by AMY BARRATT

Black Theatre Workshop (BTW) is presenting a new show this weekend at Mainline Theatre, and there’s one thing we know for sure: Spectators won’t be taking Shifting Ground sitting down. This community-based project featuring nearly 50 non-professional performers is an example of promenade theatre, a form that takes place around, through and with the audience, who are standing.

The three performances this weekend are the culmination of two years of work for BTW under the guidance of former artistic director Rachael Van Fossen. It’s a return to its roots for this professional company—acclaimed productions include Wade in the Water and A Common Man’s Guide to Loving Women—which began as a community theatre group 35 years ago.

Based on interviews with members of Montreal’s diverse black communities, Shifting Ground explores the immigrant experience with the help of music, dance and myth. To synthesize all of the accumulated interviews and raw material into a show, Van Fossen hired Chimwemwe Miller, a talented actor, teacher etc., and Ally Ntumba, an award-winning playwright and director from the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) who now lives in Montreal.

“Ally gave us the metaphor of a monster to represent a city,” says Miller. “The story deals with people who are leaving their homeland because of war, poverty or just looking for a better life. They are shown wandering through a forest. The forest represents the red tape and all the difficulties of immigration. In the forest, they get swallowed up by this monster, Tchikulu tchikaji. They find a whole community working inside this monster and they have to learn to adapt to this new reality, to survive.”

In dealing not only with first generation immigrants but also with the experiences of their children and grandchildren, Shifting Ground explores questions of identity and the meaning of homeland.

They found their large cast by giving workshops in community groups and just getting the word out about what they were doing. Most of the people in the show—who range from pre-schoolers to retirees—have never done theatre before. The play is billed as “co-lingual” because French and English co-exist in the text much as they do on our streets, our buses and in many of our homes.

The set for Shifting Ground features several small platforms representing different settings with the audience (standing, remember) in the middle of the floor. This ought to give the spectators the sense of being in the belly of the beast themselves. (There will be a few theatre seats available at the end of the hall for patrons who really can’t stand for that length of time.) There is a screen for projections and live musicians on stage.

By the time you read this, tickets to the show may be at a premium. With a cast and production crew the size of this one, the hall may be booked solid based on their families alone.

Shifting Ground, Dec. 2–3 at 7:30 p.m. and dec. 4 at 3 p.m. at Mainline Theatre (3997 St-Laurent), 932-1104, Ext. 224, $10

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