Critic chastised

Page 10

Dear Editor:

Birchbark's review of Thunder Rolling In The Mountains (April) is an exercise in misinformation and misunderstanding and is, as a result, misleading. What troubles me at the outset is that your reporter at no time asked to interview Shannon Thunderbird or myself, the director, to discover our reasoning behind the unique staging of the show. It is little wonder that she presented a pretentious and unreasonable review. One had only to watch the poignant audience reaction to know that there was no "overwhelming detail" nor "one-sided history." Real art can only ask questions as the truth of the matter allows-anything more or less runs the risk of becoming revisionist history. The story uses chronology as its base as it is intended mainly for school audiences who, like most Canadians, have little to no knowledge of First Nations' history. The reviewer would have known this had she (a) spoken to us or, at the least, (b) looked at Thunderbird's Web site: www.shannonthunderbird.com.

Your reviewer's use of her one big word, hagiography, is, much like the rest of her article, misused, as Chief Joseph at no time is referred to as a saint. Her charge that Chief Joseph was a wife abuser is completely incorrect.

At some point in First Nations' history, when the world agrees to attend to the difficulties and makes essential reparation, perhaps then your reviewer would have an argument. Until that time arrives, she should seriously study the history and realize that those who tell a chronological historical truth do so simply and without malice, for what happened speaks for itself; analysis and character are implied in connotative narratives. The audiences we have for these performances at The Distillery and other places have all understood what the reviewer seems unable, or unwilling, to get.

We would have preferred a fair appraisal. What we got was a personal attack on Shannon Thunderbird. One wonders why. The reviewer failed to mention that the rest of the evening was given over to the big drums, singing, dancing, and everyone had a great time, except, it now appears, for the reviewer, who could not get beyond her diatribe on Thunderbird. If anything, I would like to see reviews in the future "liberated from the confines of one-sided testimonials" (to use your reviewer's own words) that are contrived to make victims out of those about whom one has no knowledge yet has an apparent dislike. And no, the reviewer has not earned the last word.

Kate Dickson

Director, Thunder Rolling in the Mountains