Playwright Drew Hayden Taylor takes a tough look at ‘God and the Indian’
Packing an Indigenous punch on the theatre stage
In “God and the Indian,” Drew Hayden Taylor unravels a story about a survivor of a residential school and the assistant Anglican bishop who might have assaulted her while she was in his care. It’s tough stuff.
“If the play hits you over the head a little, I’m OK with that,” Taylor says.
The play, about to be produced by the Players’ Guild of Hamilton, no doubt packs a punch. Though Taylor, part Ojibway, part white, from Curve Lake First Nation, 25 kilometres north of Peterborough, is known more for humour than dark drama, this one is serious stuff.
With “God and the Indian,” Taylor did not set out to be funny.
“I was in residence with the drama company Native Earth and the artistic director asked me to write something that was serious. I thought about the darkest subject I could and I wrote ‘God and the Indian.’ ”
It’s background of the infamous residential schools in Canada was timely.
“Most people don’t know the play was originally about two men, but we couldn’t find an Indigenous actor, so I was asked if we could use a female instead. I said yes.”
So, of course, the change of gender changed the play?
“Not as much as you might think,” Taylor says.
Johnny Indian sees a man she believes was her tormentor when she was a child at a residential school years ago.
She follows him to his office and confronts George King, Anglican assistant bishop. She accuses him of what she deems a crime. He denies her accusations. We have a conundrum. So, who do we believe? What is the truth? Does the play end with a verdict?
“No,” says Taylor. “And that’s one of its strengths. We leave the theatre with a question mark. Is the story teller telling the truth or not. Is she meant to be telling her own story. Is she meant to be a composite of a number of children who suffered in residential schools.
“So much depends on the director and the actors and the way they choose to present the play.”
Taylor writes with such elegant control the play is far from an indictment or a diatribe.
“For all the drama in the play, it is not an angry, aggressive work,” Taylor says.
“For me, it’s more important to ask questions than point fingers. It’s not even accusatory. Maybe that’s because I don’t sit down and map things out. I let the characters speak for me. I explore the human condition.
“Yes, the play is about guilt, responsibility and obligations. But, I have to say, I do not have an answer about how reparations can be made for the things that have happened. Reparation means different things to different people. Some think giving back the land is the answer. People need to find their own answers to what they think should be done.”
Taylor writes his plays for people who are interested in the Indigenous experience, regardless of their race.
“The plays are about exploring the human condition. I think they are for mature, thinking audiences. I hope the play speaks for itself. It’s based in reality. I want people to know that what happened with these schools is a product of Canadian society and Canadian people. People say they aren’t to blame for these things. But unless you remember and own the past, the same things will happen again.”
Do average privileged Canadians feel real connection with what happened? When they listen to land rights announcements in theatres, for instance, do they feel connected to the messages, or do they just rustle their programs and wait for the show to begin?
“That’s a good question,” Taylor says. “But I can’t answer it.
“I know Indigenous people come to my plays because they find them uplifting and healing. And really, I want everyone to come. With this play I’ve gone to places I’ve never gone before. It’s very tense. I want people to feel impacted by this play.”
I ask Taylor about using the word “Indian” in reference to an Indigenous person. He laughs.
“We were called Indians. I don’t object to that. Maybe it matters how you say the word. Some people get incensed by it. When my play ‘Cottagers and Indians’ was advertised, people called the theatre box office demanding the name be removed. ‘Don’t you know it’s racist?’ they said. Some demanded the posters be taken down.
“Well, it was the title I gave it. I called the play what I wanted to call it. Just as I called this one, ‘God and the Indian.’ And let’s be clear, God has a big part to play here.”
Taylor admits the play hasn’t been done that often.
“Maybe because it is challenging. This is only the third or fourth production it’s had. Well, with this one, I went to places I haven’t gone before. There is some humour. I didn’t want it to be all doom and gloom, but it is dark.”
So, does the play contemplate the church’s complicity in a systemic attack on First Nations culture? Does it give a voice to survivors of the atrocity? Were residential schools about culture erasure?
“God and the Indian” may not give you answers. But it sure will raise plenty of questions.