Women of the Fur Trade cheekily shifts historical accounts to tell women’s stories of the Red River Resistance
Frances Koncan’s play looks at the fur trade through the perspectives of a Métis woman, a First Nations woman, and a settler woman
Frances Koncan.
The Firehall Arts Centre presents Women of the Fur Trade from February 8 to 23
THROUGH A METIS Taurus, an Ojibwe Sagittarius, and a pregnant British Virgo, playwright Frances Koncan tells a story of love and survival in the historical(ish) satire Women of the Fur Trade.
Set in “eighteen hundred and something something” on Treaty One Territory, the play cheekily shifts male-centered historical accounts of the fur-trade era in Manitoba to tell the tales of three women during the Red River Resistance—oh, and Louis Riel and Thomas Scott are there, too.
When Koncan originally drafted the play in 2018, she was set on telling the stories of real women from that time. “I wanted to write a historically accurate play, but I also wanted to write characters who were women, and the research didn’t have what it needed to support creating authentic historical women during that time,” Koncan tells Stir. “There just weren’t records of it or documentation of it from their perspectives.
“At first, I felt really bad, like ‘I wish I could find enough information about a single woman during this time period to write her story in a truthful way,’” she continues. And so the playwright pivoted to create three fictional characters based on what women were doing at the time and what the limitations on their lives would have been.
In the play, Marie-Angelique, Eugenia, and Cecilia find themselves confined to a fort, sharing tea and conversation: Marie-Angelique vies for the attention of Métis leader Riel through letters; Eugenia conveys news of the rebellion after a fur trade and of an underwhelming encounter with Riel; and Cecilia awaits the return of her husband while admittedly fantasizing about Scott, a polarizing figure in the Resistance.
The Red River Resistance led to the creation of Manitoba after Métis peoples living in the Red River Settlement defended their land from being transferred to the new country of Canada without their permission. Led by Riel, they formed their own government and entered Confederation on their own terms, asserting Métis rights in Canada.
As an Indigenous woman of mixed ancestry herself, Koncan, who is Anishinaabe and Slovene from the Couchiching First Nation, was inspired to write the female characters from different perspectives: A Métis woman, a First Nations woman, and a settler woman.
While the trio in Women of the Fur Trade is fictional, the storylines of the two male characters, Riel and Scott, are based on their real lives and events. “With the male characters—who are actual people that I took a lot of liberties with but are rooted in the truth—there was so much about them available that it was much easier,” says Koncan.
The satirical approach to the historical recounting was another pivot from Koncan’s original plan. “When I’m working on a draft, I usually just write how I speak, so every character sounds like me. They say things the way I would say them, using the words I would use. And then as I edit it, I kind of start creating that character’s vocabulary and how they talk,” Koncan explains. “But I started really enjoying how the contemporary language and the sarcasm and the jokes were landing in interesting ways.”
Photo by Jon Benjamin
Instead of adjusting the language for the 1800s characters as she intended, Koncan kept the modern slang and used it to contrast certain more serious themes the play gets into, like patriarchy. While Riel’s story of Métis leadership is explored, he’s also labelled the hot nerd and a Libra (who are typically charming and fans of order), and Scott is the Irish heartthrob and a Capricorn (known for being relentless with their long-term goals).
“Everyone I knew, and myself, was really into astrology and that’s how we would identify people, so I thought it was a fun way to convey some personality traits, and to give actors to envision for their characters,” says Koncan. “It just stuck.”
The West Coast premiere of Women of the Fur Trade is directed by Firehall Arts Centre artistic producer Donna Spencer, and B.C. is the third province to host the play that featured at last years Stratford Festival and won the Toronto Fringe Best New Play Contest in 2018.
The work has attracted a young audience, perhaps due to its tone. “It seems to have a very specific millennial and Gen Z target audience,” Koncan says. “It’s really fun to see, because you don't really see that too often in theatre, which is really exciting.” 
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