SLĀV – Lepage makes a statement
Robert Lepage has broken the long silence he kept after the collapse of the show SLĀV last summer with a statement on Facebook. I’m not overly impressed with his lede that the show “at least prompted some long-needed reflection in the province of Quebec” – the squabble that broke out didn’t have much quality of a reflection, more of a bar brawl – but he has a legitimate point about wanting to speak directly with his critics rather than via the broken telephone of the media. Which he has proceeded to do.
This statement follows the recent story about Lepage’s show Kanata in Paris, which reportedly disappointed indigenous critics who went to see it.
Le Devoir blesses Lepage, calling his statement a mea culpa (which I don’t think it is, or not completely) and saying he’s made up for his mistakes. I think it’s for the communities that have felt slighted by Lepage’s artistic treatment to say whether he’s made it up, though. Not for the media, and not for Lepage himself.
Lepage plans to bring SLĀV back in 2019, revue et corrigée as they say.
Hamza 16:06 on 2018-12-29 Permalink
I still don’t see an apology. Tho the thing about including persons of African descent in future projects sounds promising, if Lepage had really learned something, he wouldn’t put this show on again. Even the title is horrible. Finally, the quip about ‘radical Anglos from Concordia University’ made me laugh.
Jack 23:31 on 2018-12-29 Permalink
I was impressed by Lepage. Let’s be perfectly honest this man is a genius in his domain. He makes theatre that others can not even imagine. He screwed up as many of us do and in my view owned it, and yeah I get it, but radical anglos don’t go to McGill.
Kate 10:16 on 2018-12-30 Permalink
Lepage has done some brilliant stuff, but I think he has to learn from these experiences that it’s a dead end trying to sell his impressions of other cultures. He may be good, but giving us a sort of “Tintin Among the Savages” view of things doesn’t work any more.
qatzelok 14:34 on 2018-12-30 Permalink
“Tintin Among the Savages” would work as an epitaph for Paul Simon’s “Graceland” album, as well as most of Hollywood’s and mainstream television’s treatment of non-moneyed sub-groups. It’s in our DNA?
Uatu 07:15 on 2018-12-31 Permalink
Eh, at least Simon worked with Ladysmith black mambazo, but I get your point…
Jack 08:13 on 2018-12-31 Permalink
I couldn’t agree more with you, the idea that Lepage could be so blind to this reality is what he is apologizing for. The fact that he went back and got schooled says a lot for him. The fact that he recognized that the people defending his artistic “licence” were just using him to spin J de M racist rhetoric.
When you write that you demonstrated « maladresse et de manque de jugement » I think that shows contrition.
Bill Binns 11:22 on 2018-12-31 Permalink
Nobody owns a copyright on any “culture” and anybody should be able to write or perform whatever the hell they want if they can get people to buy tickets.
Funny that “Hamilton” somehow dodged the accusations of “Cultural Appropriation” while mis-casting the founding fathers of the US.
EmilyG 12:16 on 2018-12-31 Permalink
But art and culture aren’t just about selling tickets and making money.
Kate 13:33 on 2018-12-31 Permalink
Bill Binns, Robert Lepage has been one of Quebec’s big stars over the course of his career, creating a sort of performance spectacle we hadn’t seen here before and being hired outside of Quebec to stage major operas and things. He’s expected to break certain expectations, which is why we’re shocked when we see him giving us stale received ideas instead of branching out and doing something that brings insights, even uncomfortable ones, into existing cultural stresses.
At some point many creative people will rest on their laurels and stick to a safe formula, but at this cultural moment it’s not smart for white people in Quebec to think giving the public their view of e.g. black or native culture is enough in itself. If Lepage can build bridges and alliances with people who can help him create pieces that make his own culture query itself, he’ll have a chance of going on to make more good art. Or, he can just withdraw behind a wall of “freedom of expression” and make more 20th-century-sensibility shows like Kanata and SLAV for the Journal de Montréal to applaud.
Chris 14:32 on 2019-01-01 Permalink
Exactly, he can do either of those things. It’s his choice. And some may like one over the over, and that’s fine. And some may criticize his work by pen or by protest, and that’s fine. But those that advocate banning him, shutting him down, deplatforming him, and the like, I think go too far. It’s fine to be offended by something (it happens to everyone occasionally), but it does not follow that you have to get your knickers in a knot, you could instead just change channel. There is no right to be never offended.