The Ecstasy of Rita Joe is a drama by George Ryga

George Ryga

George Ryga was a Canadian playwright and novelist.Ryga was born in Deep Creek near Athabasca, Alberta to poor Ukrainian immigrant parents. Unable to continue his schooling past grade six, he worked at a variety of jobs, including radio copywriter...

. The play, in two acts, premiered at the Vancouver Playhouse, November 23, 1967. It was directed by George Bloomfield. The play has an important place in the history of modern Canadian theatre, as it was one of the first to address issues relating to Aboriginal peoples. It recounts the story of a young Aboriginal woman in the city.

The play opened the studio theatre of the National Arts Centre

National Arts Centre

The National Arts Centre is a centre for the performing arts located in Ottawa, Ontario, between Elgin Street and the Rideau Canal...

 in 1969. It was adapted as a ballet by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet

Royal Winnipeg Ballet

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America....

 in 1971. The play was revived by Alberta Theatre Projects

Alberta Theatre Projects

Alberta Theatre Projects is a Canadian theatre production company, founded in 1972, based at the Martha Cohen Theatre in Calgary, Alberta....

 in 1976. It was translated by Gratien Gélinas

Gratien Gélinas

Gratien Gélinas, was a Canadian author, playwright, actor, director, producer and administrator who is considered one of the founders of modern Canadian theatre and film....

 and presented at the Comédie-Canadienne. It was also produced in Washington, DC, in May, 1973, with Chief Dan George and Frances Hyland

Frances Hyland

Frances Hyland, OC was a well-known Canadian theatre actress.Hyland studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, making her professional debut in London as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite John Gielgud. In 1954, she returned to Canada, becoming a regular at the Stratford Festival in...

 in lead roles.

Significance

The play's structure will be seen by some as clumsy at times while others may appreciate the postmodern disordering of events. The story is told in songs, montages and tableaus. While the causes of the plight of Aboriginal people are not shown in sharp relief, it is clear that the violence of white culture and the patriarchy of Native culture are at the root of the problem. The Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia which calls the play "seminal in the history of Canadian theatre," considered it to be more historically significant than meritorious in its own right:

[It is] not great for what it is as much as it is great for what it promises and what it offers the imaginative creative team... flashes of dramatic brilliance and also the historical aspect of the work's timing; this was one of the first works about Native Canadians mounted on a stage and taken seriously.

Cast and crew

The Vancouver production starred Frances Hyland

Frances Hyland

Frances Hyland, OC was a well-known Canadian theatre actress.Hyland studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, making her professional debut in London as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite John Gielgud. In 1954, she returned to Canada, becoming a regular at the Stratford Festival in...

, August Schellenberg

August Schellenberg

August Schellenberg is a Canadian actor. His ethnicity is Mohawk and Swiss-German. He was trained at the National Theatre School of Canada.His first film was Rip-Off in 1971. In 1981, he did voices for the animated film Heavy Metal...

, Chief Dan George

Dan George

Chief Dan George, OC was a chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, a Coast Salish band located on Burrard Inlet in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was also an author, poet, and an Academy Award-nominated actor....

, Henry Ramer, Walter Marsh, Robert Clothier

Robert Clothier

Robert Allan Clothier was a prominent Canadian stage and television actor most famous for his role on the long-running CBC television show, The Beachcombers...

, Patricia Gage, Rae Brown, Claudine Melgrave, Bill Clarkson, Merv Campone, Alex Bruhanski, Jack Leaf, Jack Buttrey, Leonard George, Robert Hall, Frank Lewis, Paul Stanley, Willie Dunn

Willie Dunn

Willie Dunn is a Canadian filmmaker, folk musician, playwright and politician. Born in Quebec, he is of mixed Mi'kmaq and Cornish/Irish background. Dunn often highlights aboriginal issues in his work....

 and Ann Mortifee

Ann Mortifee

Ann Mortifee, CM is a Canadian-based singer-songwriter, writer and speaker. After emigrating to Canada in childhood, she spent her youth in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the beginning of her musical career, she joined the cast of the original Vancouver production of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe...

. Set and lighting were designed by Charles Evans, and costumes were designed by Margaret Ryan.

Reviews

The critics dwelled on two major issues concerning Ryga's work: its structural problems and its power. Jack Richards of the Vancouver Sun voiced an opinion echoed by others: "I don't know if it is a great play. But if the role of the stage is to communicate... Ryga and... Bloomfield have accomplished their purpose." Jamie Portman of the Vancouver Province wrote of the revival in 1976: "...the play still worked. Rita Joe was a landmark in more ways than one. It was - and remains - a play for all seasons and for all peoples." The Washington Post was positive, but Julius Novick, of The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

wrote, "'Canadian Playwright.' The words seem a little incongrous together, like 'Panamanian hockey-player,' almost, or 'Lebanese fur-trapper.'"