Qaggiavuut sharpens new show for Iqaluit

Qaggiavuut’s latest show, Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools, will hit Iqaluit on Wednesday, Dec. 12, at the Frobisher Inn.

Written and performed by Inuk artist Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory and queer theatre-maker Evalyn Parry, it features live music and storytelling about “the meeting place of two people, and the North and South of our country.”

Sharing the stage, the performance focuses on the “histories, culture and climate we’ve inherited” and asks how to reckon with these “sharp tools,” according to a Kiinalik news release.

“Embodying the stories of their heritage, Evalyn and Laakkuluk put a face to the colonial histories, power structures and the changing climate that lie between them,” it said.

In Inuktitut, when a knife is dull, it is said to “have no face.” The word “kiinalik” means “the knife is sharp,” or “it has a face.”

Williamson Bathory does Greenlandic mask dancing and sings and speaks in English and Inuktitut during the performance.

While the play has Toronto roots, a product of the Buddies in Bad Times residency program, it does have several Iqaluit connections, starting with Williamson Bathory and Qaggiavuut.

Kiinalik was directed and co-created by Erin Brubacher, who lived in Iqaluit in 2003 and 2004.

Elysha Poirier, who has been to Iqaluit, is the live video artist and co-creator.

Additionally, Cris Dirksen, a Cree-Mennonite cellist from Northern Alberta is the live musician and other co-creator.

Dirksen performed her cello music at the Alianait Arts Festival in June 2018.

The Kiinalik play premiered in November 2017 at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.

Iqaluit is just one spot on the Kiinalik tour list over the next few months.

In January 2019, the show will go on the road to Vancouver, then to Montreal in March and Toronto in June.

Tickets can be bought for $20 at the door at the Frobisher Inn on Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. They are also available in advance by emailing Qaggiavuut.