Set against the backdrop of the Aboriginal struggle to defeat the Meech Lake Accord, and the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba - with a focus on the infamous Helen Betty Osborne case - three women sit in a Winnipeg kitchen, peeling potatoes and carrots, in preparation for a feast at the local Friendship Centre. Rachel, Wendy and Eileen talk about their experiences with rape, as they commiserate with Roz, a young university student who helps Wendy with her work on their community newspaper. Roz is the most recent victim of a brutal sexual assault. They hatch a plot to eradicate the rape of women from the face of the earth.
To become effective in their hunt for rapists, they agree to give up their donuts, begin strenuous exercising, and take martial arts training. They do not take into account, that the mysterious trickster might meddle with their ambitious planning.
This powerful and gut-wrenching play about an extremely sensitive and important subject is filled with insight and with humor. The author turns an otherwise grim reality facing not only Aboriginal women, but women of all races, into an unforgettable and liberating theatrical experience.
Keywords: Aboriginal, women, Winnipeg, rape, justice, healing.
First produced at the Native Canadian Centre, Toronto ON, 1992
Genre: Drama
Acts: 2
Run time: 70 minutes
Content notes: The scenes of the rapes are described in detail, and includes swearing. Also, the women talk about castration (penectomy) of rapists.
Cast size: 5 actors
Male roles: 1
Female roles: 4
Casting notes: Voice-overs for newscasters. The one male actor plays 3 rapists, in addition to his main role as Sam, Rachel's husband.
"Combining wrenching scenes of violence with deadpan humor and domestic warmth, Night of the Trickster takes an ambitiously wide-ranging look at the subject of rape...
...the production emerges as an exciting piece of theatre."
- Jon Kaplan & Jill Lawless, NOW
"The women in this play are forced to come to terms with their experiences when the youngest of them is brutally raped in her apartment. It's not an easy story, but Mosionier writes beautifully. There's also quite a lot of humor in it. We might have lost everything but we still have the strength of our spirituality and the ability to laugh at ourselves. That's the most important thing our elders have taught us about survival."
- Doris Linklater, actor, The Toronto Star