{"id":23594,"date":"2023-02-09T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T17:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=23594"},"modified":"2023-02-02T15:36:22","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T23:36:22","slug":"the-unplugging-shares-unique-indigenous-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2023\/02\/09\/the-unplugging-shares-unique-indigenous-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unplugging<\/em> shares unique Indigenous perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

Director Reneltta Arluk says what drew her to The Unplugging <\/i>is how the play defies the norm of portraying different Indigenous perspectives in theatre. And it\u2019s not Arluk\u2019s first time taking on the play, which is based on the book Two Old Women<\/i>; she previously directed it in Whitehorse.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I love about it is that it features older female actors, one being Indigenous and one non, and it allows them to share their world, their perspective, and their lived experience on stage,\u201d says Arluk. \u201cThe play itself has a form of story to it, that it\u2019s set in a cabin in the woods and these two women who are thriving in the time when we\u2019d think they\u2019d be the ones most at risk, so it kind of defies the norm in that way and it really shows the relationship of these two older women, and just the environment itself, being in the bush, which is really beautiful to see on stage with the set design and the lighting design.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Reneltta Arluk is directing The Unplugging<\/em>, on now at The Belfry (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arluk says that she was also very drawn toward playwright Yvette Nolan\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I love about Yvette\u2019s writing is that it\u2019s deceptively complex,\u201d says Arluk. \u201cSo when you look at the words, you think, oh, this play is an easy read, but as you dig into the words more and more it really unfolds itself in a beautiful way. I actually really do enjoy directing Yvette\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The play is about two women who are forced to learn how to survive together in a post-apocalyptic world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been ostracized from their community that they were a part of\u2014not a community they chose to be a part of, but one that they were kind of forced to be a part of,\u201d she says. \u201cThey find themselves walking north into the woods, one person knowing where they are and one not, and then they end up having to survive in this one cabin. Then you really discover the strength of who these women are. Then a stranger comes to visit and disrupts the relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arluk says that when it come to themes of the play, there\u2019s a heavy focus on our personal connection with each other and with nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about knowledge sharing, generational knowledge, the apocalypse, what\u2019s its like to have no technology, connection, environment,\u201d says Arluk. \u201cWhen we think about climate, we think about… the land and how we survive, how we reconnect to land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arluk\u2019s favourite part of directing is its collaborative nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like building a world with a collaborative team,\u201d she says. \u201cI like being able to envision a story and then have that story come to life with the designers, with the actors, with the space, and just kind of unfolding a world that the audience can come engage with. It\u2019s rare that Indigenous women get to direct on stages in Canada, to be honest, so that\u2019s also one thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arluk wants the audience to feel a sense of connection and community after seeing The Unplugging<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnity would be a big one,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd just to enjoy story. Enjoy listening to story again, enjoy engaging with characters on stage who really do reflect society in a very condensed way and through that navigation and desire to connect they do find a sense of hope through it all, and I think that that is actually what is necessary, what we need right now with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Unplugging
\n<\/i>Various times,
\nuntil Sunday, March 5
\nVarious prices, The Belfry
\nbelfry.bc.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director Reneltta Arluk says what drew her to The Unplugging is how the play defies the norm of portraying different Indigenous perspectives in theatre. And it\u2019s not Arluk\u2019s first time taking on the play, which is based on the book Two Old Women; she previously directed it in Whitehorse. \u201cWhat I love about it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,282],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-february-8-2023"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23594"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23609,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23594\/revisions\/23609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}