Déjà vu as Lepage’s show Kanata is cancelled
After much debate over perceived appropriation of Indigenous culture, Robert Lepage’s Kanata was scrapped Thursday. It echoed the controversy over his show SLAV, but in both cases, T’Cha Dunlevy writes, the news put an end to an important conversation without providing a satisfying conclusion.
Déjà vu, anyone?
For the second time in less than a month, Robert Lepage has had a theatrical production cancelled. And for the second time, that production has been embroiled in a controversy around cultural appropriation; but once again, the cancellation doesn’t come as a direct response to the controversy.
Kanata, a collaboration between Lepage and Ariane Mnouchkine of Paris’ Théâtre du Soleil, revisited Canadian Indigenous history including residential schools and missing and murdered Indigenous women, but featured no Indigenous actors or creative team members.
After weeks of debate, including an open letter penned by 19 Indigenous cultural representatives and their allies, published in Le Devoir on July 14, and a meet- ing between Lepage, Mnouchkine and 35 Indigenous representatives (including many of the letter’s signatories) on July 19, Kanata was cancelled Thursday because the show’s North American co-producers pulled out.
On July 4, Lepage’s show SLAV, “a theatrical odyssey based on slave songs” starring a mostly white cast, was cancelled by the Montreal International Jazz Festival in tandem with the show’s star, Betty Bonifassi. Despite the intense debate it had sparked, the production was stopped because Bonifassi had broken her ankle, as well as security concerns expressed by the jazz fest.
In both cases, the news puts an end to an important conversation without providing a satisfying conclusion.
STANDING THEIR GROUND
As of last weekend, Lepage and Mnouchkine were stubbornly standing their ground concerning Kanata. Their meeting with Indigenous leaders touched on many key topics around the show, but ended with Kanata’s creators arguing that it was too late to change anything and that, in the name of artistic freedom, the production would go on as planned.
But it wasn’t too late in 2016, when the Canada Council for the Arts reportedly refused to fund the production because of the lack of Indigenous involvement, according to Radio-Canada and the French website Arrêt sur images.
Had Lepage and/or Mnouchkine come forward Thursday and said they had rethought things and conceded there were problems with Kanata, that would have been progress. Heck, it would have been a breakthrough.
The statement by Lepage’s theatre company, Ex Machina, was relatively conciliatory, noting that “The participants of (last week’s meeting with Indigenous representatives) were very open and we felt that many of our exchanges were productive. Nevertheless, the infinitely complex and often aggressive controversy surrounding the show has in the meantime reached the North American co-producers that were interested in it.”
Note the not-so-subtle jab at certain “aggressive” dissenters, echoing Lepage and Mnouch- kine’s frequent allusions to the so-called “violent” or “brutal” protesters who spoke out against SLAV.
The conversations around these productions might have been very different if Lepage, Bonifassi and Mnouchkine had followed the jazz fest’s lead and admitted to missteps in their handling of the situation, specifically their limited understanding of the concerns and experiences of the cultural communities in question.
Reached Thursday on her honeymoon in Virginia, Abenaki filmmaker Kim O’Bomsawin took no pleasure in Kanata’s cancellation.
“We’re all extremely disappointed,” she said, referring to her fellow Indigenous open-letter signees. “The reason we all sat down together (with Lepage and Mnouchkine) was not to repeat the same thing and end up with a SLAV 2. We didn’t want that at all, and we especially didn’t want (the blame) to fall on us. It’s not what we asked for, and the Ex Machina people know it.”
Yet there is an upside to the situation. As with SLAV, Kanata’s cancellation puts a stop to a highly problematic production, the creators of which showed no intention of making any concessions whatsoever, let alone admitting to any wrongdoing, despite the outcry from the communities in question.
In doing so, the cancellation ceases the stalemate, allowing for reflection on all sides.
“I see this as an opportunity to press pause, then continue the debate, maybe start fresh,” O’Bomsawin said, emphasizing that in last week’s meeting, Lepage invited Indigenous theatrical productions to submit proposals to his new Quebec City venue, Le Diamant.
“I’ve always thought that when giants like Robert Lepage take an interest in such important topics that touch us, it’s great news,” she added. “It pushes things forward. We just didn’t like the way (Kanata) started off. Now let’s see if there’s not a way to do something as important, but respecting everyone involved.”
Lepage is scheduled to meet with the SLAV Resistance Committee in the fall. Hopefully, the meeting will lead to similarly promising opportunities. In the mean time, SLAV is still scheduled to tour Quebec in January.