A tale of two theatres : discourse and outcome in preservation attempts

Abstract

In this thesis I explore the historical context and newspaper portrayals of the 1973-74 campaign to preserve the Capitol Theatre of Halifax, Nova Scotia and the 1982-83 campaign to preserve the Imperial Theatre of Saint John, New Brunswick. Discourse analysis is used to examine the collected newspaper articles in order to understand the arguments and values displayed in the texts. The main research question is aimed at discovering why the campaign for the Capitol failed where the Imperial attempt succeeded. It is argued that the time difference played a key role and that the context in each city during the campaigns impacted whether or not various groups and individual citizens supported it.