In 1534, an Inuit widow, Huumittuq, has a strange dream. The next day, she discovers an orphaned polar bear cub and – somewhat to the alarm of her community – adopts it. Over the next 500 years, the bear encounters many other humans, among them explorer Sir John Franklin and his doomed crew, 21st-century scientists and entrepreneurs, and the passengers and crew of an Arctic cruise ship, who finally – and fatally – fulfil the mysterious vision that came to Huumittuq half a millennium earlier.

The Stratford Festival is grateful for the support of the artists of Qaggiavuut and Executive Director Ellen Hamilton for their support in the development of this production.

A Note From Qaggiavuut

Qaggiavuut is a non-profit society dedicated to strengthening the Nunavut performing arts, with a focus on Inuit. This year we begin an international fundraising campaign to build a Nunavut Performing Arts Centre – Nunavut is the only territory/province in Canada without one. We know that a space for the Nunavut performing arts is vitally important so that Nunavut, Canada and the world can hear the Inuit point of view in our culture, when Inuit artists strengthen traditional practice and create new work.

The partnership between Qaggiavuut and Stratford has been an exciting and challenging part of our drive to include Inuit in Canadian theatre. It began when director Reneltta Arluk reached out to us to hold a reading of The Breathing Hole with Inuit actors in Iqaluit, but immediately initiated an intense discussion about cultural authenticity and who can and how to create drama from the Inuit perspective, in a post-colonial Canada. It was months of critique and two revisions by playwright Colleen Murphy based on feedback and cultural knowledge from Inuit actors Miali Buscemi, Vincent Karetak, Siobhan Arnatsiaq-Murphy, Annabella Piugattuk and Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory; but what it asserts is a genuine concern for authenticity and indigenous cultural truth.

During the process, we coined a new term – Inuit Cultural Dramaturge – and Qaggiavuut looks forward to a productive and collaborative relationship between Canada’s southern and northern theatre communities in the years to come. We urge all who wish to hear the voices of Inuit artists to help us build a Nunavut Performing Arts Centre and shout out “Qaggiavuut! Come into the large iglu that we have built together!”