Engaged theater giving way to “strong, biting, funny and inspiring” words: the indigenous dramaturgy of English Canada conceals treasures that are little-known on this side of the Ottawa River. To build a bridge between Indigenous people from the rest of Canada and the Quebec public, the La Licorne theater is presenting readings of three important plays from the First Nations repertoire translated into French starting Monday.
“We hope to surprise the public, who perhaps have preconceived ideas about Canadian indigenous dramaturgy. When I read the texts, I was the first to say: “Huh! ?” These texts are ridiculous! » summarizes Philippe Lambert, artistic director of La Licorne.
We meet him with the actor and director Charles Bender and the author and director Jean-Frédéric Messier. The trio had the idea of this first Indigenous Drama Week in Montreal to create links between Indigenous drama in Quebec and that of the rest of the country, which remains a well-kept secret among the French-speaking public.
“Quebec’s indigenous dramaturgy is booming. “Now is the time to explore the richness of the indigenous dramaturgy of English Canada,” says Charles Bender.
The artist of Wendat origin translated into French two of the three plays on display this week at La Licorne. The organizers hope that the reading of the three texts in three evenings will lead to an increased presence of Canadian indigenous dramaturgy on the stages of Quebec. And vice versa.
“A scathing and sarcastic humor runs through the three pieces,” says Jean-Frédéric Messier, who has been collaborating with indigenous artists for around thirty years.
Laughter and tears
The work on display Monday, Women of the fur trade (translation of Women of the Fur Trade), takes place in Manitoba in the 1800s, during the era of Louis Riel. Three women — a Métis, an Ojibwe and a British — talk about life and love.
The text by Frances Koncan, a 38-year-old Anishinabean and Slovenian journalist, theater director and playwright, offers an indigenous and feminist point of view on a founding episode of Canada. Even though the story takes place almost 200 years ago, the piece incorporates references to Drake, Mariah Carey and viral memes on the web.
The play was recently on view at the English Theater at the National Arts Center in Ottawa and was performed at the Stratford Festival in summer 2023.
The piece presented on Tuesday, Thunder stick (Thunderstick), by Cree playwright Kenneth T. Williams, features two Indigenous journalists sent to Parliament Hill in Ottawa to cover an event. A crazy incident sends them to prison. From there, the story turns into a farce for the two characters, who nevertheless plunge back into a painful family past.
The third text, Who will remember her? (Almighty Voice and His Wife), remains an iconic piece of indigenous theater. It is also the most demanding of the three texts presented this week, underlines Charles Bender.
The author, Daniel David Moses, revisits the legendary story of Almighty Voice, symbol of the resistance of the Cree communities of Saskatchewan. This Aboriginal man had been imprisoned and threatened with hanging for stealing a pig belonging to the British Crown. The second act of this Bonnie and Clyde-style love story takes on a crazy appearance, with “racist humor to the power of 1000”, which should not be taken at face value.
Autochtonization of art
The readings will be delivered by actors with a “minimal conception” of the staging. A musician will be on stage for one of the pieces. A meeting with the author or another Indigenous artist will take place after each performance.
Almost all of the texts of indigenous drama in English Canada are written in the language of Shakespeare, underlines Charles Bender. “Very few playwrights have their indigenous language as their first language,” he notes.
Theatre, an artistic genre resulting from colonization, is relatively recent for Aboriginal people. Plays by First Nations authors are inspired by a traditional form of storytelling. For them, it is a “sacred gesture, and not just entertainment,” explains Charles Bender.
Informal reflections are underway, in the cultural environment of the First Nations, on a possible indigenousization of the theater: should we preserve the traditional Italian stage? Could we integrate a “more concrete ceremonial axis” into the shows? Currently, the ceremony (private, away from public view) may consist, for example, of burning sage behind the stage.