Cheri Maracle brings poet E. Pauline Johnson back to life in “Paddle Song”

by Emma Shular on May 24th, 2024 at 6:52 AM

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You know what they say: go out with a bang.

The Firehall Arts Centre is wrapping up its 2023-2024 season with the return presentation of Paddle Song, a one-woman play about the life and work of important Indigenous poet E. Pauline Johnson.

Cheri Maracle—a Six Nations actress and singer-songwriter—has brought this show to audiences around the globe for close to 10 years, including performances in Norway and India. This run of the play will be happening from May 24 to June 2.

The play originally began as an accompaniment to an art show about Johnson’s life (she died in 1913). Maracle says that from there, it has evolved naturally.

“The poetry itself gets richer and deeper each time, and I’ve gained new insight into the poetry each time,” she says via phone. “It’s grown in every way possible that you can imagine as a performer, and now we’ve got a different beginning, where this ceremony aspect has been brought in. I’m starting the show with the idea that she has to empty her bundle before she can carry on in spirit world, which is why she’s here at this moment in Vancouver, telling this story in 2024.”

Maracle says that while the show is very spiritual for her, it’s also very physically challenging.

“When I do this show I really take care of myself, I have to because it is so demanding vocally,” she says. “I’ve got to do cardio every day when I do the show, because it is a cardio workout; there isn’t a moment of rest. I’m playing a little girl, I’m playing her in spirit world, I’m playing her as a young lady, I’m playing her as a mid-range age, and then her death at 52.”

Andy Carroll

Going on stage alone is no small feat, either. For Maracle, it’s become something much bigger than performance.

“You enter into a void and it’s like a ceremony. That show has become ceremony for me; it’s become really very personal and profound for me, and the reasons that Pauline is here telling her story at this time is more clear than it ever has been for me,” she explains. “It’s terrifying. It never gets easier. You always feel like you’re going to hurl your cookies a bit before you go onstage, but you just go and you do it. It is a huge honour and I’m so grateful.”

Paddle Song was written by Dinah Christie and Thomas V. Hill. Hill has since passed, and Maracle has added a tribute to him as part of the show.

“I’ve put together a beautiful note to him in the program, but it’s sad to carry on with the show without him,” says Maracle. “He loved Pauline; he was a champion of Pauline’s works and life. The show wouldn’t exist in its state without him.”

Emotional and vulnerable, Paddle Song is a celebration of creativity and perseverance. Aside from its creative benefits, the show has allowed Maracle to find peace.

“She has literally healed me,” she says. “Pauline has healed me during the show. She has taught me and the poetry still is some of the most profound works I’ve ever read in my life, and the fact that I get to portray her is such an incredible gift.”