her high school years she does well in all her subjects, becoming known as “a brain.” She refers often to the fact that she was a “terrific typist,” and it’s clear that her typing skills continued to be an asset throughout her school and university experiences and in her varied careers as a historian, a journalist, a researcher, and a writer.

Much of the book is a chronological report of the facts of Adriana’s life, and there are a lot of details of places, names of people, and book titles that are clearly important to her as a record of her own experience, but not necessarily of interest to all readers. Often, it seems, it is an impersonal review of her past. However, the chapter entitled “My Encounter with Leonard Cohen” gives a moving account of her infatuation with the poet when Eli Mandel invites him to the university to read at some classes and at other venues.

Adriana had previously watched the documentary “Ladies and Gentlemen…Mr. Leonard Cohen” with her mother and was already “captivated” by him. When she meets him in person she is struck by his beauty and has “the strange sensation or delusion” that he is singing directly to her. She reads his books and listens to his records and is convinced he wrote them for her. A good friend arranges to have him write a letter and poem to her which she presents to Adriana at a roast. It is a highlight for her and a treasured memory.

After obtaining her MA from the University of Alberta, she leaves Edmonton in order to complete a Ph.D. at King’s College University. She enjoys a lively social and cultural life in London, attending exhibits at the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate, and other galleries, as well as concerts and performances at theatres. She has “an insatiable appetite for culture” and takes full advantage of her student rates.

In 1971, she marries Hugh Davies, a musician who plays with the BBC Concert Orchestra and also freelanced in locations outside of London. Unable to find an academic job, she works briefly at a temporary agency, her typing skills coming to her rescue and making her employable. In order to supplement the family income, she moves on to a variety of freelance jobs, including researching the life Mrs. Isabella Beeton, the author of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. While raising her children she continues to work at new projects, including a several-volume history of portraiture.

On returning to Edmonton in 1980, Adriana works with Mel Hurtig, who was developing The Canadian Encyclopedia at the time, and also works with the Alberta Museums Association. During what she refers to as “a mid-life crisis,” she starts to read spiritual books and returns to her early interest in poetry, writing several hundred poems and spending the next few years as a performance poet. It is a profound change from her previous pursuits, and one met with disapproval when one of her sons exclaims, “Mum, I wish you would stop spilling your guts in poetry and concentrate on writing nature poetry!”

In the final chapter, which describes being isolated through Covid, she offers intimate reflections on the ways in which Covid impacted her life, causing her to be absent from important family events. A lifelong reader, she finds herself unable to read serious literature, and spends her time watching TV and reading romances, which causes her son to observe, “Mum, what a pity: a fine mind gone to mush.” She relives the past and has recurrent dreams about it, becoming conscious that she is a senior in the “at risk” group, which leaves her feeling vulnerable.

While disliking the feeling of being “cloistered,” she finds that Zoom not only allows communication with her family but also offers her the opportunity of delivering lectures for the Edmonton Lifelong Learners Association. In the end, she says that remembering took her out of a depressed state and gave her “a lens” for viewing the suffering of others. It’s likely that the Covid time prompted the writing of this book. She concludes the book by saying that she hopes the suffering through this period will “make us all more caring and giving.”  

Adriana Davies is clearly an admirable woman who has distinguished herself in a number of occupations, receiving numerous honours including Cavaliere d’Italia. She was appointed to the Order of Canada in recognition of her extensive work in strengthening museums and making Canadian culture more accessible. Her research in various areas led to her publishing, and she has published a number of books including From Realism to Abstraction: The Art of J.B. Taylor, The Rise and Fall of Emilio Picariello and From Sojourners to Citizens: Alberta’s Italian History. She has also published a poetry anthology.

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Carol Matthews has worked as a social worker, as Executive Director of Nanaimo Family Life, and as instructor and Dean of Human Services and Community Education at Malaspina University-College, now Vancouver Island University (VIU). She has published a collection of short stories (Incidental Music, from Oolichan Books) and four works of non-fiction. Her short stories and reviews have appeared in literary journals such as Room, The New Quarterly, Grain, Prism, Malahat Review, and Event. [Editor’s Note: Carol Matthews has reviewed books by Taslim Jaffer and Omar Mouallem (eds.), Karen Bakker, Grant Buday, Kasia Van Schaik, Kristjana Gunnars, and Susan Juby for The British Columbia Review.]

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The British Columbia Review

Interim Editors, 2023-26: Trevor Marc Hughes (non-fiction), Brett Josef Grubisic (fiction)
Publisher: Richard Mackie

Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an on-line book review and journal service for BC writers and readers. The Advisory Board now consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Barry Gough, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies. The British Columbia Review was founded in 2016 by Richard Mackie and Alan Twigg.

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