Theatre of Neptune and Sinking Neptune

[Moira Day]

Thanks, Denis. The last time I taught the play 
was to students in the Czech Republic two years 
ago. It's very much with us 400 years later - 
warts and all.
Moira

At 12:47 PM -0500 11/13/06, Denis Salter wrote:
>[See sidebar information and illustration at the bottom on the right.]
>
>TheChronicleHerald.ca
>13 November 2006
>
>Altering the course of history
>
>Two theatre productions re-enact Lescarbot’s 
>400-year-old play; one with a slice of political 
>correctness and a post-colonial bent
>
>By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE Staff Reporter
>
>The play’s the thing, according to William 
>Shakespeare, but in contemporary society it is a 
>distinctly different interpretation of its 
>colonial-era content that’s spawned the 
>controversy.
>
>Within the next week, two competing productions 
>of Canada’s first drama written and produced by 
>European settlers — a short pageant staged by 
>the French 400 years ago in Nova Scotia — will 
>be performed in Annapolis Royal and Halifax.
>
>One will be a faithful version of the 1606 work 
>by Marc Lescarbot, The Theatre of Neptune in New 
>France, while the other show is to be a 
>"deconstructed" adaptation with a 
>politically-correct, post-colonial bent.
>
>History, it seems, is not only written by the 
>victors, it can be rewritten by unconventional 
>theatre activists, with an eye toward advocating 
>for 21st-century native rights.
>
>"You are getting certain slices of the original 
>work" but also elements of new work that "in a 
>sense reframe the debate," Montreal drama 
>teacher Donovan King said recently.
>
>His small troupe, which will be performing the 
>alternative play, Sinking Neptune, in Annapolis 
>Royal and Halifax from Tuesday to Thursday, aims 
>to present a thought-provoking "theatrical 
>subversion" of Lescarbot’s Theatre of Neptune.
>
>"Instead of it being this celebratory 
>re-enactment," said King, "the issues of racism 
>and imperialism are looked at through the 
>deconstruction" of the original production. "So, 
>by the end of it, the audience will go away 
>reflecting on those themes."
>
>King is ferrying his merry band of amateur 
>actors to this province in a van that he alone 
>must drive because "I’m the only one with a 
>license."
>
>He said celebrating the 1606 composition is not 
>exactly his kind of anniversary. He said what’s 
>needed is "a moment of re-evaluation and 
>reflection" about the history of European 
>domination in Canada over First Nations people.
>
>Asked if he has native ancestry, King said he 
>doesn’t but acknowledged the co-founder of his 
>group, the Optative Theatrical Laboratories, is 
>an aboriginal person and "a lot of our . . . 
>members have First Nations blood."
>
>According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, the 
>drama by Lescarbot was "written to welcome . . . 
>Samuel de Champlain and Jean de Biencourt de 
>Poutrincourt on their return (to Port Royal) 
>from coastal explorations."
>
>It was performed outdoors on Nov. 14, the 
>encyclopedia says, "under the author’s direction 
>in barges and canoes on the waters" near the 
>Europeans’ settlement.
>
>Lescarbot, a lawyer and writer, died in France 
>in 1642. His play "depicts the god Neptune 
>bidding the travellers welcome; he is surrounded 
>by a court of Tritons and Indians who recite the 
>praises of the colonial leaders and sing in 
>chorus the glory of the king," the encyclopedia 
>says.
>
>Phil Roberts, who’s leading the effort to put on 
>the genuine article from Champlain’s day, 
>welcomes the rival production.
>
>But he said to look back at a dramatic effort 
>written by French colonizers — one that uses the 
>word "savages" — under the spotlight of a 
>theatre company operating in 2006 is off the 
>mark.
>
>Roberts, a retired Annapolis Royal-area 
>resident, said it’s tantamount to condemning The 
>Merchant of Venice for the shape of 
>Shakespeare’s crucial Shylock character, which 
>many people today might view as anti-Semitic.
>
>"Lescarbot wrote what he wrote," he said in an 
>interview. "Beyond that . . . the French had 
>very amicable relations . . . with the 
>indigenous people. It was the British, 
>unfortunately, that didn’t. And further to the 
>south (in North America), it was the Spanish 
>that didn’t."
>
>Still, Roberts thinks King’s plan to stage a 
>competing production "is great." He said his own 
>show, to be presented by a company called 
>Musique 400 Society, will be done outdoors by 
>the waters of Annapolis Basin unless the weather 
>is bad, in which case it’ll be moved to a local 
>community hall.
>
>Musique 400 formed three years ago, Roberts 
>said, and is dedicated to learning and 
>performing music and dances from 400 years ago. 
>The troupe uses period costumes and instruments 
>to re-enact entertainment from the 1600s.
>
>Forced to stand in the wings during these 
>contentious anniversary events is a Halifax 
>theatre maven who was guiding a group that was 
>organizing gatherings linked to the 400-year-old 
>play.
>
>Ken Pinto said this week his hopes were dashed 
>after two applications for Canada Council for 
>the Arts grants were rejected.
>
>He said requests for about $35,000 in grant 
>money were turned down last year and in 2004. 
>Pinto, director of the annual Atlantic Fringe 
>Festival, said his now-defunct group, Theatre 
>400, had wanted to promote the 400th anniversary 
>of the Lescarbot play by mounting productions in 
>Annapolis County and metro and by hosting a 
>major theatre conference that, if deemed 
>feasible, would be going on this weekend.
>
>The private sector was targeted for fundraising, 
>too, he said. A provincial grant was to cover 
>the cost of printing posters and brochures.
>
>Regarding the Montreal troupe’s alternative 
>production, Pinto said it’s not right to cut a 
>slice out of 17th-century life and paste it to a 
>theatrical work four centuries later.
>
>"It’s political correctness gone crazy," he 
>said. "I mean I just hate political correctness."
>
>Pinto, who is black, said he’s read the 
>Lescarbot play and sees nothing wrong with its 
>depiction of natives.
>
>"The word ‘savages’ – that was the way it was 
>back then," he said. "Blacks were slaves back 
>then. That’s the way it was."
>
>Pinto is unhappy with the way Canada Council’s 
>jury handled his two applications but said plans 
>are in the works to stage Lescarbot’s play in 
>Halifax in 2010 at the Dingle Park on the 
>Northwest Arm.
>
>"It would be a perfect location," he said.
>
>( <mailto:mlightstone at herald.ca>mlightstone at herald.ca)
>
>
>
><javascript:viewfullsize('firstplay_Provincial_11-11-06_GJ3SHUN.jpg')>
>This artist’s rendering depicts Canada’s first 
>play written and produced by European settlers, 
>Marc Lescarbot’s The Theatre of Neptune in New 
>France, staged by French colonizers in Nova 
>Scotia on Nov. 14, 1606. To mark the 400th 
>anniversary of the production, two amateur 
>theatre companies are putting on rival versions 
>of the work in Annapolis Royal and Halifax. A 
>third group tried to mount a production of the 
>play, but its hopes were dashed after grant 
>applications were rejected.
>
>ON STAGE
>
>Amateur theatre productions marking the 400th 
>anniversary of Canada’s first drama written and 
>produced by European colonizers are to be staged 
>in Nova Scotia during the next several days.
>
>•Sunday, in Annapolis Royal, a re-enactment of 
>Marc Lescarbot’s The Theatre of Neptune in New 
>France will be performed by the Musique 400 
>Society at 3 p.m. on the shores of Annapolis 
>Basin at the Port Royal Habitation. If the 
>weather is bad, the event will take place inside 
>Lower Granville Community Hall.
>
>•Tuesday, in Annapolis Royal, "a theatrical 
>subversion" of Lescarbot’s play, called Sinking 
>Neptune, will be put on by Montreal’s Optative 
>Theatrical Laboratories at 8 p.m. at King’s 
>Theatre, 209 George St.
>
>•Wednesday, in Halifax, Sinking Neptune will be 
>performed by the same troupe at 8 p.m. at The 
>Bus Stop, 2203 Gottingen St.
>
>•Thursday, in Halifax, Sinking Neptune will be 
>staged at 8 p.m. at The Bus Stop.
>
>
>
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