Inner Elder

 

Firehall Arts Centre to May 31, 2025

Tickets from $30 at 604-689-0926 or www.firehallartscentre.ca

Posted May 24, 2025

Prepare to be charmed. Michelle Thrush, award-winning Cree writer/ performer, takes you on a personal journey from childhood to grandmotherhood in just one hour of joy and laughter.

Born in Calgary to two alcoholic parents, surprisingly Thrush never sees herself as a victim. In a Stir article, she said that director Karen Hines was, “mostly shocked about everything I went through, but it was things that really are a part of the intergenerational trauma of being an Indigenous woman.”

Escaping the chaos that alcohol created in the household, Thrush’s father took two-year-old Michelle to Ontario for two years where he continued as a heavy drinker and had lots of “ladies”. But he loved her and instilled in her a healthy work ethic. When Thrush was four, they returned to Calgary, were reunited with her mother who “forgave” her father, and the mayhem began again. “People all over the place. Drinking all night long.” Thrush escaped into the world of tv where she imagined herself as Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie where the only Indigenous characters were “white actresses in bad wigs.” Even being told by a schoolteacher that she is a “savage” does not bring Thrush down for long; she and her kookum make bannock and she returns to school the next day with a piece for everyone. She proudly wore new moccasins and cheerfully overlooked that they were “made in China.”

Thrush’s performance is candid, laced with humour and pays homage to her grandmother who instilled in her the knowledge that, “I can go off to be anything I want.” But how to use her imagination and make money? “I realized I could be a politician” but instead she became an actor.

Thrush’s performance, especially in the last part of the evening, leans heavily on clowning as she takes on the persona of her grandmother – a bent, kerchief-wearing old gal, full of piss and vinegar – an ancient trickster who had, on opening night, a full house singing along to what she said was an old Cree song. Thrush, however, remains in this character for an extended period of time and while ‘Super Kohkum’, in her big red cape, is a real crowd pleaser, it weights the performance heavily in favour of the grandmother which, considering the title of the piece, is fair enough. It does, however, turn ‘character’ into ‘caricature’, albeit it a delightful, crusty, ancient.

Presented by the Firehall Arts Centre, Sandi Somers set and lighting design looks like a Cat’s Cradle of interlaced ropes reaching down to the ground. At times it appears to be a forest or teepee poles. Simple and effective.

“Don’t take yourself too seriously” is what lingers after Inner Elder. Listen to the women, “the makers of life.” And while Thrush touches gently on the devastating treatment of our First Nations people, she does so with a light touch. All her negative experiences – and there were plenty – she turns into positives, all grist for her creative mill.

“Go find your own inner elder”, she advises. And  prepare to have your pants charmed right off you.