The campfire circle became the stuff of theatre when the storyteller arrived. The teller of tales would compete to find the best. The circle became a semi-circle as the winner was elevated onto a stage set off to the side of the circle. Its widely accepted that Thespis was the first, and theatre as we know it, the binary world of actor and audience, was born.
The device we hold in our hands is the new campfire circle. We communicate instantly with people around the world, telling stories, our shared experiences creating tribes. If we follow Marshall McLuhan’s Laws of Media we see media repeats itself; old forms returning in new forms, and thus our new tribe online will act as those first tribes. The online circle will give rise to the best storyteller, the best actor, perhaps even the best liar.
The phone is something to look at and into but it is also a platform to stand on. A campfire circle is fraught with fear, a glimmer at the centre inside the all-enveloping darkness. It’s scary out there and a father-figure, a strongman, a big man is welcome. The phone elevates power personified, the big man and his tribe will go all in on support for him.
However it is only the circle that became theatre that became architecture that became books that became film, television and web that will present itself as platform. The tribe that never broke the circle and never set up the stage will not suffer the same fate. No big man will be sought but fear will be dispersed by the maintenance of the circle and at its centre, the campfire, around which we hear the equality of voice.
Not one voice, not one storyteller, not one actor, not one liar, even but many. All keepers of the tribe’s knowledge, knowledge of the home and the land, resources, creativity and the cultures, and most importantly the equality of voice of women as well as of men.
So we choose our circles. We choose our tribes. Do we align ourselves along gender, race, colour, wealth, geography? Do we gather around only those who reflect us or do we open the hearth to all travellers?
Gord Downie is opting for the hearth. He spoke to CBC about a new project he has taken up even as he faces his own battles with brain cancer. The 52 year-old lead singer for the Tragically Hip has a solo album, a film and a graphic novel. He has set up a fund with all proceeds from the associated projects going towards reconciliation.
The Secret Path relates the story of a young indigenous boy who froze to death on his way home from a residential school he had been forcibly placed in. In 1966 Chanie Wenjeck set out on a 600 km journey but died by the rail line he took home, his secret path back.
Chanie’s story had been told before.