Which isn't to say I didn't have some concerns . . .

As gripping as I found the play, after writing that previous post, I realize that I left out a lot of what disturbed me about the piece. That has to figure in. The play is rife with anxiety about the body, particularly the female body, or the feminization of the male body. Once I find the script, I'll do a more detailed analysis of this. Maybe it is, most accurately, the maternal body that is troubled . . . for moon cycles and rankness and suicides and transfigurations are all prominent memories of this piece for me and I want to know what the author is suggesting, perhaps unconsciously, with these associations. Perhaps this reflects the church's denial of the body . . . because what is conspicuously absent from the text is a depiction of the daily hardships of residential school experience - the poor food, the loneliness, the sense of being alienated from one's language and identity. The trauma of abuse dominates . . . and it does . . . but there are many ways that the schools eroded confidence and character.

What's important, I think, is that people are beginning to process the after-effects of these experiences. It often takes a long time to address trauma and sometimes people can't do it directly. The indirect approach can be disastorous, and the direct approach, I'm sure, is terrifying, but hopefully liberating.

Drama often reflects where we are. I'd love to see it illustrate where we could be.