Character’s stories provide illumination in Ian Ross’s new dramedy

Advertisement

Advertise with us

Described in the press release as an "absurdist dramedy," playwright Ian Ross's new play The Third Colour is first and foremost a work extolling the importance of traditional storytelling among Indigenous peoples as a way of understanding the world.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/10/2019 (2525 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Described in the press release as an “absurdist dramedy,” playwright Ian Ross’s new play The Third Colour is first and foremost a work extolling the importance of traditional storytelling among Indigenous peoples as a way of understanding the world.

How curious then that it resembles an episode of The Twilight Zone, even without the presence of a Rod Serling-like host intoning: “Submitted for your approval… “

It begins in darkness. A couple of women seem to pop into existence, or rather, consciousness. “I’m an old lady,” exclaims Agatu (Tracey Nepinak) in surprise. The younger woman awakens to an itchy scalp, soon to be explained by her name: Head Full of Lice (Kathleen MacLean). She is young, and, it transpires, angry.

Agatu (Tracey Nepinak, left) and Head Full of Lice (Kathleen MacLean) have to figure out the world they live in. (Leif Norman)
Agatu (Tracey Nepinak, left) and Head Full of Lice (Kathleen MacLean) have to figure out the world they live in. (Leif Norman)

Their world is a blank, dark space, except for a teepee structure with a vertical schism along its centre that will mirror the friction between the characters. Looming over the top is an otherworldly window from which these two women occasionally hear sounds… suggestive of a party to which they have not been invited. (The dramatic set design by multi-disciplinary artist Andrew Moro manages to be simultaneously elemental in its simplicity, yet sci-fi-otherworldy in its effect.)

Occasional flashes of light from above alternately suggest a benign Mother Earth or a hostile alien mothership.

Agatu and Head Full of Lice set themselves the task of figuring out their world, and that process encompasses fights, comedy and stories. Agatu is a font of stories, each one inspired by an item excavated from the earth: a toy ship, a pine needle, a doll, a hand, a nest.

Afraid of the dark, Head Full of Lice asks Agatu for a light. And ultimately, Agatu’s stories do provide illumination that takes the characters from generalized awareness of their situation to the hard specifics of contemporary colonization conflict. (A clue is in the title, which calls out the absence of a symbolic Indigenous presence in the Canadian flag, which cites only white for the nation’s French founders and red for the English.)

The characters create a potent dynamic. Ross is not so pedantic to have one character play “truth” and another “reconciliation,” but in a way, that’s how it pans out as Agatu tries to temper her friend’s rage in the face of real prejudice and injustice.

Director Thomas Morgan Jones deftly juggles the play’s disparate elements — humour, tragedy and allegory — with a steady hand. Mostly, he knows to give space to Nepinak, an actress who unfailingly projects a formidable charisma. Hers is a terrific performance encompassing a gift for physical comedy, but also an entrancing way with storytelling. Agatu frequently announces her intention to “tell a story” and it’s invariably a gift.

MacLean’s Head Full of Lice character is more prickly, befitting her name, but she too impresses with a fierce and spirited performance.

Their world is a blank, dark space, except for a teepee structure with a vertical schism along its centre, mirroring the friction between the characters Head Full of Lice (Kathleen MacLean, left) and Agatu (Tracey Nepinak). (Leif Norman)
Their world is a blank, dark space, except for a teepee structure with a vertical schism along its centre, mirroring the friction between the characters Head Full of Lice (Kathleen MacLean, left) and Agatu (Tracey Nepinak). (Leif Norman)

Rod Serling’s absence notwithstanding, we approve.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing

Randall King

Randall King
Writer

Randall King writes about film for the Winnipeg Free Press.

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Provencher Park eyed for new aquatic centre

Malak Abas 4 minute read Preview

Provencher Park eyed for new aquatic centre

Malak Abas 4 minute read Updated: 6:49 PM CDT

Provencher Park may be the next site for a new aquatic centre.

Read
Updated: 6:49 PM CDT

Winnipeg teacher disciplined for ‘liking’ student’s post

Maggie Macintosh 5 minute read Preview

Winnipeg teacher disciplined for ‘liking’ student’s post

Maggie Macintosh 5 minute read Yesterday at 6:05 PM CDT

A Winnipeg teacher has been reprimanded for accidentally clicking ‘like’ on a student’s year-old social media post during a late-night scroll.

A recent investigation by Manitoba’s independent teacher commissioner found Jordan Nelson, a hockey coach in the Pembina Trails School Division, engaged in professional misconduct by viewing online profiles of students who were following a team account he was managing on behalf of his school.

“Using information associated with the school’s hockey team account to access and review a student’s social media account, without any legitimate educational or workplace purpose, was inappropriate and inconsistent with the professional boundaries expected of a teacher,” commissioner Noni Classen wrote.

A five-page report, better known as a consent resolution agreement, details agreed-upon facts about an October 2025 incident and subsequent disciplinary action.

Read
Yesterday at 6:05 PM CDT

Carney’s defence of Lake Ontario carries enormous weight

Niigaan Sinclair 5 minute read Preview

Carney’s defence of Lake Ontario carries enormous weight

Niigaan Sinclair 5 minute read Friday, Aug. 28, 2026

For centuries on Turtle Island (North America), explorers, map makers, and political leaders have erased Indigenous place names and substituted them — more often than not — with political, ethnocentric, and self-aggrandizing names.

In recent years, a few places on the continent have had Indigenous names re-established, but as of today, few of the original names are “official.”

So, it was no surprise when U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order directing the U.S. Department of the Interior and Board on Geographic Names to take steps within 30 days to officially rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”

The move may have been a result of the Canada-U.S. trade war and Trump’s pettiness and ego, but it also fits in perfectly with his career.

Read
Friday, Aug. 28, 2026

Puzzles Palace

1 minute read Monday, Jul. 27, 2026

To solve our puzzles, please subscribe with this special offer: |

Dynacare strike could lead to lab test logjam

Carol Sanders 4 minute read Preview

Dynacare strike could lead to lab test logjam

Carol Sanders 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

DOCTORS and health-care advocates are raising concerns about patient care if a Sept. 8 strike goes ahead at the private company that provides nearly all medical lab services in Manitoba.

There is no essential services agreement in place with Dynacare, so if its lab techs are off the job, patients who need blood tests and urinalysis will be directed to hospitals and public clinics for those services.

“There’s only so many of those workers and I’m sure that the public folks are bracing for big crunch of additional patients if the strike really goes ahead,” Noah Schulz of the Manitoba Health Coalition said Monday.

Dynacare serves 1.2 million Manitoba patients a year at 23 community lab locations.

Read
2:00 AM CDT

Village Green Bakery keeps focus on classic quality, kindness, fun in Victoria Beach

Aaron Epp 6 minute read Preview

Village Green Bakery keeps focus on classic quality, kindness, fun in Victoria Beach

Aaron Epp 6 minute read Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

VICTORIA BEACH — They’re not carved into stone tablets — they’re reminders and not commandments, after all — but behind one of the display cases at Village Green Bakery is a laminated sheet of letter-size paper with a list of statements outlining how owner Jen Leslie wants staffers to approach their work.

Fittingly, there’s a baker’s dozen of them.

One is aimed specifically at a stoic teen who’s worked at the bakery since it opened in summer 2022 — “Smile, Brody,” it says — while the other 12 are meant for all 17 employees at the seasonal business, which is open annually from May long weekend until Thanksgiving.

“Smile and enjoy the ride,” is the first reminder, followed by, “The summer is short, so make it a good one,” “always take the high road” and “you are awesome.”

Read
Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT