[ad_1]
MONTRÉAL – Robert Lepage's latest theatrical project, which tells the story of Canada through "the prism of White-Native relations," has been criticized because it does not has no native actors in the cast
. Kanata, the Quebec director and director of the Théâtre du Soleil in Paris, whose premiere in December is planned, invoked extensive consultations with Aboriginal artists when it was created. But now, even those who are consulted are taking distance.
"I gave tons of advice to Robert Lapage (sic), he obviously did not take it," writes filmmaker Blackfoot Cowboy Smithx. "I do not like being abandoned." He added that Lepage "seems to be shirking" and Smithx has "lost interest in his work."
The Kanata controversy follows protests and the cancellation of Lepage shows in Montreal. SLAV, in which a predominantly white cast sings songs of slaves and, in a scene, mime pick cotton.
Kanata – whose description of the play is the Iroquoian word for village that gave its name to Canada – is presented as a story of epic proportions "retracing 200 years of Canadian history
Lepage s 39 is focused on three symbolic episodes to explore the relationship between Aboriginal Canadians and the white population.The first is the story of the nineteenth-century Shakespearian actor, Edmund Kean, an Englishman who was welcomed into a The second is the saga of residential schools, and the third is the disappearance and murder of Aboriginal women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
"As humanists, the director of Lepage and the Théâtre du Soleil, Ariane Mnouchkine, shares the belief that the artist has the duty to testify to the time when she lives, "reads Kanata in a description of the Paris festival that l & #
Guy Sioui Durand, Huron sociologist and visual arts expert Lepage consulted about Kanata. , says that he has been working with Lepage in the past and that he can not explain the "brain cramp" that would lead to his exclusion of indigenous actors in the wake of the SLAV debacle
"I do not understand how they did not think of that .. How does a troupe of French actors go to portray the American Indians? We are not at the blackface age. need to explain, "said Sioui Durand
. He was consulted on the specific content of the play, "but that does not mean that I support the process," he said. the Banff Center for the Arts and Creativity when Lepage came to the studio of the play that will become Kanata in 2016. At the time, his acting title was The Kean Project
The Playwright and Director Robert Lepage
She said that she always found Lepage respectful and cordial, and she praised him as "a fabulous director." But like Smithx, she feels that her consulting role is being invoked to cover a seriously flawed production
"What interests me is who will tell these kinds of stories in Canada? She said in an interview on Tuesday, "I think it's very important in Canada to do things right, because we've had so many years of telling our stories across some type of lens that is not particularly ours. "
two with native participants – or the addition of an Aboriginal actor – are not enough to correct the distorted lens. [19659002] "It must be more than a mere actor," she said. "It's really getting into the deeper creative space I'm talking about – that we're producing, that we we were writing – that we were going beyond consultation. "
On weekends, about 30 people He signed an open letter published in Le Devoir de Montréal, accusing Lepage and Mnouchkine of making the Indians invisible.
"The aboriginal movement has shown in recent years that it is a mistake to erase us from public space," says the letter. "We are not invisible and we will not be quiet."
In response to this letter, Lepage and Mnouchkine invited the signatories to meet them Thursday in Montreal
Lepage said it would make no comment before Thursday meeting
III • Email: [email protected] | Twitter: Grayhamilton
[ad_2]
Source link
