Lament for lost culture
THEATRE
Huff Canada Hub @ King’s Hall (Venue 73)
JJJJ
The story of Canada’s indigenous people is a truly horrifying one, probably best described as a serious attempt at complete cultural genocide.
For a century or more, the children of Canada’s first nations were systematically removed from their families, deliberately prevented from learning about their own culture, and often physically, sexually and psychologically abused in the terrible school system which was imposed on them; the last of these
schools only closed in 1996.
Cliff Cardinal’s Huff is a powerful monologue that reflects on the legacy of this experience through the lives of three young brothers, growing up in one of the reservation-like areas where many of Canada’s indigenous people now live.
The story we hear is that of the middle brother, the survivor; but around him lies a devastated landscape of a people utterly broken by the destruction of their culture and heritage, and constantly prey to an evil spirit called Trickster.
So some – like his father and elder brother – commit a slow suicide through drink and self-abuse; others, like his mother and little brother, kill themselves more obviously,
leaving what remains of the family riddled with uneasy step-relationships and incestuous violence. The central character, though, has learned just enough from his old grandmother to know that there is a culture and an inheritance that will help and guide him, if only he can reconnect with it.
And although Huff is often a confusing experience, with neither the script or the performance quite achieving the dramatic clarity this vital story needs, there’s no denying the elemental power of the story, the charisma Cardinal brings to the telling of it, and its importance for the future of indigenous people everywhere.
JOYCE MCMILLAN
Until 26 August. Today 4:15pm.