Village Theatre stages play on Louis Riel
Zach Fraser was walking his dog in Lafontaine Park when he came across a comic-book fair and happened upon Chester Brown’s graphic novel Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography (Drawn & Quarterly).
Something clicked for the actor, director and teacher who just happened to be studying puppetry at the time. In the fall of 2013, he began work on a puppet-theatre adaptation of the novel.
“It was exciting. I could see a parallel between graphic novels and puppetry in both the essence of the language and the visuals,” Fraser said. Fraser spoke to the Gazette during a break at John Abbott College where he teaches movement for actors, mask, puppetry and professional management for actors.
Fraser’s stage adaptation Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Stage Play comes to Hudson Village Theatre for a five-day, eight-performance run, beginning Sept. 6.
Using puppets to tell the story of Louis Riel is by no means a conventional path to take. Riel was the founder of Manitoba and the leader of the Métis people in Western Canada. He headed two resistance movements against the Canadian government to maintain Métis culture and rights in a time when the power and influence of the Canadian government was expanding. He was hanged for treason in 1885.
This is a grown-up play which employs puppets to convey an important historical moment.
Fraser likes adaptations from existing works because of the licence it can afford him. But with adaptations, come challenges. The graphic novel told a serious story about a sensitive time in Canadian history. Riel remains a hero for many.
“Chester introduced me to a figure and a moment in history,” Fraser said of his first encounter with the novel. “The story was complex, yet Chester was so bold as to address it in the comic-strip format.”
Inspired by the graphic-novel/ comic-strip visuals, Fraser decided to tell the story using two-dimensional, black and white puppets.
“The audience engages in the playful potential,” Fraser said. “We play into the ‘cartoon’ reality, but don’t shrink away from the substance — politics, racism, power struggles. When the serious moments arrive, the audience is open to engaging on an emotional level.”
The puppeteers are also actors and remain in plain sight. The cast is comprised of Blayne Mcleod, who is a Cree-Scot from Wabasca-Desmarais in Alberta; Jocelyn Sioui, who is of Huron-Wendat heritage; Jon Lachlan Stewart; Anne Lalancette and Julie Tamiko Manning.
The play is performed in English and French with a mix of around 70 per cent English and 30 per cent French. Fraser said it was important to have a linguistic mix because it would better reflect the realities of Riel’s time and circumstance.
Louis-Riel: A Comic-Strip Stage Play will be staged at Hudson Village Theatre, 28 Wharf Rd., Sept. 6-10. Tickets are $39.94 and are available at the box office, 450-4585361, via email, hvtbox@videotron.ca or online, villagetheatre.ca.