craig lauzon
Talk Is Free Theatre’s production of Darrell Dennis’ Tales of An Urban Indian, which takes place on a Metro Transit bus as part of the 2018 Prismatic Arts Festival, is an especially perfect play to see in conjunction with Santee Smith’s The Mush Hole, which closed at the Festival on Friday. While Smith’s piece focused on stories centred around the Residential School, Dennis introduces us to Simon, born among the first generation (Generation X) of Indigenous children who did not attend Residential Schools, but it’s obvious that this fact alone is not enough to alleviate the effects of generations’ worth of trauma, abuse, Colonialism, erasure, genocide, assimilation, humiliation, and theft at the hands of white people.
Actor Craig Lauzon fully embodies all the characters in Simon’s story in a tour de force performance that moves quickly back and forth between humour and heartbreak. We meet his single mother who was only a teenager when he was born. She thinks perhaps raising him off the reserve will afford him “better opportunities.” His paternal grandmother disagrees, saying that Simon needs to stay rooted in his community and his family. Life on the reserve is challenging. Simon learns homophobia, toxic masculinity, and misogyny from his peers, all with devastating consequences. Life off the reserve is just as challenging. In Vancouver, Simon is exposed to the fetishization of his mother by her racist and alcoholic white boyfriend, and is introduced to addiction for the first time. He also feels alienated from his community.
As Simon grows up and becomes an actor he learns to play parts on screen, in school, and on the streets. He pretends he’s not Indigenous. He pretends that he is not struggling with his own alcohol and drug addiction. When he’s not pretending, he’s losing himself on Vancouver’s Hastings Street in a cloud of cocaine and beer. Despite the fact that Simon has never attended a Residential School, he still struggles with deep feelings of inferiority and often seeks out opportunities to try to trade his Indigenousness for ways to more easily fit in among white people. We also see a huge disconnect in Simon, and in the way he characterizes his community, from their culture, history, heritage and their ancestors. This is not a surprise considering that there has been a systemic agenda in place for over four hundred years seeking to obliterate these Indigenous cultures, languages, histories and traditions that cannot possibly be repaired by a single generation of children. Simon speaks about the concept of pride, of being proud to be Indigenous, and how powerful and transformative that idea is. We come to see that that is Simon’s journey. How can he confront all that has unfairly been inflicted on him, his family and his reserve, turn away from the temptations of drugs and alcohol, and find a way to feel truly proud of who he is?
The play is well directed by Herbie Barnes, and it takes place on a Halifax Transit bus, as it makes its way through both the North and South Ends of Halifax. Lauzon’s Simon is right there next to us, in this intimate and familiar space, pouring out this deeply personal story. There is a vulnerability that is inherent to public transit; it’s a place where you often are thrown together with strangers and unwittingly become witness to parts of other people’s lives. Here we are all held captivated by Simon’s words, and we are forced to confront the literal faces of many people that Colonialism and contemporary society has shoved into the margins.
In the end, we are left with hope that pride is possible for Simon and that he is truly on the cusp of triumphing over his addiction and finding ways to reconnect with his community. Here, Simon has the agency to create change in himself and his life, and it’s suggestive that this change could have a powerful ripple effect- to empower, inspire and embolden others. Perhaps even someone sitting beside him on the bus.
Tales of An Urban Indian is presented by Talk Is Free Theatre and Onelight Theatre as part of the 2018 Prismatic Arts Festival. It plays September 16th at 2:00pm. Meeting place is The Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street, K’jipuktuk (Halifax)). Tickets are $19.00 or $15.00 (students/seniors/underwaged). For tickets CLICK HERE.
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