Toronto Review: “Almighty Voice and His Wife” at Soulpepper Theatre
Joe Szekeres, Chief Toronto Critic
An impromptu question and answer period for students from London Ontario’s Western University (my alma mater) thankfully provided much needed information for me to appreciate Daniel David Moses’ “Almighty Voice and His Wife”. The text is challenging. At times there is beautiful dialogue between the two central characters in Act One, and how the confrontation between the Indigenous and European ways of knowing and being confront each other. Yet in the second act, there is a markedly different approach to the plot and its connection in Act One.
I understand completely it is not possible to have a Q & A after each performance for logistic reasons. Nevertheless, for issues of understanding Indigenous recovery in Canadian society, it is important that dialogue takes place especially in such an intensely layered play as this one. I’m ashamed to say while attending elementary and high school that I was unaware of the Indigenous atrocities that occurred in our Canadian history. It is plays such as ‘Almighty Voice’ that need to be seen to assist in understanding and ensuring issues like these never occur again.
I discovered during the Q & A that director Jani Lauzon played White Girl in the original production in 1991 and has always wanted to re-visit the text. Canadian society has evolved over thirty years, so Ms. Lauzon had a daunting challenge ahead of her regarding the play to ensure that audiences do not come away merely seeing just the atrocities against the Indigenous people as evidenced in the vaudevillian second act.
I was initially puzzled by the set design until I spoke with friends on the train ride home who had seen the production previously. They told me it resembled the top of a teepee. That made sense as I was able to see the sky outside. Very clever indeed thanks to Ken MacKenzie’s design. Kinoo Arcentales’ costume designs caught my eye immediately as I really liked the colours of the various bits of clothing worn in the first act. Jennifer Lennon’s lighting design nicely accentuated various bits of tension throughout the first act. I’d also like to acknowledge Marc Merilainen’s sound design in Act One as there was an effective background selection of sounds and music which kept me on the edge wondering if something tragic would occur to Almighty Voice and White Girl.
There are some highly moving moments in performances from James Dallas Smith as Almighty Voice and Michaela Washburn as White Girl. In the first act, I grew to like both because there is a believable and natural relationship which builds in their wit, their banter with each other and, ultimately, in their marriage to one another. I saw very real people in this production. During the Q & A, Mr. Smith spoke of the fact that he thought this production would be a nice two hander play. He now says he hadn’t initially recognized how intense movement and stillness are key in this production for it to work. He’s certainly right on that account as both he and Ms. Washburn command the stage periodically either in their monologues or in those moments where Smith must move.
The challenge of this piece lies in the presentation of the vaudevillian second act. Again, during the Q & A, this question was raised as to its connection to the first act and the struggle we saw with the two characters and the Indigenous way of being contrasted with the European way of life. It was here that I learned something that I did not know existed.
In the 1780s, the term ‘show Indian’ was used. The Indigenous people were placed in vaudevillian style shows where they would show audiences their dance, the ‘re-enactment’ of battle scenes all the while enduring racial epithets and taunts. This was how the Indigenous would be able to keep and maintain their being. Unbelievably horrifying to think this was tolerated in today’s context.
Ms. Washburn in the second act offers a convincingly real performance as the horrifying Interlocutor. It is from Ms. Washburn’s performance that a definite discussion later helped me tremendously to understand once again (as the Background Notes in the programme state) of the collision of European and Indigenous ways of knowing and believing from a historical distance. I did feel shaken and stirred as the Background Notes state but had the advantage of a discussion after the play about why I did. This is where audiences might walk away from this production confused if there was no opportunity to share and de-brief.
Final comments: The comment was made during the Q and A that Canadian theatre is now on a new trajectory. Yes, it is important to see the presentation of classical/European/North American theatre as these are stories that still need to be shared. As responsibly aware and educated Canadians, however, we must now begin to incorporate Indigenous theatre a part of the Canadian cannon. Why? There are many voices in theatre crying out to be heard here in our Canadian mosaic.
It is time to listen to the Indigenous voice.
ALMIGHTY VOICE AND HIS WIFE
“Almighty Voice and his Wife” runs to November 10 at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 50 Tank House Lane in the Michael Young Theatre at Toronto’s Historic Distillery District. For tickets, visit www.soulpepper.ca, www.youngcentre.ca or call 1-416-866-8666.
Production runs approximately 2 hours with one intermission.
Cast: James Dallas Smith, Michaela Washburn
Writer: Daniel David Moses; Director: Jani Lauzon; Set & Video Designer: Ken MacKenzie; Costume Designer: Kinoo Arcentales; Lighting Designer: Jennifer Lennon; Choreographer: Brian Solomon; Music Coach: Mike Ross; Production Stage Manager: Robert Harding;
Photo credit: Dahlia Katz