Kiviuq Returns
2017–2019 CANADA-WIDE
When it opened in Iqaluit, NU, in 2017, Kiviuq Returns: An Inuit Epic was such an immediate success it was remounted in 2019, this time solely in Inuktitut. Centring on the legendary titular character, whose stories are familiar to Inuit audiences across the circumpolar world, Kiviuq Returns has been performed in more than five cities in Canada and Greenland and six communities in Nunavut since its debut. Created by the Nunavutbased Qaggiq Collective and produced by the performing arts company Qaggiavuut, directors Vinnie Karetak and Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, who oversaw the 2017 and 2019 productions respectively, see performance not only as a foundational medium through which to tell Inuit stories, but also as an act of self-determination.
The following is a conversation between Karetak and Williamson Bathory as they discuss their unique approach to Kiviuq Returns.
INUIT ART QUARTERLY: Can you share how this production came together, and what originally drew you to Kiviuq’s story?
VINNIE KARETAK: The idea of putting together folklore and stories and turning them into a play had been around for a few years. There was a chance to record Elders who wanted to talk about Kiviuq, and that’s when we learned how many stories there are. One person stated that she could
count more than two hundred different stories of Kiviuq. So a few of us sat down in a room to see how we could string together something that we could perform in an hour.
LAAKKULUK WILLIAMSON BATHORY: One of the amazing things about Kiviuq as this mythological figure is that he exists across Inuit Nunaat. All the way from Siberia through Alaska, the same figure exists. Sometimes when we’re collecting these stories from Elders, we get the exact same wording from different regions of Inuit homelands. My family’s from Greenland and we have some Kiviuq stories—of him going over and then we have stories of him being received here [in Nunavut]. So, the strength of the stories for thousands of years is pretty mind-blowing.
How do we condense Kiviuq’s character to show as many aspects of him as possible within that time? He was this human being, and as a human, he was flawed and made all sor ts of mistakes, but through the continuous action of travelling, he became immortal and supernatural, with the ability to marry geese, and talk to animals and go through supernatural experiences.
IAQ: This production, spanning both the 2017 and 2019 iterations, features the contributions of more than 30 individuals—from Elders to actors to the creative teams—in bringing the story of Kiviuq to audiences. Can you explain how each of you approached this story as directors?
VK: I didn’t seek out the director role, I signed on as an actor. As we were preparing to get into production workshopping, we suddenly found ourselves without a co-director. I took that on, and because it was all so new to me, my approach was to do it to the best of our ability.
LWB: Vinnie did an incredible job of taking all of these different confluences of language, story and movement and the literal travel of the cast and crew all across the country to come up with a cohesive piece. When I took over the directorship, Vinnie had done all of the groundwork. I was able to take the opportunity to say these are the artistic choices that we can make in this piece that exists now—adding more violence here, more sexuality there, more Inuktitut, too.
That was one of the major choices we had to make in the second round, where we
wanted to take the opportunity to take this play nationally, and not use a word of English.
VK: That was one of the things I really enjoyed from when you directed. There were some very nice monologues that were developed specifically for the people who were retelling them, but they were in English. But when the second round happened and Laakkuluk, who truly is a great artistic director, was able to say, “Let’s change it so that it’s more for us,” and more to the core of what we believe Qaggiavuut should be, which is to do plays for us and not for the masses. The result was a truly unilingual Inuktitut play.
LWB: I really wanted to make sure that everybody was doing their very best and felt supported and ownership. The second time around, the focus was much more on creating the play for Inuit, by Inuit. And it was in Inuktitut. And it wasn’t just Inuit on stage, but in technical roles, directorship, stage management and lighting. It was an all-Inuit team, and it was such a strong expression for all of us.
IAQ: You noted earlier that you collected stories from Elders as part of the early creation of this production, which audiences experience in the form of large-scale projections on stage throughout the performance. Why was it important to include these stories by Miriam Aglukkaq, Qaunaq Mikkigak, Madeline Ivalu and Susan Avingaq, and for audiences to hear from them directly?
VK: The way they spoke in a very old precise language was very beautiful to see and to hear. We placed those clips to switch over from one story to the next as a mesmerizing segue into the next story.
LWB: We wanted to ensure that the audience understood that we have utmost reverence for Elders who have retained these stories through a tremendous amount of colonization. The strength that they show in being able to give us these stories is almost incomparable. To see our language being taken away through the education, justice and health systems, and to see our self-determination being eroded, and yet still fighting to keep these stories in the original language is mind-blowing. We wanted to make sure that we showed the stories being told by the holders of the stories, and that we gave them our love onstage.
IAQ: When the show was mounted at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, ON, in 2019, audiences received a note in the playbill stating, “Inuktitut is the language of Kiviuq Returns.
Let it wash over you. Look for the intent, listen for the emotion, hear the cracks of smiles, the lines of sorrow […] With this performance we immerse you in our language… Inuktitut.” What was the response and feedback to mounting this national-touring play entirely in Inuktitut?
VK: The response was mostly positive. A couple times we heard, “Oh, I didn’t know it was going to be done like that.” Up here [in the North], I think there was a huge appreciation for us showing the play in Inuktitut at a high production value. You could hear some people say, “I know that story, I know that story! So that’s how it finishes.” Because these stories were told late at night, so that they could listen to their parents telling stories and fall asleep. When we were performing in Toronto and Laakkuluk was directing, there were lots of people who were really pleased and said it was easy to follow.
Some were asking why we didn’t have subtitles, but it’s not what we wanted. We wanted the purity of the show instead of read-through translations.
LWB: We gave the audience a prologue beforehand in English, saying that the amount of work to make sure this play is entirely in Inuktitut is tremendous because of colonization. Even some of the actors who are speaking 100 per cent in Inuktitut have worked so hard to reclaim language. And as audience members, you have a duty to hear a language being reclaimed right in front of you, to allow the words to flow over you so that you can feel the body of the language.
IAQ: Kiviuq’s stories have been told many times and across many formats, including drawings, sculptures and prints by some of the most celebrated Inuit visual ar tists including Jessie Oonark, Ningiukulu Teevee and Mary Yuusipik Singaqti. Can you explain a little bit about how you made it personal to the audience for both Inuit and non-Inuit?
LWB: I helped bring out the personalities of each of the actors when I was directing so that people could appreciate that these are hardworking actors. I wanted to make sure that you could see that there was sweat, that their makeup wasn’t perfect, that they’re hardworking people using their hands and their brains and expressing emotional intellect. It works very well in Inuktitut because it goes straight into the veins from Inuit to Inuit.
For the non-Inuktitut–speaking audiences, it made the language more personable because they could see the actors being themselves and giving themselves on stage.
This is an example of a collaborative process that is really important to us as Inuit artists, and as Inuit community members. We honoured the Elders who gave us the stories, but these are also stories that we have in our families. They are our stories; as Inuit they belong to us. You can’t say it is written by a single person, or created by a single person or directed by a single person. It is a group effort in staking our ownership of our own stories.
VK: I agree 100 per cent with Laakkuluk. We always went back to the Elders and sought permissions, asking if this was acceptable. Sometimes in those conversations, a little gem of how you’re supposed to be telling stories would come out. Otherwise, we would never have known because those types of conversations simply don’t take place anymore. I still feel honoured and privileged to have been part of that conversation.
LWB: It is so important that we tell our own stories and that we acknowledge that we have the collective skills to pull things off like a nationally recognized play. We can do it ourselves, and we have to do it ourselves, otherwise the path of colonization continues.
This interview was conducted by former IAQ Managing Editor Kassina Ryder in January 2021. It has been edited for clarity and condensed.