HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-08-24, Page 19THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2017. PAGE 19.
Entertainment Leisure
Confusion, distraction takes away from `Ipperwash'
An important story
Playwright Falen Johnson and playwright/director Jessica Carmichael's Ipperwash was
premiered to the world on the Blyth Festival Stage last Friday evening. The show looks at the
modern reality of the Kettle and Stony Point First Nations people after having their land
expropriated by the federal government in World War II. Bringing the story to life are, from left,
James Dallas Smith, Nicole Joy -Fraser and Jonathan Fisher. (Terry Manzo photo)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
While many plays that invite the
audience to think on important
issues, a crucial part of the theatre
experience, the message behind
Ipperwash may be a bit difficult for
Blyth Festival audiences to discern.
The show focuses on a
conversation between a young First
A new experience
As a way of welcoming the world premiere of Ipperwash to
the Blyth Festival Stage on Friday night a drum circle was
held featuring members of the Kettle and Stony Point First
Nations people in the hour before the show opened. (Denny
Scott photo)
Nations woman and an older First
Nations man while they walk to a
home, interspersed with several
flashbacks. The production seeks to
shine a light on what happened to the
Kettle and Stony Point peoples when
the federal government set up a
training base on the land during
World War II.
The nature of that discussion,
however, was somewhat confusing.
It's eventually revealed that the
entirety of the play takes place as
Nicole Joy-Fraser's character Bea
and Jonathan Fisher's character Tim
walked to the latter's family home
on the Kettle Point lands.
The visions, flashbacks, First
Nations song and dance seem to take
place over a much longer period than
that of a walk. The story would be
clearer to audiences, in hindsight, if
these interactions were over a longer
period.
While the hurt the National
Department of Defense's
expropriation caused was apparent
throughout the play, the exact
message of the story isn't as
apparent.
The actors and actresses do a
fantastic job of bringing their
characters to life, however the
brevity of the play makes it difficult
for anyone to shine, save Joy -Fraser
who is on the stage the entire
production.
James Dallas Smith and Fisher
both play their characters well.
James plays Slip, who carries the
hurt from the land being
expropriated and makes that very
clear with speeches about what was
taken and how other Canadians
"don't want to look at it".
Fisher's Tim is Slip's grandfather,
a veteran who served in World War
II. His tale of his home being moved
by the time he returned from the war
is the most poignant attempt in the
play to point out the damage of the
expropriation. Fisher's character,
however, isn't outwardly angry
about the past, and instead explains
how he took the time to heal himself.
Again, Fisher did a good job of
bringing the character to life.
Joy-Fraser's Bea is another First
Nations soldier, though she served in
Afghanistan. Bea comes to the land
on behalf of the Department of
Defense to co-ordinate and train for
the pending clean-up of the location.
Bea is plagued, throughout the
play, by visions of a child she
doesn't recognize, performed by
Nyla Carpentier, who fades in and
out of the theatre. Joy -Fraser
originally describes Kwe, the
apparition, as part of a dream and
her appearances make sense if we
assume Bea is sleeping, however
since we know she is walking and
talking with Tim, it leads to another
puzzle that draws attention away
from the story.
While Carpentier's performance
was good, her appearance
throughout the hall, including
balcony, detracted from the
immersion of the production. Her
performance would have resulted in
more investment from the audience
had she been on stage instead of
requiring many to crane their neck to
see her on the balcony of the theatre.
Technically, the play offers some
unique experiences — the use of
projection and cloth -backdrops
helped illustrate exactly what the
actors and actresses were talking
about. Dirt/sand falling from the
rafters of the play is also a spectacle
to observe, however, like
Carpentier's appearances throughout
the theatre, the dirt actually serves to
draw attention upward, away from
the actors on stage.
The only caveat to the information
above is that I may not be the
audience for whom this play was
written. The style of storytelling, the
characters and the focus on (foreign
to my ears) music may have found a
home with someone who has more
relatable experiences.
Ipperwash was like nothing else I
have seen on the Blyth Festival stage
in the 20 years I've been visiting it
and that could be because I wasn't
the target audience.
I had hoped for more from the play
as it deals with an important subject
matter that needs to be addressed in
today's climate. Ipperwash,
unfortunately, won't be the vehicle
that sheds light on the subject for
me.
Ipperwash runs until Sept. 16.
For more information, visit
www.blythfestival.com.
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