“Les Filles du Roi”, a new piece by creative duo Corey Payette and Julie McIsaac, is a historical reimagining. It follows the story of Marie-Jeanne, played by McIsaac, a young “fille du roi”, who discovers that the “new world” is very different than she’d imagined (in a conversation with Jean-Baptiste, played by Raes Calvert, she explains that les filles du roi were shipped across the Atlantic to populate the new world. “But it’s already populated,” says Jean-Baptiste to which Marie-Jeanne replies, “I see that now”). The most heartbreaking feature of the play was the sense of preventability that permeated the piece. Set in 1666, the trilingual musical, conceptualised in English, French and Kanien’kéha (Mohawk), is an examination of power dynamics in a time when the rules of who holds the power and who does not were still being written. “Les Filles du Roi” allows the audience to step back to a time before settler society’s conception of what it means to be Indigenous became the universal definition.
In his director’s note, Payette explains that the matriarchy was the mode of governance in the Kanien’kehá:ka nation. “All women have felt the impacts of the loss of this Indigenous worldview,” Payette continues. The loss of the Kanien’kehá:ka nation’s way of perceiving and navigating the world is a loss for all marginalized groups.
We cannot go back to a time before the European invasion. But settler society’s definition of what it means to be Indigenous can be disavowed and a new universal definition can be constructed. Payette’s piece goes beyond disproving the European conception of Indigeneity; it shows the audience a model of Indigeneity that is totally untouched by European norms and beliefs. Indigeneity is powerful. To be Indigenous is to care for other human beings, and to help those in need, as the Kanien’kehá:ka do when they take in the remaining filles du roi at the end of the play. In today’s world, a world in which les filles did not escape their oppressors through the selflessness and bravery of the Kanien’kehá:ka people, it is so rare, in Western media, to see Indigenous people portrayed as having something to give. Corey, Julie, and the rest of the LFDR cast: thank you so much for sharing this story of Indigenous female power. Thank you for allowing us the chance to travel backwards, to a time when the Kanien’kehá:ka people were not raced, but Kanien’kehá:ka.
“Les Filles du Roi” is playing at York Theatre till May 27th. You can get your tickets here!
– Elana Mabrito