“Silence is Broken when Someone is Willing to Listen”
“Silence is Broken when Someone is Willing to Listen” –
By Shaké Sarkhanian
A hundred years. That’s a long time to wait and a long time to feel. It is the Centennial commemorating the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks in 1915. An understanding of the Genocide is no longer just an understanding of fact, of what we think. The longevity of its contention internationally has fostered an understanding of how we feel. Repetition of genocides in different contexts, in different times, involving different peoples is like being hit with the same pain over and over again. It hits us all.
The play State of Denial is an artistic response to the Armenian Genocide and opposition to genocide more broadly. Performed in Montreal’s Segal Centre for Performing Arts, it expressed a juxtaposition of views: old survivors and new generations; grief from loss and celebration of perseverance; questioning from ignorance and closure from exposed secrets; remoteness in geography and closeness to our hearts. It integrated numerous themes and effectively addressed how we feel with a plot that was so intimately personal, yet it illuminated the story of many young Armenian women who tried to escape the Genocide.
Rahul Varma wrote the fictional story of Odette, a Rwandan-born Canadian filmmaker, who travels to modern day Turkey and is accompanied by a Canadian diplomat. It is in Turkey where she collects stories about genocide for her documentary. She listens to the story of Sahana, an old Muslim woman who dedicated a great part of her life helping Armenian survivors. Just before her death, Sahana reveals a secret to Odette, one that unravels the layering of the state of denial and takes the audience to present day Canada. In Canada, we are introduced to Isma, a young Turkish girl who is tied to this past.
As the thin veils creating the set on stage for Sahana’s sturdy house are pulled, ripped, and destroyed by the history enacted, we learn the story of Sinam. A young Armenian bride-to-be, pregnant, cheerful, with no fear of the eerie future is made vulnerable and abandoned. What is the fate of the unborn child? Is Canada the home of the unborn child? Odette promises to publicize Sahana’s secret, no matter what entails successful exposure. The audience questions her motive, notably as her secret about the state of denial in her own life within the context of the Rwandan Genocide unfolds.
The plot was an expression of delicate layering of the state of denial that bonded the hurt felt from both the Armenian Genocide and Rwandan Genocide. Fulfillment of Odette’s promise would erode the state of denial, of many States and of many people.
Varma’s intended focus on women and womanhood was unique. The female characters in different stages of their lives were given a stronger presence, in contrast to how male characters are traditionally given more prominent roles when articulating stories about the Genocide from a patriarchal perspective, Varma explained. Sahana as an old woman in present day Turkey was contrasted to Sinam the young woman in Turkey 1915. Odette, the protagonist who questioned history, was challenged by the ignorance of Isma, a young woman in Canada.what is the significance of these contrasts?
It is with the emotions of the female characters enhanced by sound and dialogue that Varma created moving images. Most notably, the death march enacted was a forceful display of female suffering that introduced the female voice as one that ought to be spotlighted when discussing and defying denial, to emphasize the punishment they endured. Here, the importance of defying denial was a female initiative, to defy what was defined for them by men in times of genocide.
The character of Sinam said a line that struck me: “We need law in this county.” What can we as audiences say in response to enforced laws that harm citizens? Fear ensues. A state of denial, when systemic, silences identities, rights, freedoms, histories, and memories. To erase is a powerful tool with grave consequences of annihilation, if successful. The State of Denial continuously returned to Odette’s motive: to expose. Effective exposure, however, is dependent on persons who will listen.
Varma researched and heard numerous true stories discussed in Life Stories of Montrealers Displaced by War, Genocide and other Human Rights Violations, a research project initiated at Concordia University. He considered stories about the Armenian Genocide as well, and was inspired by the characters he read about throughout his journey of research. He was particularly moved by women who survived and told their story. When asked about his motivation to write about the Armenian Genocide, Varma said, “The one genocide that pre-dates all the others [in the twentieth century] is the one that we forget most.” He pieced together these harsh realities of genocides to produce a local fiction that pierced our ears meaningfully.
To Varma, thank you for listening.