Finding lost souls along the Highways of Tears
‘The Hours That Remain’ looks at missing Indigenous women who took infamous B.C. road
“There’s been a lot of tears in this room.”
Cheri Maracle is talking about the rehearsal process for “The Hours That Remain,” a tough and compelling play by Métis playwright Keith Barker. It looks at the murder of many Indigenous women who went missing on the Highway of Tears, 800 km of Highway 16, the stretch between Port Rupert and Port Arthur in British Columbia. These disappearances go back to 1969.
It’s not a fabrication. The play is based on chilling reality.
In his introduction to the script, Barker says “‘The Hours That
Remain’ ” was written out of frustration at the lack of response by our governments and the staggering statistics and powerful truths surrounding the Highway of Tears.”
The play follows the journey of Denise, played by Maracle, as she attempts to unravel the circumstances of her sister Michelle’s disappearance.
“It runs very deep,” Maracle says, sitting forward in her chair, holding you with her incredibly dark, expressive eyes. The actress-singer is used to dealing with theatre that challenges the heart and mind. But “The Hours That Remain” is a corker.
“I’m afraid this story is a truthful part of the fabric that is Canada,” she says. “Performing it is very hard on the spirit. I’ve been praying a lot lately. I go home from rehearsal completely drained. It’s a very human story, native or not native. It’s about giving these missing, murdered women voice.”
When you ask Maracle if she thinks the play will disturb people she says, “Yes.”
“That’s a lot of the purpose. The play is a wake-up call. A plea for awareness and change.”
Denise keeps seeing all the women murdered on that road of tears. “These are probably women of low self-esteem who didn’t make the best of choices,” she says. “And there are predators out there who arget them.”
Part Mohawk, part European, Maracle grew up on and off reserves.
“We moved all around. My dad was a nomadic artist, a travelling man, so we moved all the time. It was a troubled time. When I was 11 and lived on the Six Nations reserve, I fell in love with theatre. It hit me like a bolt and I knew it was what I wanted to do with my life,” she says. “There was a lot of violence and alcoholism. I’ve been a casualty since I was 17. My dad was a talented charmer. He could be funny. But there was just that darkness in him. It was Jekyll and Hyde. That is something that is wrong with the culture I lived in.”
These days, she lives in Hamilton. “There’s too much hustle in Toronto,” she says. “It’s quieter here and I’m closer to the res. I have a lot of friends there.”
Maracle has three albums of songs she has recorded, most recently a jazz compilation “Ache of Love,” available from iTunes. Her TV appearances include “Murdoch Mysteries,” “Degrassi” and “Blackfly.”
“COVID isolation was tough for me. Not working enough. Staying at home with my cats. That was hard. Now I’m doing this play and it may be tough, too, but it’s such a worthwhile experience.”
Now for the kicker. Three days after our in-person, but safely distanced conversation at Theatre Aquarius, Maracle tested positive for COVID-19. As of this writing, she’s feeling fine and is back rehearsing on Zoom.
She is upbeat about making it to opening night. On April 13, five days after our talk, she sent me the following quote to prove it.
‘Well, I’d dodged the bullet,” she said.
“But, it found me, just as I was blissfully engaged in theatrical storytelling at the beautiful Aquarius theatre. A rapid three-day, non-fun adventure, of fatigue, headache and coughing extravaganza ensued, but I am at the tail end of it and anxious and determined to take my place on that stage and tell one of the most eye-opening, heart-wrenching stories, of our First Nations people of Canada. It’s an honour, to be healthy and working with talented folks such as my company!”
Amen to that.