Sharon Pollock - Pollock's Early Years

Pollock's Early Years

Mary Sharon Chalmers was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick on April 19, 1936, to Eloise and Everett Chalmers. Eloise had been a nurse prior to marrying Doctor Everette Chalmers. Sharon was raised in a family and time when appearances and family ties were extremely important; although her mother knew her father was unfaithful to her, she refused to leave him. Sharon had a younger brother, Peter Chalmers, who was born October 19, 1937. When Sharon was younger her parents often took her and her brother on trips. Trips such as to Banff, Vancouver, and through the U.S. Pollock had exposure to large scale American Musical Theatre as the family also traveled to New York, where she was able to see popular musicals such as Annie Get Your Gun, South Pacific, and Oklahoma!

As a young school child, Pollock was not too interested in academics, but enjoyed reading very much, and at a young age developed a passion for history. Pollock attended Charlotte Street Primary School and, for grade 10, Fredericton High School, where she was the president of the Drama Club. When Pollock was in grade ten, she and a friend skipped school for three weeks straight to sneak into the local cinema and watch movies. When they were caught, Pollock’s father sent her to King’s Hall, an Anglican private school, because he believed that if Pollock could skip school for three weeks and still get good grades, then there was no way her schooling was challenging enough. At this young age Pollock and the same friend, Jane Hickman, created “The Secret Two Club”, for they both shared the desire to be writers, instead of housewives or teachers like the women around them. As well as her interest in drama and writing, Pollock was actively involved in the sports teams at King’s Hall and was editor of the school magazine.

In Pollock’s later teenage years her family began to fall apart. Her mother felt stifled in the role of housewife and was worn down by her husband’s constant unfaithfulness. Eloise Chalmers committed suicide in 1954 when Pollock was 18. The same year, Pollock enrolled in the general arts program at the University of New Brunswick (UNB), where she was also an active member of the Drama Society. She met her future husband, Ross Pollock, at UNB where he was in his fifth year of the environmental forestry program.

The young couple eloped, and by 1956 they had their first child, Jennifer. In the same year they moved to Toronto where they lived for the next eight years. During this time, the couple had four more children, Kirk (1957), Melinda (1959), Lisa (1961) and Michele (1963).

Pollock joined a theatre group in Toronto, directing a handful of high school kids (1962–63). Sharon refers to this directing stint as “the blind leading the blind”. Ross openly abused his wife; Pollock admits attempting to kill him by grinding up high hormone level birth control pills her father sent her. She put the powder into his food. This attempt at murder was unsuccessful. In 1964, after another violent physical attack by her husband, Pollock left Ross and returned to Fredericton with her five children. She hoped to be with her family, but her family was not as she had left it. Her father had remarried and had two more children with his new wife.