Saying goodbye to King Lear: The dream is over but the memories will never die

Prior to the start of rehearsals for King Lear at the NAC, I found myself downplaying the adjectives; “revolutionary”, “ground-breaking” even “historical”. I am tired of being the mandate, the spectacle on display. And besides, it really wasn’t a first. There have been all-Aboriginal Shakespeare productions. Well, 1 or 2 maybe…over the last 100 years.

Don’t get me wrong. I know I was blessed to be in the show, to be playing not only Cordelia but also the Fool. Wow. Pinch. We are at the stage that August Schellenberg dreamed we would be, we have the talent to pull it off, several times over, so I thanked the grandmothers and grandfathers every day for the opportunity. But I resisted the hype.

I wanted the audience to come because the cast was in command of the language, the direction superb and the show beautifully lit, staged and costumed. I wanted it to be spectacular yet common, a show that could be in any given city, theatre season, year.

But that kind of luxury is reserved for a different type of production and the experience in King Lear reminded me that I am not that kind of actor. This was not just another show, another gig.

First there was an opportunity to work with one of the most generous actors I have met, August Schellenberg, not to mention how great it was to hang with his amazing wife Joan. (Please write that book Joan, I can’t wait to hear more stories!) There was the beautiful resonance of Billy and Tantoo’s Cree accents owning the text and Lorne Cardinal leading us in prayer circle. I witnessed the exponential growth of Jeremy Proulx as an actor, heard the spine-tingling voice of Meegwun Fairbrother night after night and wept each time Gordon White said, “My name is Edgar”. That was especially hard because I came on stage seconds later supposedly dead in the arms of Lear, hiding the small tear running down my cheek. 

 

I marveled at Kevin Loring’s eloquence with the text, had fun as the Fool playing off Monique’s Goneril (easily done from our years of working together as Turtle Gals) and tried my best to keep up with Ryan Cunningham in the King Lear push-up club. The hearts of Keith Barker and Craig Lauzon were so large they burst onto the stage, smilingly. Equally inspiring was the inclusion of the Four Nations Exchange with Suzanne Keeptwo at the helm. These dedicated, generous, community members filled the stage with their love and the King Lear FB page with pictures. The group included the Hendricks family (Keith, Theresa and their 2 beautiful girls), who exemplified what a family unit can be. (Jordyn, I will never forget our not-so-secret handshake).

Cast of King Lear - photograph by Fred Cattroll

These are the memories that make it difficult to say goodbye, evident as we stood in a circle on the stage prior to our last show. We filled the theatre with sage, prayers and tears. There were 51 one of us: Lear and his 50 followers. This was ground-breaking, revolutionary and historical, not because we can or can’t do Shakespeare, but because we worked as a community in a commercial venue, we brought our prayers and discussions about culture to Canada’s National stage, we reclaimed the territory by placing our footsteps in the halls of the NAC and most importantly because no one knows if this will happen again any time soon. 

- Jani Lauzon

Turtlesback

For a while now Native Earth had been talking about different ways to get our stories out. Meanwhile, Seneca College wanted to do some applied research through the Canada Interactive Fund through HeritageCanada. From the beginning it was a partnership in the true sense of the word.

Given the challenge of providing content that would challenge the Seneca researchers to come up with top-quality, innovative work we set out to build a portal that had several components:

·     A connection to our blog

·     A demonstration of our Made to Order theatre offerings

·     A computer game based on a creation story

·     A GPS app that would tell people a little about the history and culture of the land upon which they were standing.

As we approached the first meeting last spring Donna-Michelle St. Bernard and I figured that if Seneca agreed to do one or two of those things it would be great. Imagine our delight when the folks at Seneca agreed to do all four. Imagine our further delight when the folks at Heritage Canada agreed to fund all the activities!!! That meant we had to do it.

The path of working with the entire team from Seneca was a combination of education for all involved. We learned the complications of compositing an animated baby into video of a car that is supposed to be moving. They learned about the culture of the Aboriginal people in a way that was a far cry from the world of Walt Disney. We all learned the lessons of mutual respect and the bond that forms when people work on something important together.

The official launch of Turtlesback will be in the middle of next month (watch this space for the announcement). I will leave the official ‘thank yous’ for that occasion. But, I do need to take a moment to thank Donna-Michelle. The ideas that sprang from her fruitful imagination certainly provided the researchers and animators some wonderful material. As well, Laura Jo Gunter of Seneca College who had the vision to call Native Earth and had the vision to see the benefits this project would have for her students, her institution, Native Earth and our people across this Turtle Island.

-Jed DeCory

Augie's Dream

When the Ecstasy of  Rita Joe opened at the Vancouver Playhouse in 1967, after a pregnant pause, Canadian Theatre was born. It was at this time that, Actor/ Director / Producer John Juliani approached his dear friend August “Augie” Schellenberg about how wonderful Chief Dan George would be as King Lear; and the idea of an all-Aboriginal Lear was born.

“They asked Chief Dan George if he’d do it.

But Dan George said No.

We asked him, why not? It’s a good part.

Dan laughed and shook his head, Too many lines, too many lines.”

-  August Schellenberg

August vowed that one day he would play Lear with a cast of Aboriginal actors and for the next four decades He and John tried to piece that dream together. The most immediate and obvious obstacle at the time was the lack of Professional Aboriginal Actors with the chops to pull off such an ambitious production.

I first heard about the “ Native Lear” in 2009 while working with August on the Western Canada Theatre / National Arts Centre co-production of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe. Directed by Yvette Nolan, this production of Rita Joe, billed as the 50^th Anniversary production, is the first and only production directed by an Aboriginal director ever to be featured on the main stage of the National Arts Centre, Theatre Hall.

During the run Augie would tell us stories about his dream of doing an all Native Lear.  A lot has changed since 1967. Today we certainly have the actors to pull it off. What we needed was a director; brave enough to take it on and more importantly a producer with the resources to accomplish such a bold and ambitious production. It was clear to us that if anyone were going to do an Aboriginal Lear, it would be Peter Hinton at the National Arts Centre of Canada.  We just had to convince him that it was as good an idea as we all thought it was.

Augie met briefly with Peter during the run of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, and pitched the idea, but he left the meeting feeling that Peter wasn’t all that interested.

While I was a member of the National Arts Centre English Theatre Acting Company in 2010-11, I made a point to remind Peter Hinton and Paula Danckert, the company dramaturge, about the Native Lear. In my research I came across a series of Manga versions of Shakespearean Plays written by Post Modernist Professor Richard Appignanesi. One of the Manga’s featured a Mohican Lear. I brought the book to Dankert in the hope that it would inspire them, to see the merit of such a production.  The dramaturgy of the Manga was quite sound. The narrative fit neatly into the context of a North America where the French, the English, and the Native tribes at relatively equal strength and the Colonial Powers vying for land and title. To me the comic book presented an example of how this story might fit an Aboriginal cast.

Whether or not the comic book influenced them, I don’t know. However, it is one of many reference books sitting in the rehearsal hall today. And at long last August Schellenberg is playing King Lear with all Aboriginal cast supporting him, and John Juliani’s son, Alessandro, is designing the sound for the show.

An Aboriginal community group called the Four Nations Exchange is also part of the production. Making up the “village” are twenty-seven community members, add that to the cast of thirteen and there will be forty Aboriginal actors on the main stage of the National Arts Centre on opening night!

The rehearsals have been electric, demanding, exhilarating. Everyone is meeting the challenges that the text requires, the weird Shakespearean syntax, the emotional scale of the piece and the mountainous speeches.  For Tantoo Cardinal (Regan) and Billy Merasty (Gloucester) English is their second language! We are all excited and terrified of the enormity of this show. And we all recognize the significance of it.

I am humbled to be amongst the artists in the room.

I have never felt so honoured to be a theatre artist. For me, playing Edmund in this production is the role of a lifetime. I can only imagine what is like for August, to have carried this dream for so long to finally be doing it, in the best possible way. In the rehearsal hall the other day, we had all the village members and the speaking actors together rehearsing Act 1 scene 1 for the first time. The large rehearsal hall at the NAC was full. August came over to me before we were about to begin, he had this sheepish grin on his face and he asked me if this was what I envisioned when we were talking about doing Lear in 2009.  I looked around the room, people were preparing themselves, smoke from the smudge bowl was filling the rehearsal hall and billowing down the halls of the NAC; forty smiling, laughing, beautiful, Aboriginal people gathered in a circle for one purpose: to tell one of the greatest stories ever told.

Was this what I envisioned?

“No Augie.” I said, “I couldn’t have imagined this in my wildest dreams.”

-Kevin Loring

National Arts Centre's productions of King Lear runs May 8 - 26, 2012.  For tickets call 1-888-991-2787 (ARTS) or click here.