I’m surprised I wasn’t more bored than I was. I mean, I was plenty bored; I’m just surprised I stayed awake.
I’d say that there are spoilers ahead and, technically speaking, there are, but the big plot point I’m about to reveal comes as no surprise. (Still, if you want to maintain your narrative innocence, stop reading now.)
Act 1 of Drew Hayden Taylor’s The Undeniable Accusations of Red Cadmium Light leads up to a “revelation” that is obvious from square one. Nazhi runs an art gallery on the Otter Lake First Nation. She specializes in identifying forgeries of Indigenous art, including the paintings of Norval Morrisseau. Nazhi is proud of her expertise in spotting fakes. But, when a young Indigenous journalist named Martine shows up and starts questioning Nazhi about her Indigenous bona fides, Nazhi is evasive.
Then we sit in our seats for an hour and wait for the script to get around to spitting out what we already know.
Nazhi’s daughter Beverly, who is an Indigenous education specialist, is up for a big promotion, so the inevitable fallout has the potential to blow up her career — even though Beverly’s deceased dad was Indigenous and her status is not in question. Still, Beverly’s professional precariousness and her sense of betrayal by her mom — well, her stepmom — create a mother/daughter crisis. Because Act 2 focuses on that crisis, because it’s unfolding in present time, and because the outcome looks like it might be less predictable than what we’ve just sat through — at least for a while — Act 2 is more engaging than Act 1 is.
That said, throughout the evening, Taylor’s writing is frustratingly repetitive. The first act’s final scene goes round and round and round before it lands. Because Beverly loves Nazhi and because she’s been blindsided, her journey in Act 2 takes her through some changes, which is a good thing: it makes her character arc the most interesting narrative element in this script. Nazhi’s desperation allows her to be sympathetic, but not for long. Because Nazhi doubles down, takes no responsibility, and insists on calling herself a victim, she basically just repeats herself and her journey becomes a dead end. I’m not saying this is a misrepresentation of the world outside the theatre: doubling down happens. I am saying that, theatrically, when there’s no movement or potential for movement, there’s no life.
The theme of Indigenous identity — and the problem of pretenders to that identity — is huge and the attendant discussion is hot. Did Red Cadmium Light prompt me to think about Indigenous identity in fresh and substantial ways? It did not. (I’m an old settler guy. I can only speak from that perspective, and I can speak only for myself.)
So why didn’t I fall asleep? Because, despite the weight of its redundancies, moment to moment, Taylor’s writing can be effervescent. He loves language, he can be playful, and he can be funny. When Nazhi’s neighbours and former friends start leaving hate messages written in pee on the snowbanks outside her house, Nazhi is surprised to find that some of them can do it in cursive.
Director Columpa Bobb has set a buoyant pace, and the actors are working hard. As Nazhi and Beverly, Anita Wittenberg and Kaitlyn Yott deliver emotionally committed portraits. Playing Martine, Tyson Night brings less energy to the stage, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing: his understatement yields a different kind of authenticity.
In Starlynn Chen’s excellent costume design, the gorgeous Indigenous fashions in which she has clothed Nazhi stand out.
Russell Wallace’s ominously windy sound design is effective.
But, for me, this new script is a disappointment.
THE UNDENIABLE ACCUSATIONS OF RED CADMIUM LIGHT by Drew Hayden Taylor. A Firehall Arts Centre production. Running at The Firehall Arts Centre until May 3. Tickets and information.
PHOTO CREDIT: Tyson Night as journalist Martine and Anita Wittenberg as gallerist Nazhi. (Photo by Jon Benjamin. Costumes by Starlynn Chen.)
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