Stage Door News

Toronto: Cliff Cardinal’s “The Land Acknowledgement” returns May 4-7 due to popular demand

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

David Mirvish’s presentation of the acclaimed Crow's Theatre production of The Land Acknowledgement, or As You Like It just ended a spectacularly successful run, playing to over 10,000 people at the CAA Theatre.

As word spread about Cliff Cardinal’s dynamic and provocative one-man show and as critics gave the show rave review after rave review, The Land Acknowledgement became a genuine cultural phenomenon, attracting diverse audiences of all ages and backgrounds. It was obvious there were more people who wanted to experience Cliff’s brutally honest and heartfelt acknowledgement about Canada’s relationship with its Indigenous people.

Due to popular demand, The Land Acknowledgement, or As You Like It is returning for one more week – May 4 to 7, 2023 at the CAA Theatre.

Tickets go on sale Wednesday, April 5 at mirvish.com and by phone at 1-800-461-3333.

ABOUT THE PLAY

In September 2021, just as theatres were starting to reopen after the long pandemic hiatus, Crow’s Theatre, one of the city’s most eclectic and adventuresome companies, decided to begin with an audacious new show. They said very little about it. Only that it was a “radical retelling by Cliff Cardinal” of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. There were no further details, no cast list, nothing.

Of course, most people know As You Like It as one of the bard’s most accessible and whimsical plays. How was Cliff, a young Indigenous playwright and actor acclaimed for his acerbic, mischievous humour and willingness to deal with raw emotions and difficult subject matter, going to retell this classic of Western theatre?

When the show was finally on stage, word spread about it like wildfire. Its first audiences raved: it was "essential viewing,” “a surprising, powerful, thrilling, and moving piece of theatre that will never be forgotten.”

At the same time, word spread that the show had nothing to do with As You Like It. Cliff was NOT performing As You Like It, nor any version of it.

Instead, what Cliff was doing with his new work was examining the relationship between the Indigenous community and the settlers. He was showing us what a young and insightful artist from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota sees in the aftermath of the discovery of unmarked graves on the grounds of former residential schools. He was offering us the unvarnished truth of the state of the reconciliation process this country has been attempting for the last few decades. He was using theatre to do what it has always done: to take a few moments and pay attention to someone other than our own selves.

Called “the Canadian arts surprise of the year” by The Globe and Mail, Cliff’s brilliant play The Land Acknowledgement, or As You Like It has dazzled and engaged audiences as only the best theatre can.

The Land Acknowledgement, or As You Like It features Lighting Design by Logan Raju Cracknell. Jennifer Stobart is the stage manager.

The Land Acknowledgement, or As You Like It

CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON

Performance Schedule:

Thursday to Friday at 8 PM

Saturday 2 PM and 8 PM

Sunday 2 PM

Running Time: 90 minutes, no intermission

Tickets available only through mirvish.com and by phone at 1-800-461-3333