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A fascinating production about a very difficult situation, this immaculately performed show takes a little while to get going but once it does it becomes an extremely captivating, if bleak, work.Summary
Rating
Excellent
Cliff Cardinal is an Indigenous playwright and actor of Cree and Lakota heritage from Canada. When he first performed this production in his homeland it was advertised as a performance of As You Like It, and that led to angry reviews and audience walk outs as his show really has nothing to do with Shakespeare’s light and frothy comedy. Yet such behaviour seems appalling once the actual subject matter is made clear, and reflects the need for Cardinal to create such a work.
The Southbank Centre wouldn’t allow him to use the same approach, hence the convoluted title – but perhaps that’s not necessarily a bad thing. While I’m very fond of many of Shakespeare’s lighter plays, As You Like It does absolutely nothing for me, and I wouldn’t have considered seeing this production if it wasn’t for the unusual name it is currently saddled with.
More important is that the material in the renamed production is identical to the original. Cardinal speaks about how at the beginnings of meetings in Canada there’s often a Land Acknowledgement speech, which he then goes on to explain to the audience who may never have heard of this trend. Essentially a meaningless apology, it sees white people acknowledge that in many locations the land was stolen from indigenous people. But these apologies are pointless, due to the complete lack of interest in any kind of restitution.
The first half hour feels like a mixture of a stand up set and a TED talk, as Cardinal explains what happened when he first performed the show, and how audiences have responded to it over time. He further discusses the manner in which indigenous people are viewed by others across the world. Indeed, at one point the lights go up and Cardinal asks the audience if they’ve ever read any books or heard any music made by his people, and it instantly becomes very clear that very few have.
The friendly, jovial approach is perhaps necessary though, as it is at this point that the far more complicated part of the performance begins, when Cardinal explores not only how little we know, but also how many atrocities have been committed without any real reaction from the rest of the world. It’s a show which initially gently teases the behaviour of white people, and British imperialism, but then takes a much darker, angrier direction and when it does it goes from being quite intriguing to essential viewing.
My only complaint is that it takes a little too long to get to that point. For the first third of the production it’s a show which seems muted, whereas the final hour is brutal and important and the kind of theatre that needs to be created; that needs to exist if only in the hope that history won’t repeat itself.
Produced by Crow’s Theatre
Deviser/Director: Cliff Cardinal
This run of The Land Acknowledgement at the Southbank Centre has now ended.
Further information about this performer can be found here.
This is part of the Lift 2024 London’s International Festival of Theatre running until Saturday 27th July.
