Canada Review: "The Book of Life" at Canadian Stage
Joe Szekeres, Chief Toronto Critic
I’m certain Odile Gakire (Kiki) Katese was exhausted after her opening night performance in this world premiere of ‘The Book of Life’. I’m always impressed when I attend one person productions as so much rides on one person who must carry the show through to completion. There is no other performer to assist.
According to the Canadian Stage website, Ms. Katese (the co-creator, writer and performer of ‘The Book of Life’) and co-creator/director Ross Manson “take the audience on a remarkable journey of resilience and imagination. At a time when our world is racked with disharmonies, hatreds and struggle, The Book of Life offers hope, unlocking trauma, and finding a humane way forward full of joy.” As this is a world premiere, this teaser tries not to give away too much while hopefully enticing the audience to make a connection to world events.
I loved the drumming and the fact that a group of women decided it was time for a change, for the sake of the country, and for the sake of girls and women. Drumming was reserved exclusively for men and women were not allowed to touch the drums or even approach the drummers. I did not know this.
At this performance, this scripted text deals with the 1994 Rwandan Genocide which was a horrible time as we watched what was going on in the news. Upon entering the auditorium, there is a weaved chair with spider lamp stage right and what appears to be a workstation with binders on top stage left. At the back of the playing space is a large scrim upon which I assumed the audience will be able to see necessary projections for the story. My curiosity was peaked as I was wondered how the story and this setting could be connected. A few minutes before the performance began, Ms. Katese enters, sits in the chair and appears to be writing on a pad some ideas. She then rips the paper from the pad as if the idea/thought didn’t work and throws it to the floor.
The programme explains that in just 100 days, an estimated one million people were murdered, and mass sexual violence was committed against Tutsi women and girls. These 100 days were an extremely well-organized campaign of terror as most of the world collectively turned away or, in some cases, helped the perpetrators escape justice. I was pleased to see this bit of background information given to help me make some connection.
Ms. Katese has a lovely speaking voice which at least piqued my initial attention. I loved the bits of French she used as it gave me practice understanding what she had said.
But I began to lose focus on the text rather quickly as too much information is shared. I had challenges in connecting events from these 100 days of the Rwandan genocide to the information ‘Kiki’ shares about her immediate family and then watching what was projected on the screen behind her. At one point, the action stops dead in its tracks as we are asked to draw a picture of a grandfather. For me, this choice did not work at all as nearly ten minutes were lost as ushers and Kiki went around collecting the pieces of paper, admiring some of the drawings, while audience members in the balcony throw their pieces of paper down into the main floor setting.
Ms. Katese did her best to try to regain audience attention span. I don’t think she had us all back with her as some people started looking at their phones (I was guilty of that) along with others quietly talking to the person sitting next to them.
Some of the projections on the scrim were artistic and I admired the creativity in design but that wasn’t enough to sustain my interest in what was a horrible time in 1994.
I really wanted to walk away from ‘The Book of Life’ a tad more hopeful as Ms. Katese speaks about the fact she focused on maintaining her Book of Life intact during this turmoil and strife. I hope that she and Ross Manson will look at the script again as it requires further editing and chopping off its hodgepodge of ideas and thoughts that appeared disorganized many times.
‘The Book of Life’ runs to September 29 at the Marilyn and Charles Baillie Theatre, 26 Berkeley Street, Toronto. For tickets, visit www.canadianstage.com or call 416-368-3110.
Running time approximately 80 minutes with no intermission.
Photo of Odile Gakire Katese by Dahlia Katz.
Projection Design: Sean Frey and Kristine White; Composer: Mutanga Moise; Music Performed by Ingoma Nshya, The Women Drummers of Rwanda; Stage Manager: A. J. Laflamme;