Q&A: Small Axe

Alan Dilworth in rehearsal for Small Axe. Photo by Dahlia Katz.

Documentary theatre-maker Andrew Kushnir explores homophobia and homophobic violence in Jamaica in his latest piece Small Axe, opening this week at The Theatre Centre. Directed by Alan Dilworth, the show brings to the stage stories of gay, lesbian and transgender (LGBT) people of colour from Jamaica and the Jamaican-Canadian Diaspora and asks: "how do we justly engage with an injustice?"

Featuring an ensemble cast including Sarah Afful, Michael Blake, Lisa Codrington, Chy Ryan Spain, Marcel Stewart and Kushnir, Small Axe invites audiences to face societal differences and join in the conversation.

Here, Dilworth talks about his experience developing Small Axe with Project: Humanity and The Theatre Centre.

Theatromania: Tell us about Small Axe. What inspired this show?

AD: Years ago, my friend Andrew Kushnir, a gay Ukrainian-Canadian theatre artist was having a conversation with a gay Jamaican-Canadian friend of his. They were sharing a dressing room. They were talking about how their communities and extended families struggle with their gayness. As they shared their stories, my friend Andrew felt an outrage at the injustice experienced by his friend and other gay Jamaicans, and felt an instant sense of solidarity with his gay Jamaican-Canadian friend. In fact, on some level, Andrew felt that his struggle was the same as his friend’s struggle, that his experiences were the same as his friend’s experiences. But very kindly, and very generously, his friend told him that their struggles and their experiences were indeed not the same. And so began the unpacking and investigating of the nature of the injustice, and what the nature of Andrew’s feeling of sameness was. The outcome, five years later, is Small Axe, a docu-theatre piece based on Andrew’s journey investigating the intersection of homophobia and racism in Jamaica, Canada, and himself.

Theatromania: How would you describe the production in a few sentences?

AD: A queer white documentary theatre-maker is investigating homophobia in Jamaica. But what starts as a quest to expose an injustice, turns into a burning call for his own personal transformation.

Theatromania: You have been involved in developing this piece with Andrew Kushnir over the last four years. How does it feel to finally put it up on stage?

AD: I am thrilled to bring Small Axe to the stage with this remarkable cast and creative team. And I am very, very grateful… to The Theatre Centre, to Project:Humanity, to the artists who have taken part in the development of this play and to everyone who has engaged in this conversation—they have changed the way I see the world.

Theatromania: What have you learned from this experience so far?

AD: I have learned again that large issues are complex, we are all shaped by our contexts, conversations around injustice have a cost, if you listen very carefully you will be shaped when someone shares a truth with you, and we are all more connected than one might initially think. And in all that, I have learned how important it is to recognize our differences.

Theatromania: What do you hope audiences take away from this performance?

AD: The same things I hope audiences take away from all of my work: questions about what it is to be human, an increased openness to ambiguity, and an invitation to live more in the questions rather than in the answers. And finally, the question: homophobia and racism are burning issues both in Canada and Jamaica, what do we do?

Small Axe runs until February 1, 2015 at The Theatre Centre. Visit theatrecentre.org for more information and to buy tickets.