Turn off Netflix and head on over to Spallumcheen's Caravan Farm Theatre, where you will not only get a history lesson but a belly full of laughs.
The outdoor theatre's new summer production, The Bear and the Proposal, manages to weave two of Anton Chekhov's one-act plays with interesting chapters of Okanagan-Suknaqinx history plus mostly Canadian pop tunes in a wacky, farcical way. Let's call it the Caravan way.
Where else will you find a twitchy settler known as William Brent singing and dancing to The Weeknd. Intrigued? You should be.
Caravan director Estelle Shook, with the help of advisor Dr. Bill Cohen and the book Okanagan Women's Voices, Syilx and settler writing and relations, 1870s to 1960s, edited by Jeanette Armstrong, Lally Grauer and Jane Armstrong, adapted the Chekhov script to bring real Okanagan-Syilx characters to life.
Early in the play in the theatre-in-the-round horse stable, we are introduced to storyteller Emma Hutchy (played by the extremely engaging Jani Lauzon), whose father was a Xaxli'p (formerly Fountain) Chief near what is now Lillooet. She roams in and out of the play with her inherent wisdom, gorgeous voice, especially when singing Willie Dunn, and perfectly placed side eye.
As we walk to the stands in the nearby field, the moon slivered perfectly as the backdrop of the rustic distressed wood set, we are taken back to a time when settler-Indigenous relations took a bit of a turn in the Okanagan – mostly when white male settlers married Indigenous women, and in turn claimed huge chunks of land – go figure.
Along with being apprised of some of these real-life characters' contributions, the play also peppers in stories that tell us how colonization affected Indigenous populations. A case in point is when we are told of Joseph Trutch, who became BC's Chief Commissioner of Land and Works and eventually reduced the reserve land "given" to Indigenous peoples by 91 percent.
And while The Bear and The Proposal does not gloss over this history, the idea also is to entertain. Hence, the show gets rather silly, so hold on to your hats for the wild ride.
The First Act, The Bear, set in 1869, sees a tumultuous relationship develop between not-that-recently widowed Princeton settler Susan Allison and bear hunter Tatlehasket, "The Man Who Stands High."
Played by Kristi Hansen, who has a voice-of-an-angel and quick-witted timing to boot, and the formidable Sheldon Elter, back at Caravan after his excellent turn in last year's Every Brilliant Thing, the two meet when Tatlehasket attempts to collect a debt owed to him by Allison's late husband John, who as it turned out was previously married to Nora Yacumtetum, niece of Chief Quiniscoe.
The back-and-forth arguing between Allison and Tatlehasket releases the angry then lovesick Bear, whose transformation is worth the price of admission alone, as is the rendition of Alanis Morrisette's One Hand in My Pocket! I wonder what the ancestors would think about all this?
It should also be mentioned that Allison in real life later became the first woman to write a memoir that included many accounts of the Similamix and Smelqmix (Silmilkameen) and Syilx people.
In the second act, we meet Charles Frederick Houghton (Kevin Bundy, in perfect Irish lilt) who pre-empted land on Coldstream Creek that would later become Coldstream Ranch and also claimed land at Head of the Lake. His marriage to Chief N'kwala's daughter Sophie resulted in two children. Their second eldest daughter, Marie, would eventually marry a white settler named William Brent.
From the look of it on paper, Houghton and Brent's union seemed to be happy. But it does not seem that way at the start when Brent – all nervous ticks and heart palpitations – shows up at the Houghtons' door for a visit. Played by Ryan Beil, a master of physical comedy who has the best monotone voice since Lou Reed, and Amanda Trapp, who sings like a bird and is a pretty damn good autoharpist to boot, their ensuing argument results in, you guessed it, The Proposal. However, with all that pent-up frustration, it sure takes them a while to profess their love. At one point, I wanted to shout, "Just get on with it!"
As with all Caravan plays, no talent is wasted here. Pulling off double duty are all the actors who sing and perform in the accompanying band, along with the musical director and fiddler extraordinaire Ajineen Sagal. The music is fun and very Bridgertonesque. Who doesn't love watching people in period costumes pull off Avril Lavigne's Complicated?
To everyone involved, we thank you for sharing your captikʷł stories on this beautiful tmxʷulaxʷ land.
The Proposal and the Bear continues at Caravan Farm Theatre until Aug. 4. Tickets and information can be found at www.caravanfarmtheatre.com.
