Cliff Cardinal is a Canadian actor, playwright and songwriter, known for his one-man show ''The Land Acknowledgement, or As You Like It''.Karen Fricker

''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', March 15, 2023.

Early life

The son of actress

Tantoo Cardinal Tantoo Cardinal CM (born Rose Marie Cardinal; July 20, 1950) is a Canadian actress of Cree and Métis heritage. In 2009, she was made a member of the Order of Canada "for her contributions to the growth and development of Aboriginal performing ar ...

, he was born on the

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ( lkt, Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located entirely within the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Gr ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

, and grew up in Toronto and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

as his mother pursued her career in both Canada and the United States. He had early acting roles in productions such as Michael Hollingsworth's ''The Saskatchewan Rebellion'' and Kenneth Williams's ''Three Little Birds'', and made his debut as a playwright with ''Stitch'' at the 2009 Rubaboo Performance Gala in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Theatre career

In 2011, ''Stitch'' was staged at the SummerWorks Theatre Festival, where Cardinal won the Theatre Passe Muraille Emerging Artist Award, and

Cara Gee Cara Gee (born July 18, 1983) is a Canadian film, television, and stage actress. She is known for her roles in the television series ''Strange Empire'' and ''The Expanse''. She is described by Forbes as "one of the most prominent indigenous women ...

won Best Actress for her performance in the lead role. He first became widely known in 2012 for his one-man show ''Huff'', which examined the issue of drug and solvent abuse in indigenous communities. Following a February 2016 production of ''Huff'' by

Native Earth Performing Arts Native Earth Performing Arts is a Canadian theatre company located in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1982, Native Earth is Canada's oldest professional Indigenous theatre company. Native Earth is dedicated to developing, producing and presenting pro ...

, Cardinal won

Dora Mavor Moore Awards The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, Dance in Canada, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, ...

for Outstanding New Play, Independent Theatre and Outstanding Male Performance, Independent Theatre, at the 2016 Dora Awards. After ''Huff'' and ''Stitch'' were published together in book form, Cardinal was a nominee in the Alternative Format category at the 2018

Indigenous Voices Awards The Indigenous Voices Awards are a Canadian literary award program, created in 2017 to honour indigenous literatures in Canada.Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', April 29, 2019. It was the first play ever staged by the company in its new Busy St. theatre, and one of the first times the company staged a play by anybody but Hollingsworth and

Deanne Taylor Deanne Taylor (born November 24, 1946) was a Candian actress, artist, and performer. At 9 years old, she starred in the television program Maggie Muggins. In 1982, she ran for mayor in the 1982 Toronto municipal election, under the pseudonym A. H ...

. In 2019 and early 2020, he toured the variety show ''Cliff Cardinal's CBC Special'', in which he performed a mixture of short acting monologues, storytelling and music.

''The Land Acknowledgement''

In 2021, Cardinal debuted ''Shakespeare's As You Like It: A Radical Retelling'' at the Crow's Theatre in Toronto.Glenn Sumi
"Review: Cliff Cardinal delivers a radical take on As You Like It"
'' Now'', October 2, 2023. Advertised as an indigenous-themed adaptation of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...

'', the play actually featured no Shakespearean content at all, and instead consisted entirely of Cardinal performing a monologue on Indigenous Canadian political issues through the framework of a satirical

land acknowledgement A land acknowledgement or territorial acknowledgement is a formal statement that a public event is taking place on land originally inhabited by indigenous peoples. It is often spoken at the beginning of an event. They have also become popular on s ...

nominally preceding the Shakespeare play that wasn't really being performed. Cardinal later explained that the

bait and switch Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud used in retail sales but also employed in other contexts. First, customers are "baited" by merchants' advertising products or services at a low price, but when customers visit the store, they discover that the a ...

tactic was chosen because he wanted to avoid "preaching to the converted", and instead wanted the monologue to hit harder by virtue of being unexpected and surprising. To that end, he also concluded each show by asking the audience not to reveal the trick to people who had not yet seen the show. In 2022, Cardinal undertook a national tour of the show, including runs in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

. Cardinal received dual Dora nominations at the 2022 awards, for Best Leading Performer, General Theatre and Best Original Play, General Theatre. The play was also published in book form, and was a shortlisted

Trillium Book Award The Trillium Book Award (french: Prix littéraire Trillium or ''Prix Trillium'') is an annual literary award presented to writers in Ontario, Canada. It is administered by Ontario Creates, a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario, which is ov ...

nominee for English prose in 2023."MP Charlie Angus, poet Cliff Cardinal among Trillium Book Award nominees"
. ''

'', May 9, 2023. The play received a new production by

Mirvish Productions Mirvish Productions is a Canadian based theatrical production company and promoter. The company was founded in 1987 by David Mirvish, son of Toronto retailing icon and owner of the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Ed Mirvish. The first assets acquired ...

at the

CAA Theatre The CAA Theatre, formerly the Panasonic Theatre, is a Theater (structure), theatre located at 651 Yonge Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is operated by Mirvish Productions. On December 1, 2017, Mirvish Productions announced a marketing partne ...

in 2023, although it was retitled ''The Land Acknowledgement, or As You Like It'' as Mirvish did not permit Cardinal to use the "bait and switch" marketing tactic. The play's print publication won the

Governor General's Award for English-language drama The Governor General's Award for English-language drama honours excellence in Canadian English-language playwriting. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry or drama was divided. Because the awar ...

at the

2023 Governor General's Awards The shortlisted nominees for the 2023 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on October 25, 2023, and the winners were announced on November 8."Anuja Varghese wins Governor General's literary award for fiction"
''

'', November 8, 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardinal, Cliff 21st-century Canadian male actors 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century First Nations writers Canadian male stage actors Canadian male dramatists and playwrights First Nations male actors First Nations dramatists and playwrights Cree male actors Lakota male actors Dora Mavor Moore Award winners Living people Male actors from Toronto Writers from Toronto Year of birth missing (living people) Governor General's Award-winning dramatists Cree male writers Lakota male writers Lakota writers