Theatre review: Cliff Cardinal's As You Like It takes audience on a journey of shock, vulnerability, then clarity
Performer plays the Trickster, dancing the line between humour and tragedy
Cliff Cardinal. Photo by Dahlia Katz
The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival presents William Shakespeare’s As You Like It: A Radical Retelling by Cliff Cardinal from February 4 to 6 at the York Theatre
INDIGENOUS POET and comedian Cliff Cardinal’s retelling of the Shakespeare classic As You Like It presents an unexpected take. Cardinal uses the play as a vessel to speak about Indigenous issues—and he does not shy away from controversy.
The title As You Like It suggests a performance to satisfy all tastes among the audience, which perfectly encapsulates the struggles of public perception of Indigenous Peoples in modern-day Canada. As You Like It brings topics of Indigenous experience and the pitfalls of identity politics to the stage, cleverly infusing the lived experiences of Indigenous Peoples with Shakespearian text. The production urges the audience to engage in the dialogue the play presents, revealing hidden biases and placing the viewer in a state of vulnerability where their preconceived notions can be wiped clean. Cardinal boldly enters this state of vulnerability and compassion with the audience, revealing complexities that often remain hidden from the public eye. To reveal what happens any more specifically would break the audience’s contract with the theatre artist, but suffice to say the production is as subversive as it is amusing.
Cardinal is known for his contentious yet humorous works such as Huff, a one-man show about Indigenous youth struggling through grief and drug abuse. Cardinal was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and raised in Toronto, and his works show testament to the experiences of his family and community. The son of Canadian actress Tantoo Cardinal, Cliff Cardinal has produced a plethora of work as an actor, playwright, and musician and has won several awards, such as the Bad Times’ Vanguard Award for Risk and Innovation and the RBC Emerging Playwright Award.
The play is rife with complexity and offers no easy answers yet reveals a stark conclusion about Indigenous identity in settler-colonial Canada. The audience ventures through a plethora of emotions alongside Cardinal, bringing shock, bereavement, empathy, and clarity. Cardinal is able to evolve a beloved classic into a provoking and deeply relevant take, one that will get under the audience’s skin—particularly the white, academic one that frequents Shakespeare productions—just the right amount, then a little more.
As You Like It strips the audience of expectation and mischievously teaches truth. Cardinal plays the Trickster, dancing the line between humor and tragedy. In this performance, the audience is given the chance to step into Cardinal’s shoes and set down their blinding perceptions, if only for a moment.
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