There is Violence and There is Righteous Violence and There is Death or, The Born-Again Crow is perhaps the longest play title ever but the play itself, written by Caleigh Crow, is a fast moving ninety minutes.  It’s a collaboration between Native Earth Performing Arts and Buddies in Bad Times and it opened on Thursday night in a production directed by Jessica Carmichael.

It’s a heady combination of strong emotions, harsh words, violence, racism, sexism, classism, Indigenous spirituality and Magic Realism.  To summarise really briefly, Beth, a young Indigenous woman, has been fired from her job at the Superstore following an “incident”.  She goes to live with her widowed mother Francine in the sort of suburb where people drive BMWs.  Her mother has built a set of bird feeders which she tends.  First one crow, then many come bearing gifts (shiny things) in return for the food.  One of them can talk; at least to Beth.

There’s also a rather hapless wannabe boyfriend with a violent streak who pesters Beth.  Beth attracts a certain notoriety thanks in large measure to a particularly self serving media type, Jane.  The neighbourhood revolts; ostensibly because the crows are crapping on their posh cars and depressing real estate values.  There is a massacre of crows and a Crow-hatched bizarre revenge.  Along the way we do learn what actually happened at the store.  It’s not pretty.

The real dynamic here is Beth’s growing understanding of herself, in the fullest sense, and the way that violence shapes her world.  She’s tutored by the sardonic Crow whose morals are certainly not pacifist but whose realistic attitude to violence and death seems more honest than suburban hypocrisy. The people around Beth are either a bit hapless (Francine) or malignant (Jane and every man who appears!).  Ultimately the Crow’s message is that there is violence and there is righteous violence which seems depressingly relevant right now.

Tara Sky, as Beth, is really excellent but Madison Walsh’s rather sinister Crow (brilliant costume by Asa Benally) steals the show.  Cheri Maracle is quietly effective as Francine and Dan Mousseau transforms rather wonderfully into all the baddies from overdressed reporter Jane to psycho neighbour Jim with the hapless boyfriend and the disgusting store manager along the way.

The show is really well paced and it’s supported by atmospheric sound Chris Ross-Ewart) and lighting (Hailey Verbonac) as well as strangely disturbing, almost sinister sets (Shannon Lea Doyle).  It’s the sort of show that’s fun, if a bit disturbing, in real time but leaves you afterwards feeling that there are a ton of questions you want to think about some more.  I’m not sure one can ask much more of a play than that.

Born-Again Crow runs at Buddies in Bad Times until March 29th.

Photo credits: Jeremy Mimnagh