Review: THE FIRST STONE at Great Canadian Theatre Company

Great Canadian Theatre Company's production of Donna-Michelle St. Bernard's The First Stone is unlike any other show I have seen presented at GCTC. Thanks to the creative direction (Yvette Nolan), set (Jackie Chau) and projection design (Cam Davis), the show has a very artistic and fluid feel to it, almost like it could be performed in a museum instead of a theatre. The multi-talented cast brought the story to life through a combination of traditional storytelling, narration, song, dance, and chant. Important phrases throughout the show were given additional emphasis by being displayed on screens and there is a strikingly beautiful ASL interpretation that blends seamlessly with the action on stage.

The First Stone tells the story of Boy (daniel jelani ellis) and Girl (Nawa Nicole Simon), who live with Mom (Dorothy A. Atabong) and their baby sister somewhere in Africa. Their father has gone to fight in the war and they do not know when he will return. Children have been disappearing in the night and, as the age of the missing children seems to be younger and younger, Mom becomes increasingly worried for her children's safety. When the worst happens and Boy and Girl are taken, we feel her anguish. On top of that, Grandad (Michael Lamont Lytle), a devout man, seems to be the one responsible for the kidnappings. Mom tries to enlist Auntie's (Uche Ama) help to get the children back. In the meantime, we witness the new lives of the child solders, as they are ordered to commit atrocities - they must be willing to do the unspeakable if they are to survive. Ultimately, if the children come home, Mom must face the fact that, although they are still young physically, Boy and Girl are no longer children. Will Mom be able to look at them without fear? Will the community accept their reintegration into society after what they have done? How can the children reconcile who they are with what they have done? Do our actions define us?

The First Stone is based on the Ugandan child soldiers of the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group that has been kidnapping children since the 1980s in order build a militia. These children, like Boy and Girl, are forced to commit unspeakable acts of violence and are themselves subjected to abuse, including rape and torture. When child soldiers have escaped or otherwise been reunited with their families, they must face their own trauma while often being ostracized by their community. As someone who knew only a little about the child soldiers of Uganda before attending the show, The First Stone inspired me to learn more about the Lord's Resistance Army and individual stories behind some of the surviving victims. That the setting is deliberately vague, and that Boy and Girl are not given names only reinforces the fact that this story has been repeated with many faces and many victims. Our initial reaction may be that we are sheltered from these sorts of atrocities and breathe a sigh of relief that we are Canadian. But, if we take a step back, and think about what happened in residential schools throughout Canada, our history is not really all that different. Young children were taken from their families in the name of religion, made to suffer horrific abuses and torture, with many of them dying in abysmal circumstances or escaping with trauma lasting for generations.

The choreography (Indrit Kasapi) subtly evokes the change in tone, with carefree movements of children learning a traditional dance at the beginning giving way to much darker imagery, such as Boy and Girl swaying in harmony, wielding machetes. The ASL interpretation, although gorgeous, was only done intermittently leaving its target audience at a loss for a good part of the show.

GCTC has a pattern of presenting plays that stay with you when you leave the theatre, as well as inspire you to educate yourself, and to reflect upon what you have learned. Although The First Stone may be, at times, difficult to watch, you will leave the theatre richer for having seen it.

The First Stone is at GCTC through April 23rd. Click here for more information or to purchase tickets.

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