Cree-ative licence

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Michael Lawrenchuk (right) performs the title role in SIR’s Othello while Arne MacPherson (above) portrays the scheming Iago. (ALLAN FRASER)

THE title character in Shakespeare’s Othello is a dark-skinned military gen­eral who has attained great success in a white European world.

He has just married a white wife, Desdemona, who truly loves him, despite others' racist disapproval of their marriage.

But Othello, who has risen from slavery, is undone by his own insecurity. When his former best friend, the scheming soldier Iago, convinces him that Desdemona is unfaithful, the "green-eyed monster" of jealousy drives Othello to extreme violence.

Racism is an inescapable theme of the great tragedy. And Winnipeg's Shakespeare in the Ruins is addressing it head-on by casting an aboriginal actor, Michael Lawrenchuk, as Othello in its production, running tonight through June 20 at Assiniboine Park.

Lawrenchuk, 51, was raised on a trapline near Gillam. He is the former chief of the Fox Lake First Nation. His first language is Cree. Since he discovered Shakespeare while studying psychology -- and then switched to theatre at the University of Winnipeg -- he has been so passionate about the Bard's work that he calls it "my life focus."

He is working on a master's degree in Staging Shakespeare from the University of Exeter in England.

Lawrenchuk, who has often been the lone aboriginal person in a white context, says the play's psychology is very familiar to him.

"I understand, somewhat, trying to operate and be successful in a world where the power is not yours," says the forthright actor, wearing a Cree breastplate over a leather jacket as part of his era-blending costume.

"I understand about falling in love with a person that's not the same colour as you, and being looked at disparagingly. (I understand) the sense of always being the outsider and looking in.

"I don't think I ever completely forget that I have to be very careful, because I don't belong. I really have to watch my step, all the time. I know it's because that's how I grew up. But judging by how people in this city react to news about aboriginal people, I don't think my caution is unwarranted."

Lawrenchuk believes he fell in love with Shakespeare partly because he comes from an oral culture. "I really appreciate the power of his language," he says.

Growing up aboriginal in the 1960s, he knew it could be dangerous to speak freely. "I wasn't really allowed to show extremity of emotion. I had to watch what I said."

Years later, he took a workshop in Shakespeare and Voice with other First Nations actors, including Lorne Cardinal, of Corner Gas. They were encouraged to unleash the full power of the text.

"When each of us allowed ourselves to experience the full emotion of the language, every one of us broke down and cried. It allowed us to feel -- in a safe place. It was very therapeutic."

The actor immersed himself in Othello about two years ago, when he did a project for his master's program in which he reinterpreted the play as a piece of aboriginal storytelling.

Nonetheless, he almost backed out of taking the acting assignment -- his first professional Shakespearean role -- for SIR.

"It's a very daunting role, very demanding.... At the end, it's a very violent play. For me, that's incredibly difficult because of the stuff I witnessed when I was young -- especially violence against women.

"It draws up these memories and images for me which are horrific. But I'm sure Othello saw them too, in his youth. He would have seen this really ugly world."

When Lawrenchuk first went to England to study theatre 20 years ago, he says he was welcomed with open arms and encountered no racism. It gave him perspective on the treatment of his people back home. He now spends a large proportion of his time negotiating hydro-dam agreements on behalf of his First Nation.

"If you really want to know your country, leave it for a while," he says. "I came back and said, 'This is not right.'"

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

No walk in the park

Shakespeare in the Ruins, so-named because it was formerly based at the monastery ruins in St. Norbert, is known for presenting the Bard's plays in "promenade" style. Usually, audience members pick up their supplied lawn chairs and follow the actors to several locations during the show, both inside and outside the Assiniboine Park Conservatory

For Othello, however, viewers can leave their umbrellas at home. The whole play is being presented in a more traditional style, inside a white tent near the Conservatory with a capacity of 110. A large, fully lit stage has been constructed, including a built-in pool.

When SIR performs a comedy outdoors, says director Christopher Brauer, the actors can improvise if a passerby interrupts the show. The main reason for staying in the tent this time is that Othello requires intimacy and should not have its mood disrupted.

Behind the stage, the tent side is open, so actors can still make entrances from the trees. If it's a chilly night, S.I.R. has blankets ready to hand out to the audience.

The company is offering Saturday matinees for the first time, June 13 and 20 at 2:30 p.m.

Although some people may assume the 110-minute tragedy will be heavy going, it actually contains a lot of humour and action, says Arne MacPherson, who is playing Iago in a nine-member cast that also includes Sarah Constible, Michelle Boulet, Andrew Cecon, Kevin Klassen and Harry Nelken. It's essentially a domestic story, MacPherson says, unlike the Bard's more sweeping tragedies. "It's about human relationships that everybody can relate to."

Adds Brauer: "The romance is as beautiful as any of Shakespeare's romances. And Iago has some of the best dirty jokes Shakespeare wrote."

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 28, 2009 D1