All-aboriginal King Lear at Canada's National Arts Centre

See the woman jumping? That's one my new friends, Tantoo Cardinal, practicing for the all-aboriginal "King Lear," which opens this Friday at Canada's National Arts Centre. We met on the NWI delegation in January. She talked about this production and was so excited. I wish I could make it up to see it! But if you are in Ottawa, please try to see it...for me!


It's getting some great press about the boundaries this production is crossing:

For decades, Schellenberg was told there simply weren't enough working aboriginal actors to pull off the Lear of his dreams. In 2012, however, director Peter Hinton has been able to assemble not just an all-aboriginal but an all-star team to bring Shakespeare's greatest tragedy to life.

How many times have people of color heard that "there's just not enough of you to do X" ? It takes time and a lot of effort, but eventually dreams are achieved such as this one. It's a grand achievement on many scales. The article mentions that some directors do not believe that Aboriginal actors can even do Shakespeare, thus aren't offered the roles. Then there are some in the Aboriginal community who have rejected Shakespeare. As the article says, there are high expectations riding on this production.

Break a leg, Tantoo & company!