Sir John A: Acts of a Gentrified Ojibway Rebellion

(Paperback)

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An uproariously funny and sharply inquisitive new play from one of Canadas leading Indigenous playwrights, Sir John A: Acts of a Gentrified Ojibway Rebellion explores the possibility of reconciliation between Peoples and urgently questions past and contemporary forms of Canadian colonialism. Taylors twenty-seventh play, Sir John As characters include Canadas infamous first Prime Minister, red-nosed and pompous, full of patriarchal contempt for those strange and perplexing Indians, and his contemporary accusers: two Ojibway men and a soul-searching white woman.

s irked, Anishinaabe main character, in a fit of anger and revenge, convinces his friend Hugh to accompany him on a sojourn of justice: to dig up Sir John A. Macdonalds bones and hold them for ransom. Decades before, a medicine pouch belonging to Bobbys grandfather was taken away by the staff of the residential school where he was detained. The precious object was sent to a British Museum exhibition room for conservation and now Bobby wants it repatriated. Along the way the pair pick up Anya, a young, bright, and opinionated woman fleeing a bad breakup, with conflicting ideas about Sir John As place in Canadian history. Not to be left out of the argument, Canadas first Prime Minister, broadcasting live from nineteenth-century Ottawa, shows up with opinions of his own.

is a powerful satire, a creative debate about the past violences of colonial racism and the as yet untested potentiality of restoring harmony between Peoples in Canada. A contemporary classic by Taylor!

Reviews

Drew Hayden Taylor has a deft touch for mixing comedy and commentary in an entertaining and all-Canadian form of social satire. Vancouver Sun

Author Bio

Drew Hayden Taylor is an award-winning playwright, novelist, journalist, and filmmaker. Born, raised, and currently living on the Curve Lake First Nation in Ontario, he has done everything from performing stand-up comedy at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C., to serving as Artistic Director of Canadas premier Indigenous theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts. Taylor has spent the last thirty years, and an equal amount of books, spreading the gospel of Indigenous literature around the world.