Beatrice Chancy. (Book Reviews).

BEATRICE CHANCY: A PLAY BY GEORGE ELLIOTT CLARKE, (POLESTAR) 160 pages

As a naturalize Canadian writer my interest is in what black writers particularly Canadians write. How they define their native or adoptive space helps me to understand my own Canadian identity. The writing of George Elliott Clarke has always interest me. Unlike other black Canadian authors he embodies a distinct sense of place that speaks for all Canadians. He is not apologetic about where his sympathy lies or is angry about the legacy of his history. He would just like to demystify the pretentiousness of the society. This comes across in his latest work Beatrice Chancy.

The book follows the path of Clarke's previous works. It excavates the black presence in Canadian history and brings to the surface some of the truths that dispel the notion of Canada as a Canaan and safe haven for blacks; that slavery was non existent in early Canada and Black Canadian history begins with the plight of the Loyalist and the underground rail road.

My approach to this dramatic piece of work is mainly through the narrative content of the play and the images the playwright uses define the uniqueness of his environment as he draws on certain common attitudes and mythology of place. Making Beatrice Chancy, Clarke's fifth book a play of mythical proportions. Clarke unleashes his genius in the three acts performance. In the end the protagonist Bertrice becomes a symbol of the native black Canadian soul.

This tragic story, set in the lush Annapolis Valley of nineteenth century Nova Scotia. Clarke's use of history and allusions creates a treasure throve of references from which we can relate to distinct elements of the Canadian self. For example setting and atmosphere: Spring (1801), when apple orchards began to blossom and slaves began to prepare for the cultivation of the crops. The seasons are strong definitions in black Canadian writing. Spring to Canadians is more relative to birth rather than rebirth. We are more realistic than ritualistic about our seasons. Spring is also an image of pastoral abundance and gaiety since early Canadian history and culture. It is the time when Canadians unfold themselves to the world. This comes through the relations between slaves, overseers, master, the characters, humor and irony. It also expresses the idea that slavery in Canada compared to the Caribbean and the Americas were more dignified. As we see at the end of the opening scene: evening wanes on Francis Chancy's p lantation, slaves and other plantation workers banter each other with bits of dark humor. As we see in the following dialogue that provides insight on the condition of Slavery and the close ties between the Canadian colonist and their American neighbors:

Lead: Dumas, why you always bray like Pentecostals?
Deal: Too much thinking, not enough ---- ah --lovin.
Moses: No, he be supply subtle and sly.
He grins at Massa, jigs when he fiddles.
Dumas: That's so Chancy won't wallop this bookish
Negro. I'd sooner be comedic than
commoditied to Mississippi,
Where whippings get doled out just like candy.
Moses: That's right: Play foolhardy, happy, banjo
Negroes, then pick up knives, and cut and stab.

The play dispels the notion that Canada was always a place of peace and plenty; where nothing of consequence happens. It also exposes the world of Canadian culture lending insight to some important attitudes in white Canadian thinking grounded in the plantation culture of the past as Clarke practically points out. It may be a place of peace and plenty but not for black folks and things of consequences have always been happening in Canada since pre-confederation. Slavery, white supremacy and suppression of female sexuality are some of the underlying themes used in Beatrice Chancy to stimulate tension as we relate to the truths that each character represents.

Beatrice's character we can say epitomizes black Canadian reality and its naive sense of being. She has no idea of her influence or about the authority that controls her subjectively. She is content with the privilege position she holds as an individual and naively thinks that the position she enjoys is hers to share at will with others of her kind.

Francis Chancy, a proud man who is feared more than he is respected. Showers his daughter with the affection of his paternal care until she declares her love for a young slave. At this point all hell broke loose. Chancy eventually rapes Beatrice and maintains an incestuous relation as part of his control. Beatrice avenges this incestuous act by murdering her father. The story concludes with the hanging of Beatrice and Lustra, Francis Chancy's wife, as accomplices of the crime.

Francis Chancy and the church are different images of Canada and its cult of white male Empiricism, double standards and conceitedness in the setting of moral standards. Canadians of earlier times were just as indulging in slavery as their American and Caribbean cousins but History would have us believe that their indulgences were minimal and compassionate in nature. Beatrice Chancy a beautiful mulatto girl conceived from the relation between the plantation owner Francis Chancy and one of his slaves is raised by her father in the values of his social standings. This acceptance of responsibility is a redeeming factor that is not enough to white wash the immoral act of slavery into a mere discrepancy or isolated incident that can be overlooked. A closer study shows that whatever paternal feelings expressed towards slaves of the past or ethnicity today does not go beyond the idea of control or subordination. The slave quarters is still the white Canadian personal harem. This is seen in the way we are being gover ned today. Similar to the plantations of the past, ethnicity and female sexuality are controlled by the white male ego. Women and other racial groups relate from the position of inequality rooted in white Canadian patriarchy

Lustra: Savour your wife: My body's Puritan.
Chancy: My eyes slice women into commodities

This also expresses the notion that in white Canadian thinking is a strong pretentiousness for truth in their relation to other races. Which leaves Canada is in an ambiguous position as a compassionate perpetrator or good sinner. One of the interesting areas of the work is the rape scene (Act, 111, Scene V.) which Clarke portrays as a sacrificial ritual in the church. The implication of the church relates to the active role it played in the slave trade in Early Canadian history. This scene evokes a mental turbulence as it spot-lights the white curse on black spirituality: the desecration of the Black womb and latent subjugation of black female sexuality.

I found Beatrice Chancy to be a very interesting dramatic piece of writing. The narrative flows smoothly; transition between scenes and conflicts are superb. Dialogue expresses also an intensity of feminine anguish and pain. The character of Lead could have been a stronger role. One that expresses the values of the free (black) man in Canadian history. The slave role of Lead diminishes the strength of Beatrice character and questions her integrity with the underlying precept "You can take a person from slavery but not slavery from the person.

Beatrice Chancy is one of the best piece of dramatic work written about slavery and the suppression of female sexuality. Time will be grateful to this dramatic piece of work and I am sure it will have some influence on the future of Black Canadian theater