Wigwam weaves myths of cultures

Wigwam, a play about indigenous mythological ideas by Jean-Fr éd éric Messier, is coming to The Banff Centre for a performance Sunday (Jan. 20).

Cast member édith Paquet spoke with the Outlook about the performance.

“It’s a play inspired by the myths of a number of different native peoples of North America, like the Inuit of the Arctic, Hopi desert spirits of Arizona and the Iroquois of Eastern Canada and the play is intended to do a homage of the imagination of these old cultures, and it doesn’t reflect only one people, ” explained Paquet. “It’s a coming of age story of a little girl named Nanabush, and she’s for the first time going hunting with her big brother and big sister.

“But she won’t hunt, she’s going to guard the campsite, it’s her mission. She has to stay there to confront her fears. For the first time she’ll meet a shamanic wolverine and this wolverine is a magic animal who will teach her a lot of secrets with a magic bag. All the play is about what she will learn, and become a big girl at the end of the play.

“She’ll learn a lot of secrets about animal life, about why the sun falls down and the moon raises up, secrets like this. ”

Paquet plays the role of the big sister, as well as many of the other, minor characters.

“There’s a lot of magical animals and spirits, and I will play a lot of them, ” she said. “There are also puppets and shadows that are outside of the campsite, and they’ll come inside too, so there are a lot of characters. Like the Thunderbird, who brings the rain and thunder. ”

Created by Th éatre des Confettis in Montreal in 2004, the production has been performed throughout Canada. This will be the first time in Banff.

“We’re very happy to play The Banff Centre, ” said Paquet. “The play is very embracing of nature, and I think it’ll be like magic to play there, to be close to the nature, close to spirits of the forest. And it’ll be in winter - and the play is set in winter - so it’s a good combination. I’ve heard it’s a very nice centre for arts. ”

Taking different myths and working them together is an integral part of the play, she said.

“It’s very interesting; in Calgary we played in front of Cree people, ” said Paquet. “It was interesting, because a mother came with her little girl, who was also named Nanabush, like in the play, and we met her and she was very happy with what we did. It was not exactly representative of her nation, but the spirits of the play were embracing of native people.

“And when we played in Sept îles in Quebec, there were a lot of Innu that came, and they were embracing of it. ”

The play can be enjoyed by all cultures too, she explained.

“It’s for everybody, native people or otherwise - the goal is to keep it accessible to everybody, and we don’t in a specific way illustrate one nation, ” she said. “We are more general about the mythology. That was the purpose of the author, to reflect the spirit of all nations. ”

While the play is intended for an audience between the ages of four and eight, everyone will be able to enjoy it, said Paquet.

“It’s for children between four and eight years old, but families and adults can enjoy it too, ” she said. “There are sometimes second meanings that only adults can catch, so it’s good for them too. ”

Paquet studied drama in Quebec City before relocating to Montreal. This is her second play for children.

“In the past, I’ve taught theatre to children and it was a good coincidence when they asked me for this play, ” she said. “It was a great moment.

“I really appreciate the work of the author and the company - it’s such a good company, so when they approached me for this particular project, I was very happy, because the subject was great, ” she stressed. “I’m very touched by First Nations peoples, we don’t talk about them often enough.

“Our cultures are very separate and this is a way to combine them, especially for little children, with those cultures. ”

The Banff Centre performance is at 4 p.m. in the Margaret Greenham Theatre. At 3 p.m., a craft room will open to allow young audience members to interact with the production.