QUEBEC STAGE DIRECTOR ROBERT LEPAGE HAS BROKEN HIS SILENCE ON HIS CONTROVERSIAL SLĀV SHOW, CALLING THE CANCELLATION AN ATTACK ON ARTISTIC FREEDOM AND LAMENTING THE INTOLERANT DISCOURSE.
Director of slave-song show slams its cancellation
MONTREAL• Award-winning director Robert Le page has broken his silence over a decision by the Montreal International Jazz Festival to shut down his controversial production SLĀV after just three performances, saying the move was a “direct blow to artistic freedom.”
The production, which features songs composed by slave cultures including black slaves in the United States, was criticized for having a mostly white cast and a white director. Protesters accused the show of appropriation of black culture.
On Wednesday, the jazz fest announced the cancellation of all further performances of SLĀV because of the protests.
In a release posted on his theatre company’s Facebook page, Lepage said he, show creator Betty Bonifassi, her singers and Ex Machina, his theatre company, “were aware from the beginning of the project that we were taking on a sensitive subject and that it was our responsibility to work to create this show with diligence, respect, honesty and integrity.”
The statement goes on: “My team and I felt that, in the overcharged atmosphere created by our show, it would be wiser to remain silent since any statement we might make would throw oil on the fire.”
However, Lepage wrote, “now that SLĀV has been officially muzzled, we have to use another way to communicate.”
Lepage wrote that he didn’t want to enter into the debate over cultural appropriation “for it is an extremely complicated problem, and I don’t pretend to know how to solve it.”
However, he said he finds the debate over the show on the street and in some media to be “appalling” and the decision to shut the show “a direct blow to artistic freedom.”
That assessment was echoed by Parti Québécois Leader Jean-François Lisée, who took to Twitter to say that while he supported increasing diversity in culture, he opposed the “muzzling and censoring of art.”
In his statement, Lepage argued that “theatre has been based on a very simple principle, that of playing someone else. Pretending to be someone else. Stepping into the shoes of another person to try to understand them and, in the process, perhaps understand ourselves, better. This ancient ritual requires that we borrow, for the duration of a performance, someone else’s look, voice, accent and, at times, even gender.
“But when we are no longer allowed to step into someone else’s shoes, when it is forbidden to identify with someone else, theatre is denied its very nature; it is prevented from performing its primary function and is thus rendered meaningless.
“Over the course of my career, I have devoted entire shows denouncing injustices done throughout history to specific cultural groups, without actors from said groups. These shows have been performed all over the world, in front of very diverse audiences, without anyone accusing me of cultural appropriation, let alone of racism. Quite the contrary. These projects have always been very well received and have contributed to make Ex Machina one of the most respected theatre companies in the world.”
Lepage acknowledged that “any new show comes with its share of blunders, misfires and bad choices. But unlike a number of other art forms, theatre is not fixed. It’s a living art form that allows a play to grow and evolve constantly, to be perpetually rewritten according to audience reactions, and to be fine-tuned show after show.
“This evolution was never to happen for SLĀV since the run was cancelled after only three performances.
“If it were up to me, the show would still be running, for I will always demand the right for theatre to talk about anything and anyone. Without exception. None.”
The decision to cancel further performances followed an announcement by African-American musician Moses Sumney that he was withdrawing from the festival because of the show’s presence in its programming.
Hours after Lepage’s statement was released, the Parti Québécois threw its support behind Lepage, with Lisée likening the cancellation to censorship and MNA Maka Kotto, who is black, describing it as “intellectual terrorism.”
WHEN IT IS FORBIDDEN TO IDENTIFY WITH SOMEONE ELSE, THEATRE IS DENIED ITS VERY NATURE.