Where is the Native passion to protect?

Page 17

Urbane Indian

You wouldn't think it, but in some parts of the world, theatre can rattle the walls and shake things up, but not for the reasons you might think. Theatre was created to provoke, to challenge, to make you think, to laugh, and to imagine. And sometimes you have to wonder if what may happen theatrically on the other side of the world might have some resonance here.

Just a few months ago, a play was shut down in Birmingham, England because of violent religious protests from England's Sikh community. The play, called BEHZTI, which means dishonor, provoked outrage within the Sikh community as it struggled to deal with its controversial content. Written by Sikh playwright Kaur Bhatti, the play uses a Sikh temple as the setting for a harrowing scene in which a young woman is beaten by other women, including her own mother, after being raped by a man who claims to have had a homosexual relationship with her father. Not exactly tame stuff, but welcome to theatre.

But it wasn't the content that upset the Sikh community, it was the location in which it was set. They argued that acts like rape and brutality could never happen in the sanctity of a temple. They labelled the drama as an insult to their faith, which has some 16 million adherents world wide.

Hundreds of protesters attacked the theatre building, throwing bricks, smashing windows and fighting with police. Citing the threat of further disruptions, the theatre cancelled the run of the play a week after the opening. Bhatti is now in hiding, fearing for her life after numerous death threats.

What does a play about a Sikh temple in Birmingham, England have to do with a First Nations column? It reminded me of an incident that occurred several years ago when I was working on a movie out west. We were shooting a scene that involved a ceremony for a young girl who's just had her first period. Trying to be authentic, the producers contacted several people from the nation the character was to be representing to find out the proper way to do this difficult scene. They were told how the ceremony usually progressed, but then told not to do it. It involved face painting, and if they filmed the ceremony the way it was to have actually occurred, the Native community threatened to pull all support from the production, which was being shot in their community. So, in a bind, the producers created a fictional face painting ceremony that had everybody happy.

Inauthentic, but happy.

I bring this up as an example of the understandable devotion many Native people have to their traditional beliefs. So, in reading about BEHZTI, I couldn't help wondering if there would be a similar outrage if I, or another playwright, wrote a play or a movie with similar themes and activities taking place in say ... a sweatlodge. I don't think anybody would bat an eye if such theatrical activities took place in a church ... we all know unfortunately that they did.

But a sweatlodge hits a lot closer to home for some. I know of one man, let's call him "A", being absolutely outraged that another man, let's call him "B", let his dog wander freely around the area of "B's" sweatlodge. He found it somewhat sacrilegious.

Would throngs of Aboriginal people take to the streets, outraged and cursing the theatre and the playwright's name?

Several years ago I saw a movie called Clearcut, starring the ubiquitous Graham Greene. He played a shadowy character named Arthur who, during a land claim dispute, kidnaps a white guy and does all sorts of unspeakable things to him, including skinning his leg. During an early development stage, I was given a draft of the script to assess. In it was a scene where Arthur drags the injured white man into a sweatlodge. He props up the man, and then sits down and starts to chant, with a fully loaded rifle right beside him. The white man moans a little too loudly and a little too frequently for Arthur's tastes, so he grabs the gun and puts four bulets through the roof of the sweatlodge to scare him into being quiet.

Now granted, there are many out there with a more extensive knowledge of sweatlodges and their ceremonies than I, but this was a new one on me. I was always taught that going to a sweatlodge it is a healing journey; that you are to enter without feelings of anger or violence. Arthur must have been away that day when that lesson was given. I was outraged and said so in my report on the draft. Sometime later, I saw the movie. There was the complete scene, unchanged. For me, the odd thing was that I don't remember reading or hearing anybody within the Native community objecting to that particular scene. It's as if it never existed.

One time, when I was doing research on Native erotica for a National Film Board proposal, I found a porn film that featured a Native actress out for a walk in the woods with a female friend. They just happened to come upon a sweatlodge. Being Native, she knew what it was, explained its function and origins to her friend, then they start kissing each other and generating their own sweat. Again, I was ... shall we say ... very surprised and puzzled.

But again, no noticeable rioting in the streets... though I doubt very many people saw this video. And those that did were probably not that interested in checking for cultural accuracy.

Every cultural and spiritual population has their fundamentalists, as well as their more liberal members. When Tomson Highway's Drylips Oughta Move To Kauskasing played in Toronto back in 1991, there were a few protesters objecting to its portrayal of Native women. In 1999 I got a bomb threat for one of my plays, alterNATIVES, in Vancouver ... but that was from a white guy, so that doesn't count.

I'm sure our time will come. Somebody somewhere will eventually write something that will put community, art, respect and freedom of expression to the test. I've got my lawn chair and bowl of popcorn ready ... unless of course it's me. Inthat case I've got a plane ticket to Australia.