Almighty Voice and His Wife

by Daniel David Moses, Yvette Nolan (Introduction)

Almighty Voice and His Wife shakes up a familiar story from the Saskatchewan frontier, reimagining it from the postmodern late twentieth century. The "renegade Indian story" transforms into both an eloquent tale of tragic love and an often hilarious, fully theatrical exorcism of the hurts of history. A modern classic about the place of First Nations people in Canada.

Genres: Plays, School, Indigenous, Read For School, Drama, Canada, Theatre

80 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2001

Reviews

[Amber Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favourite play so far from my Modern Canadian Drama course's reading list. It's sardonic and "meta" without being overwhelmingly, pretentiously so; it's serious without being didactic; it's moving without collapsing upon the exhausted bedsprings of melodrama. I could see the whole thing in my head, the teepee made of light, the bleeding moon, the sickening-funny-parodic vaudeville.

Perhaps this is more obvious to others, but it took me a little while to realize: both the first and second Acts are episodic, in their own ways - and as such they both are interpretations, showing mere "highlights" interlocked in a narrative fashion. We, white audiences, read our own expectations and conventions for dramatic structure into this play when really those conventions may not be there, or only their shadows may be. Daniel David Moses, a First Nations playwright himself, has playfully and masterfully written this play so that the storytelling tradition of his own culture is evident, yet in our dominant-culture ignorance we tend to mask it for ourselves. When I saw how this works, I could appreciate the complexity of this deceptively simple story much more fully.

I also love the idea of whiteface. Some of my classmates felt it was racist, and from a very objective perspective I suppose it is. I looked on it, though, more as an appropriation of colonial methods of appropriation. Metappropriation, huzzah! I jest. But seriously, there are so many more resonances to the whiteface than merely reversing the direction of racism (for example, the idea that Ghost and Interlocutor are actually ghosts).

Wish I could say more, but a) I have to think about it some more; b) I have another class to get to (for which I totally didn't do the assigned Faulkner reading; f*** that shit). I have no doubt this is a play I'll return to read, and hopefully one day SEE, many many times.

[AJ (the.booknerd.reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very confusing tbh

[Jocelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almighty Voice and His Wife is poetic and deeply symbolic. There are so many underlying themes and loaded statements that one could spend hours picking this play apart. The poeticism of it was probably my favourite part about it, but it was also part of its problems.

The play involves two characters, but they play so many different roles, especially in the second act, that it becomes impossible to consider them the same people they were in the beginning. It is difficult to keep track of who is who and what is going on at any point in time because there is simply so much happening. While I love that this play explored so many different topics and the ways they intertwine, it felt too short for me to even recognize all of them.

This is certainly a difficult play to read, compared to most others, so I would not recommend it to those who haven't read plays before. I think fans of poetry and those who enjoy close reading would get so much out of this play and certainly enjoy all its themes and allusions.

[MH · Rating 3 out of 5]

A two-person play with a tragic love story between two young Cree, Almighty Voice and White Girl, in the first act, and a metatheatrical, minstrel show afterlife in the second. I imagine it could be very powerful staged - Moses' simple design elements seem visually striking (the silhouettes in the moon; White Girl in whiteface in Act II), and with two strong performers this could be deeply moving - but on the page the poetry and aggressive symbolism worked better than the play itself, with a fairly unsurprising first act and a second act in the mold of "darkly comic, sinister circus" that was so popular in 90s alternative theater - (that, for me, was never quite comic or sinister enough).

[Lauren Mural · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Act II better than Act I and was #confused about what was going on in the first half. Because of the lack of stage directions, I'd really like to see a design portfolio or full production of it, I feel like you could do a lot with it. Either way, not my favourite that I've read. Also the author is Canadian and that surprised me.

[Cesco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poetic, deep, thought provoking, and totally not the vibe.

This play made me uncomfortable. Although that’s the entire point, it was just not enjoyable to read, so if I didn’t need to read it for class it would have been a DNF as soon as the second act started.

The first act was okay, but I was over it by the second.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The entire second half of the play seemed like a total mess. I didn't understand what was going on much of the time, so I think the effect of the ministrel show set-up needs to be seen and performed in order to convey the play's message effectively. At least, that was my impression

[Aden · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting experiment in juxtaposition, but not quite a successful whole in my opinion. Playing with the racist history of vaudeville by way of Canada First Nations is a fabulous idea, but I wish I had found the play a bit better formed.

[David Eden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A challenging, passionate, tragic and entertaining play. I loved it! Would be amazing to see it staged. The change in tone from the first to second acts is jarring, but works exceptionally.

[Jacob Bews · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun fact: this is what I was reading in line for my first COVID vaccine shot.

[Shahna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan.

[Gareth Davies · Rating 1 out of 5]

The change of characters was just confusing and not very well explained.
The ending of them realizing who they are was interesting, but again, not explained enough to be a substantial realization.

[Alison Crosby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was actually a pretty enjoyable play. The complete shift after the first act was very unique, making it a worthwhile read. I also liked how there were quite a few technical directions involving lighting and sound... But maybe I'm biased on that front.