Indigenous activists met with Quebec theatre director Robert Lepage last night to express concerns about the lack of Indigenous actors in an upcoming play about Canada’s settler history.
But they say Lepage declined to commit to making any changes to the cast of the production.
Kanata, according to publicity material, aims to tell “the story of Canada through the prism of relations between whites and Indigenous people.” It is scheduled to open in Paris in December.
Last Saturday, Indigenous artists and activists wrote an open letter saying they worried the production would not properly handle topics such as missing and murdered Indigenous women and residential schools.
The letter came on the heels of controversy surrounding another Lepage production, SLĀV, which featured white actors performing black slave songs.
Lepage agreed to meet with 34 of his critics Thursday night in Montreal. Filmmaker Kim O’Bomsawin, who attended the meeting, said it took place at the Société des arts technologiques and lasted almost six hours.
“Everybody was there to listen to each other,” O’Bomsawin told CBC Montreal’s Daybreak.
While Lepage said the casting would not change, he did indicate the production might be changed in other ways, according to O’Bomsawin.
A philosophical discussion
She said Thursday night’s discussion largely revolved around the philosophy of theatre.
“Mr. Lepage said that if this play would have started here, of course there would have been involvement in the communities from the very beginning til the end,” she said.
Indigenous filmmaker Kim O’Bomsawin, who attended the meeting, said it took place at the Société des arts technologiques and lasted almost six hours. (Claire Loewen/CBC)
But she also added that, “To [Lepage], there’s no better way to tell a painful story than have someone else tell about it.”
Ariane Mnouchkine, whose Paris-based theatre company is putting on the play, was at the meeting and invited an Indigenous theatre company to see the play and offer criticisms.
“I think it was a very sincere invitation,” O’Bomsawin said. “But some people see it as a [consolation prize].”
The production is set to come to North America after its stay in Paris, and O’Bomsawin said she warned Lepage and Mnouchkine that it might not be welcomed here.
Step toward mutual understanding?
A statement released this morning by Lepage’s production company, Ex Machina, said both Mnouchkine and Lepage hope the meeting was a step toward mutual understanding.
“They express their gratitude for having been listened to with attention and goodwill,” the statement said.
The controversy comes just weeks after performances of SLĀV, another Robert Lepage production, were cancelled by the Montreal International Jazz Festival. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
The controversy surrounding Kanata comes just weeks after performances of SLĀV were cancelled by the Montreal International Jazz Festival amid protests by black activists and actors.
Described as “a theatrical odyssey based on slave songs,” many accused that production of cultural appropriation.