Hold The Boat (Or, The Canadian Way)

Jennie Appleby (Lawyer), Kathleen Jerome (Officer), and Blythe Hubbard (Refugee) perform Hold the Boat (or, The Canadian Way), 26 November 2010.
Photo by Katherine MacNeill

Authors' Introduction

When we began writing this script we wanted to focus on the Tamil people from Sri Lanka who arrived on the shores of British Columbia in summer 2010. However, when we came across an article, "The Immigrant Theme on the American Stage," we realized the extent of the issues we would face as we tried to depict these refugees. The article examines how, throughout the history of immigration to North America, the theatre has often presented non-white people as stock character-types, including the various figures in minstrel shows, the rouge-faced drunken Irishman, or the Jewish miser. In opposition to this racist history in performance and representation, we decided to make the Refugee in our piece a symbolic figure, standing for a variety of individual people and experiences. (Even these we decided to keep vague, to avoid representing specific individual immigrants to Canada whose stories may have been sensationalized.)

We also started thinking about Canadians and their opinions and feelings towards refugees and immigration. Canada, like many nations, has a "brand" identity: it is seen as an all-welcoming country willing to accept one and all—an overly-generalized image we wanted to challenge.

We have drawn on the historical moment of the interrogation of the Tamil refugees to create an interrogation scene that emphasizes the performative nature of such a process. The Interrogation Officer (symbolized by an officer's hat) will enter the stage, followed by a Lawyer (symbolized by a briefcase), and a Refugee (symbolized by a stick with a bundle tied to the end). By having three actors shift through all three roles over the course of the piece, the script does not impose a set identity on any figure. This arrangement also emphasizes how arbitrary it is for an individual to be born into one country rather than another.

Hold The Boat (or, The Canadian Way)

Characters

OFFICER ONE, Goofy

REFUGEE ONE, Thankful/Compliant

LAWYER ONE

OFFICER TWO, Serious/Rule-stickler

REFUGEE TWO, Frustrated/Impatient

LAWYER TWO

OFFICER THREE, Meek/Shy

REFUGEE THREE, Skeptical/Cynical

LAWYER THREE

Doubling in the performance for DRAM 476:

OFFICER ONE, LAWYER TWO, and REFUGEE THREE were played by Kathleen Jerome

LAWYER ONE, REFUGEE TWO, and OFFICER THREE were played by Jennie Appleby

REFUGEE ONE, OFFICER TWO, and LAWYER THREE were played by Blythe Hubbard

Setting

Note

The e-mail address set up for the OFFICER is canboardercontrol_gov_ca@gmail.com.

(Lights up. OFFICER 1 enters. Uses chalk and draws the straight line. Goes to desk, standing.)

OFFICER ONE: Next!

(REFUGEE 1 enters.)

Stage configuration for Hold the Boat, Queen's University, November 2010.
Design by Jennie Appleby, Kathleen Jerome, Blythe Hubbard, and Alain Richer

Officer One:

So number 476, oh, there you are, stand here. (Points at the line.) I just need to start up my GMAIL. (While speaking, logs on to GMAIL account, projected onto screen.) Oh, you know: Government Moderated Answer Inquiry Legitimator. So, ah been on any good trips lately? Ahahaha, just teasing, just teasing.

Refugee One:

Sorry to bother you, I don't want to inconvenience anyone, um, but do you know when I might be getting my belongings back?

Officer One:

All in good time. Your belongings are going through UHAUL testing.

Refugee One:

Pardon me?

Officer One:

Oh, sorry, Unnecessary Hoarding of All Unidentified Luggage, jeez, the Government, and their acronyms. It's a very intense and rigorous process.

Refugee One:

Oh, okay, I can wait.

Officer One:

(Looking over REFUGEE ONE.) You seem very nice. Just breathe, relax, and let's get started here. It won't take long, just keep calm. Alright so the first question is from Sceptical Anderson from Fort George, BC (stands up and draws a box with chalk around the Refugee off the set line) and he wants to know, "Are you a terrorist?"

(LAWYER ONE barges...