The Rez Sisters resurrected

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This article was published 07/05/2022 (1565 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On opening night of Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre’s The Rez Sisters, it was announced that director Tracey Nepinak would be stepping into the role of Philomina Moosetail, replacing Stacy Da Silva.

Audiences never want to hear they’ll be seeing an understudy, but in this case, it’s hard to imagine the role being played by anyone else. Nepinak — who this theatre season appeared in The War Being Waged at Prairie Theatre Exchange and co-directed Frozen River at Manitoba Theatre for Young People — is always a welcome presence onstage, but she’s also no stranger to Philomena, having played the character in the Stratford Festival’s 2021 outdoor production.

Her warmth and wit anchor the season-ending production of Manitoba playwright Tomson Highway’s drama (about two hours with intermission) about seven women who, despite their squabbles and grievances, embark on a road trip to play bingo.

Though it’s almost 40 years old, the two-act play — a female companion piece to his Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing — still has the capacity to shock and surprise. It’s raw and tender, funny and terribly sad, with a deep understanding of the holds home and family have on us, whatever their flaws.

His depiction of life on the fictional Wasaychigan Hill reservation on Mantoulin Island feels timeless (even if one imagines joking references to “gang bangs” would be unlikely to find their way into more current works). The women there complain about the useless chief, either lust after or are disgusted by rez hottie Big Joe, gossip about no-good husbands, and dream.

Pelajia Patchnose (Patsy Tuba) dreams of moving to Toronto or at least paving the dirt roads in her community, while her sister Philomena (Nepinak) has simpler needs: a gleaming porcelain toilet is all she wants.

Exuberant Annie Cook (Katie German) has performing aspirations — she loves her country-rock — while Marie-Adele Starblanket (Renata Meconse) just wants to know who will take care of her husband and 14 children if she doesn’t survive the cancer she’s battling.

Veronique St. Pierre (Waawaate Fobister) longs for a stove with four working burners, her adopted daughter Zhaboonigan (Ashley Cook), who has an intellectual disability, is scarred by a secret act of violence, and Emily Dictionary (Kelsey Kanatan Wavey) is trying to escape a tragedy in her past.

Watching over the women is Nanabush (Jera Wolfe), a trickster and spirit of Indigenous legend. A winged, silent creature whom only Marie-Adele and Zhaboonigan can perceive, his ambigious presence is playful and menacing at once.

All of them, save Nanabush, believe their troubles would be ended, or at least alleviated, by winning the jackpot — $500,000 — at the Biggest Bingo in the World in Toronto.

Though Highway leaves much of Zhaboonigan’s story unexplored, Cook has a great physical presence, her smiley face intermittently crossed with pain. Wavey is fiercely compelling as the tough-talking Emily, while German’s musical theatre training is clear, as she aims for the back rows as the fast-talking Annie.

But in a play that relies so much on an ensemble cast, it’s vital that the members be equally matched and that’s not the case here. There are serious projection and enunciation issues that lead to big chunks of dialogue being lost, especially in more rapid-fire sections, making it difficult initially to parse the relationships among the women or follow the rez gossip.

What should be a familiar, bantering/bickering tone often feels oddly halting, and there were more than a few flubbed lines on opening night.

The action is also somewhat dwarfed on the huge stage; one wonders if it might not have been better suited to the Warehouse, which would have enhanced the intimate aspects of the work.

Of course, then we’d miss the full grandeur of Andy Moro’s set, which is like stepping into a painting (the fact that many of the props are almost two-dimensional adds to the impression). A scene in which a moonlike portal opens to allow Nanabush to act as a guide to the spirit world is breathtaking in its starry splendour.

The second act settles into an easier rhythm, and a wordless scene where the women frantically fundraise to make enough money for the trip via bake sales or garage sales is great fun to watch, aided by composer Daniel Roy’s sound design.

As with many stories, the meaning is found in the journey, not the destination, but nonetheless, despite a cute interlude where audiences get to play along with the women, the Biggest Bingo feels anticlimactic. Nanabush becomes the preening bingo caller, but Wolfe’s presence isn’t commanding enough, considering he’s literally telling someone her number is up.

However, the heart of The Rez Sisters is really the road trip, where, cocooned in a van at night — cleverly staged so that each row of seats is its own little world — secrets are shared and confessions emerge. Here again Nepinak shines, as Philomena reveals what she’d really like to do with her bingo winnings.

Once back home, her ability to gloss over that memory with good cheer is a heartbreak the play doesn’t belabour, but that resonates nonetheless.

jill.wilson@winnipegfreepress.com