I watched this play via Downstage Theatre (Calgary) in its recorded form. There are still a handful of showings, through October 18th.
Beagan’s script weaves a stunning story. Lila confesses, we don’t know what to for an excruciatingly wonderful amount of time, in the forest, while moving through stories about her childhood, traumas, her siblings, and more. She is strong. She is funny. She is deadly serious. I won’t give anything away — simply will say that this is a story of strength and taking back power for indigenous women, who are too often pigeonholed and victimized in their representation.
Cherish Violet Blood is a captivating performer, her portrayal of Lila - her eyes burning through the screen to my guts, demanding my attention. Her turns from the serious to the comic or vice versa are beautifully jarring. She shares difficult truths forcefully, yet with a gentle familiarity of someone who is tired of telling these same stories to people who do nothing.
While this has played around the world, this is the first production in Canada — filmed for this moment, it appears, this is one of the best transferences of a play to recording that I have seen. The theatrical device in the play helps - Lila is recording her act - however the production transcends this, to live in a space between what we normally take as “live” and recorded performance.