Canada, let’s keep learning more about Indigenous peoples and their gifts to the country because it’s worth it. This knowledge doesn’t have to be a formal study in a silent Learning Commons. Far from it.
Add some humour and contemporary references, and Canadian history can come alive, especially when a few actual events are fudged for comic effect.
That’s exactly what’s going on at Thousand Islands Playhouse’s production of Frances Končan’s engaging Women of the Fur Trade, now on stage at the South Street Firehall Theatre. The play combines humour, tragedy and pathos to tell an empathetic story about the historically forgotten yet influential power of women in Canada, particularly Indigenous and First Nations women. There’s no flighty vernacular or dialogue in the playwright’s script. There’s delicious wordplay on hand. Končan writes language one would hear today in the twenty-first century, and it is often quite colourful and hilarious.
This Women is an immersive production, so please take advantage of this opportunity to look at the models to the right and left of the stage before the performance begins. Both address colonial elements of Canadian history (with some modern objects that caught my eye).
Set in eighteen hundred and something something, Jay Havens’ suggestive set design, a good-sized fort set on the banks of the Reddish River in Treaty One Territory (now known as Winnipeg), catches the eye as the audience enters the auditorium. Three rocking chairs are centre stage. Core props are placed in easily accessible areas for the actors.
On the walls are photographs of men throughout Canadian history, men of all kinds, men all over the place. Three key portraits remain prominent: Louis Riel, Thomas Scott, and Gabriel Dumont. Kahentanó:ron Brianna Montour’s lighting design accentuates the stage with effective shadows and bright lighting when necessary. The three key portraits are also effectively lit. Ironically, there are no pictures of women on the walls.
Lucas Ruddell’s opening pre-show music includes a selection that reflects the strength and resilience of these Indigenous women from Canada’s history. While the song before the house lights dim may seem a tad long, the song’s lyrics are extremely important. Please pay attention to them.
Eugenia (Joelle Peters), Marie-Angelique (Danelle Charette), and Cecilia (Alison Beckwith) are quietly sitting at first when the lights come up. They are three distinct women who speak in twenty-first-century vernacular to share their views on life and love. Marie-Angelique has her sights on beefcake hottie Louis Riel (Elliot Gosh) and Cecilia on Thomas Scott (Eli Ham). Eugenia will sometimes leave the fort. It appears Marie-Angelique and Cecilia have never left the fort.
Peters, Charette and Beckwith wear stunning Indigenous clothing (beautifully showcased in Asa Benally’s costume choices), including fur coats and garments that aptly reflect each woman’s characteristics. Gosh wears a Métis sash at one point, and it’s an eye-catcher for its resonant colour.
Keith Barker directs with a theatrical knowingness and winking wit. The script’s humour and empathetic dramatic flair often take liberties with Canadian history involving Indigenous people. In Končan’s script, letters and their mix-up become important, as they do in many of William Shakespeare’s plays. The mailing and receiving of the letters (with the perfect jab at Canada Post) remain clever to watch, thanks to Barker’s staging.
This five-member cast delivers top-notch, solid performances and remains the reason to see the play.
The three central women form a genuine, unbreakable bond on stage. They gossip, tease and cajole each other with childish delight, most notably when Eugenia scolds the other two for playing with dolls. They sometimes call each other out with hurtful words and questions, yet there’s an underlying resilience as the women have learned to stand up for themselves and not fall apart.
Joelle Peters’ Eugenia is practical and direct. Danelle Charette’s Marie-Angelique is the bubbly, hopeless romantic of the three. Alison Beckwith’s pregnant Cecilia is a married European settler. She is concerned that her husband is away on an expedition but begins to feel attracted to Thomas Scott, Louis Riel’s associate. The women listen attentively to one another and respond appropriately and believably, most evident when they read aloud the letters they are writing.
Elliot Gosh’s Riel is pompous and arrogant as the leader of the Red River Rebellion. Gosh looks as if he’s having the time of his life in the role. Eli Ham’s Thomas Scott appears to be the more organized of the two. Ham’s Scott seems on the verge of wanting to throttle Gosh’s Riel in a comical manner because the latter cannot focus. The confrontation between the two men near the end of the play employs contemporary and modern references (The Matrix film is only one), leaving the audience in fits of laughter as we listen carefully to Gosh and Ham and watch them duke it out with a cinematic flair.
In his Director’s Note, Barker writes that Končan’s script is a reminder that history is not fixed. It’s alive and complex, and history should make us continue to question what we think we know. It’s okay to be curious about things that occurred in history and why we may have thought of things in that way.
Women of the Fur Trade goes one step further, at least for me.
It lets me have a good laugh while I continue to question what I thought was true about my country’s past involving Indigenous and First Nations peoples.
See, Canada. Learning does not have to be studious and serious. Good theatre encourages audiences to ask questions and be curious.
In the meantime, please see Women of the Fur Trade. Recommended.
Running time: approximately one hour and forty minutes with no interval/intermission.
The production runs to May 24 at the Firehall Theatre, 185 South Street, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Gananoque, Ontario.
For tickets: visit 1000islandsplayhouse.com, call (613) 382-7020 or email: boxoffice@1000islandsplayhouse.com.
THOUSAND ISLANDS PLAYHOUSE presents
Women of the Fur Trade by Frances Končan
Directed by Keith Barker
Set Designer: Jay Havens
Costume Designer: Asa Benally
Lighting Designer: Kahentanó:ron Brianna Montour
Sound Designer: Lucas Ruddell
Stage Manager: Rebecca Eamon Campbell
Performers: Danelle Charette, Alison Beckwith, Joelle Peters, Eli Ham, Elliot Gosh
