THEATRE
Theatre of the dispossessed
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KAUSALYA SANTHANAM attends a national seminar on Canadian native theatre held in Chennai recently. A report.
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This trapline is my theatre,
the river my stage,
the moon and stars my lights,
the northern lights my dancers,
and the animals are my teachers and audience...
Scene I, "Diva Ojibway", Tina Mason
INTERESTING glimpses were provided into Canadian native theatre at a national seminar held in Chennai recently. Parallels were sought to be drawn between "Indian Dalit theatre and Canadian native theatre" at the event organised by the Centre for Canadian Studies, University of Madras and the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, New Delhi, at the University premises.
Canadian native theatre is the theatre of the First Nations People. This includes the Canadian native Indians such as the Mohawks and the Inuit, the original inhabitants of the land who were displaced, dispossessed and marginalised. Herded into reserves and forced to adopt the white men's ways, many of them lost touch with their life-sustaining culture, their rich oral traditions and unique ways of life.
C.T. Indira, Director , Centre for Canadian Studies and Head of the Department of English, University of Madras, said there were commonalities between the First Nations people and the Dalits. Colonialism aggravated existing gender oppression and led to cultural oppression and social segregation.
Some comparative aspects of Indian Dalit theatre and Canadian First Nations theatre were dealt with by S. Armstrong, Lecturer, English department of the university. He listed the important Canadian First Nations playwrights: Tomson Highway, Drew Hayden Taylor, Daniel David Moses, Monique Mojica, Shirley Cheechoo and Yvette Nolan. The role of the trickster is particularly important in native literature, especially in native drama, he pointed out. Tomson Highway equates the trickster to Christ. What Jesus is to Christians, the trickster — a universal figure and one who serves as their conscience — is to the native people. Armstrong dealt with Monique Mojica's play "Princess Pocahontas and Blue Spots".
He compared the use of the musical instruments by First Nations people with that of the Dalits .The native playwrights' narrative strategies include demythologising, using humour as a weapon, storytelling and binarism. Critics, he said, have questioned the use and appropriation of native materials by non- native writers for their advancement.
M. Dasan, Director, Centre for Canadian Studies, Kannur University, Kerala, in his paper "Bear telling the Deer's Story: Yvette Nolan's `Blade and Child'" said, of all genres of native literature, drama has been more immediate and effective in projecting the voices of the First Nations people. The concern about appropriation looms large in all native writings. There has also been strong resistance on the part of native writers to native/non-native collaborative plays. Yvette Nolan, a Metis playwright from Manitoba, has a body of work which testifies to her twin identities (Jewish Canadian father and aboriginal mother) . She holds the position of a cultural straddler and the conflict between her identities finds its debate within her one-act plays, particularly in "Blade and Child". Nolan is unique among Canadian First Nations playwrights in writing predominantly about whites — a "bear telling the deer's story".
Meenakshi Hariharan, Reader in English at the Queen Mary's College, Chennai, focussed on Shirley Cheechoo's play "Path With No Moccasins". The multifaceted author's work introduces and exposes the present generation of native Canadians to their traditions and languages. She gives a very personal account in the play of her struggle to maintain her identity and a connection to her Cree upbringing and heritage while enduring the human rights abuses of the residential school system.
Select plays of Drew Hayden Taylor were discussed by S. Usha Kalyani, Reader in English, Bharathi Women's College. The Native theatre gives a sense of participation and continuity with a remembered past and gives a counter-discourse to the dominant white theatre. It addresses many of the searing social issues such as colonialism, cultural deprivation, racial genocide, identity, assimilation and integration. Drew Hayden Taylor's play "Someday" portrays the scars of a daughter brought up in a white foster home and her inability to relate to her biological mother. In the sequel "Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth", the heroine regains her sense of self.
The plays of Tomson Highway and George Ryga were examined by R. Vedavalli, Reader , Bharathi Women's College. She sought to illustrate the differences in the perspectives of Ryga, the non-native writer and Highway, the native one through their plays "Indian" and "The Ecstasy of Rita Joe" on the one hand and "Rez Sisters" and "Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing" on the other. Ryga's protagonists are mainly victims and the victimisation is played out in the mode of social protest within a contemporary landscape while Highway shows the solidarity and inner strength that offer hope for the future.
"Dry Lips..." was treated in detail by Radhikapriyadarshini of the Vellalar College, Erode. Theatre performances by the students of the English Department, Madras University, helped the audience relate to the plays. "The Ecstasy of Rita Joe" was directed by P. Rajani, Tagore Professor for Theatre of the university. Students also performed from "Diva Ojibway" and from "Growing up Native" which were directed by Armstrong and C. Kothandaraman respectively.
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