A rant about a certain theatre critic’s rant

Are we STILL talking about this??

I cannot believe this diatribe that reeks of absolute privilege and an unawareness of humanity that can only be described as out of touch.

There was no point in her hiding behind the words “In the last few years some theatre makers tried to decide who could review their shows and who couldn’t, sometimes on the basis of skin colour.” We all know who she’s talking about. If anyone was paying attention in 2020, she’s clearly talking about me/manidoons collective requesting that the media actually hire BIPOC folks to do reviews. And of course, true to form, all the white folks got upset - particularly the critics - for feeling left out or their feelings were hurt or something, I don’t know. Here, she - like a majority of the hateful commenters that attacked me - says “I believe that’s called racism if not censorship.  Not a good idea.”

I hate to be the one to burst the bubble, babe but reverse racism doesn’t exist. And for her to continue to call that request racist, means she clearly didn’t read ANY of the articles or interviews I gave about it or if she did - she didn’t understand and thus, my point was made.

The request actually came after some Transphobic and racist reviews of Next Stage shows that were written BY her. 

We weren’t the only ones to make this request, but we were the ones to receive the hardest blowback.

Also - how unaware do you have to be to use the word censorship right now? Censorship is people losing their jobs for supporting Palestine. Censorship is not having a platform to speak out against oppression and injustices. Censorship is not requesting to have a fair evaluation and critique of a piece of work. 

I’m not apologizing for not wanting someone’s racist or distorted perspective of what they believe is theatre or not - what they believe is “good” or not because of where it falls within contemporary eurocentric colonial theatre practices. 

The section about others giving “lectures on their culture to explain their process/ideas/story/ceremony etc. Well-intentioned but highly inappropriate and it betrays a lack of knowledge of what a review actually is or who it’s for etc.”

This comment betrays a lack of knowledge and understanding of the racist history of theatre. For someone who flaunts all this academic background and wealth of knowledge, there is no grasp on the depth of white supremacy and how systemic racism actually works. I’m actually questioning if she even understands what racism is. To basically say that a cultural theatre practice is inappropriate is another way of gatekeeping storytelling in this industry. It’s reinforcing the white supremacist idea that we don’t belong. It’s suggesting that there is no place in the theatre landscape for anything different, safe, accessible. Who is the review for? Other white people? That seems to be what she is saying.

Apparently there is more nonsense to come around this arena, but in the words of my friend, Sadie “Yes, I can’t wait for a white woman to tell me how racism has been misinterpreted.”

She also talks about “distance” being the best practice when it comes to reviewing objectively. My friend Bahia sent me this great article written by Pacinthe Mattar entitled “Objectivity is a Privilege Afforded to White Journalists” and I’m reminded again about the pushback we received in 2020. I had a conversation with a white male critic who writes for a large media outlet. He said to me that his editor believed that by hiring an Indigenous or racialized critic, the review would be biased. Which makes no sense for a number of reasons. The biggest reason being there is nothing out there to suggest that this is true. Meanwhile, there is mountains of proof that white critics - white journalists cannot review a piece of work by a racialized artist without seeing it through a racist lens. 

I think what disturbed me more - and I don’t use that word lightly - I was deeply disturbed. Laughing even up until this point - when she spoke about how sensitive we have become. Theatre students, particularly - who are now actually finding bravery and voices to speak up about what makes them uncomfortable in these incredibly harmful institutions. She offers no space for trauma. No space for humanity. In fact she calls them ‘theatre wannabes’ and ‘fragile’ for being offended by the language in a play. Her language actually sounds like right-winged bullying tactics, which honestly, doesn’t surprise me.

What I think most white people don’t understand is that for so many of us, there is a different kind of distance between the work and who we are as people. 

We are SO OFTEN asked to re-enact our actual racialized traumas onstage with no guidance or aspects of care put into place. “Let us re-traumatize you so white audience members can feel good about themselves, make money and then bye, see you never.” 

Or we are put into plays by white people that mimic real life horrors that those writers have never actually experienced. Aspects of our lived experiences that we are still experiencing now. 

This also branches out to the queer community - the disabled community.

So yeah - if a theatre student is offended by a line in a play, let’s ask why - let’s discuss it. If someone doesn’t want to say the ‘N’ word in a play, maybe don’t say it?

You know how hard it was for me, as an Indigenous woman, to hear Nancy Palk yell“There’s an Indian in my attic!” and then to hear the raucous white laughter?

And then who is that for?

Because it certainly wasn’t for me.

Who is saying the N word for?

What are we perpetuating on our stages? 

What are we leaving people with? 

Camille Inston wrote a beautiful article in Intermission asking the question: “Why are we laughing at white supremacy?”

While there’s definitely a place for satire written by racialized folks - it does ask white audience members to ask themselves why they think certain things are funny.

I remember watching the first iteration of Silk Bath and the performers intentionally playing out Asian stereotypes. I caught myself mid laugh and thought “I don’t think that’s actually funny. Why are we laughing at this?” And over and over, each time they stepped into a stereotype, people would laugh and laugh. While that might have been the intention of the writing team, it actually caught me as more sad - which was the real undertone. But an undertone that I’m not sure was completely caught by white or other non-Asian audience members. I mean - I had to catch myself.

In her rant, she reinforces the fact that it’s the character saying the N word. The character is racist. Not the actor. The disrespect to performers here is so loud. To assume that an actor doesn’t know this is just being intentionally ignorant. 

Like - of course they understand that. But maybe we don’t want to further traumatize the Black community by upholding racism? Maybe we don’t want to use hateful language to ‘provoke’. The hateful language in the real world is enough. Trust me. 

For years we have been inundated by plays about white people, for white people, trauma porn, misogynistic, homophobic works that we’ve had to grin and bear it for fear of consequences. So now, when we are finally finding ways of getting our stories out there in our own ways, when we are now finding the voice to stand up for ourselves, it’s an affront to the very foundation on which theatre stands!

This line - “Does anyone know the meaning of the word “consequences” anymore? How about, “we’ll have to find another actor for the part”. What happened to life lessons?”

Jesus. She sounds like my abusive step father. 

Threats?? It’s 2023 and she thinks we should be threatening young actors with consequences - of replacement - for speaking out?? For asking for what they want?

And she’s out here talking about censorship??

Girl. 

This is such a direct hit at disability justice and accessibility in theatre. The work that I do. The work that whole groups of us have been doing. Making space for the human behind the character so that the person doesn’t burn out. Trying to mitigate harm.

When I think about how many incredibly talented performers have quit the industry because of how harmful it is - or how many young performers suffering from madness/mental health issues have *unalived* themselves or have been hospitalized from it - how many of us have had massive breakdowns, PTSD flares, pain flares, because of the current standard theatre practices - it has me shaking my head and asking - what kind of person do you have to be to say that none of this matters? That the show must go on? Who cares? As long as you put on a good show worthy of a review? Just say the N word.

Where is the humanity? 

Especially now?

Not to mention that racialized, queer and/or Trans performers are at the top of those lists, experiencing this harm. So you’re perpetuating further harm on an already vulnerable community.

If we’re not making space for the needs of intersectional performers, then I think it makes for incredibly boring, cis straight able bodied white theatre. Which ... historically is what we’ve been surrounded by.

Actors are not machines. Yes - it has been this way for “hundreds of years” and who has it benefited? I can tell you it isn’t Black performers, Indigenous performers, South Asian performers, South American performers, East Asian performers, Middle Eastern performers - any racialized and/or Queer and/or disabled performers. The able bodied whiteness that has cloaked the theatre industry on and off stage for “hundreds of years” greatly outweighs the handful of BIPOC and/or disabled performers who have actually benefited from the way it’s always been. Again, I ask - did her theatre history education talk about this? Doubtful. 

The “shoulders on which we stand” are white shoulders. Steeped in white supremacy. I stand on the shoulders of Indigenous performers who stood on their shoulders while they were SA’d on stage, called a squaw, an Indian, beaten because it was all they were good for. It’s not wrong to want that to change. 

I call myself a sovereign storyteller. I pull from Anishinaabe traditions and infuse them into my work in theatre. And yes, I engage with the tools of the colonizer because there aren’t other options (ask yourself why that is). I call myself a sovereign storyteller because the artistic ceremony that Dr. Lindsay Lachance and Monique Mojica talk about, is a practice that aligns with my role as an Anishinaabekwe. I call myself a sovereign storyteller because my practice sits outside that which is called traditional western style theatre. While there are euro aspects that remain, the bulk of it is anti-capitalist, anti-oppressive, anti-racist, anti-colonial, inclusive and intersectional. 

When the colonizers came, they preached to us about christianity - they said that if we repented and turned to god, we would be forgiven, but if not, if we didn’t abandon our ways and follow them, that we would end up in hell.

The title of her rant is “Our world and our theatre are going to hell in a handbasket”.

Well, I’d rather stick to my ways freely in hell than follow hers to heaven.

And there’s plenty of room in my handbasket.