The two groups began each day with a smudge – an herb-burning ceremony to cleanse the space. Then, a bonding ritual. Two people would look each other in the eyes and shake hands, say “good morning,” before moving down the line to the next person. Often, they would embrace. Sometimes there were tears. By the end of it, all felt seen, supported and ready.
The work was born when a theatre company that teaches Shakespeare on reserves asked Arluk if she would do a two-week residency at Frog Lake, east of Edmonton, teaching, with the Wihtiko, the cannibal spirit, in place of the ambitious Scottish throne-seeker, exploring the same core theme: greed.
The second version, the one prepared for Stratford, is more comprehensive – 2½ hours, the whole Shakespeare shebang – more in line with the festival’s usual dramatic offerings. “Having experienced 40 years in the theatre, there’s some days you come into rehearsal and people are afraid and there’s egos and there’s agendas and stuff and I thought: ‘Why don’t we start this way every day?’ Because it totally centres you,” Cimolino says.
The work is likely bound for the festival’s 2021 or 2022 season. Greyeyes is excited about the wider implications for the repertory company: a large Indigenous presence, not just in“They’ve said many times, nearly in every meeting I’ve had with them: We don’t want a production like this to be parachuted into our season, meaning, there’s an Indigenous cast that work on this show and are not included as vital members of an entire season,” Greyeyes says.