Three Lectures on the North

(2016)

Three Lectures on the North. Photo by Mike Bernard.

A playful look into the form of the public lecture, Theatre Replacement and Rough House commissioned three speeches on the subject of Canada's North — a region many of us use to define our country, but few of us have actually experienced. These three speeches were woven together to convey our complex attachment to the North. Featuring the writing of Marie Clements, Clare Duffy and James Long, topics flow from ideas of a new northern superhuman — able to withstand conditions and tap the untapped wilderness — to our own fetishization of the North, from the cursed Franklin Expedition to Stephen Harper’s own ‘Arctic sovereignty legacy.’

Each show was a brand new encounter for the audience as well as the actors —the performers knew nothing about what was about to occur when they arrived to the theatre. Every performance featured two new beloved Vancouver actors. Over a course of a few hours, they were given the necessary training and knowledge needed to withstand the performance. The actors then performed Three Lectures on the North in front of an audience for the first and only time. Created by Candelario Andrade, Camille Gingras, James Long, Maiko Yamamoto, Conor Wylie and Mark Eugster. Performed by: Quelemia Sparrow, Andrew Laurenson, Tom Scholte, Tricia Collins, Marci T House, Nadeem Phillip, Kerry Davidson and Raugi Yu.