Review: "Salt Baby" by Falen Johnson

Salt Baby by Falen Johnson
Published September 2013 via Scirocco Drama
★★★★

Salt Baby's living in the city now, but the reservation is in her blood, and she's not quite sure how to reconcile the part of her that wants things the reservation can't offer and the part of her that will always find it home. But she's trying: dating a white man, seeing how much he can understand, contemplating whether a DNA test will get her closer to her history.

I always skim the drama shelves at the library when I visit my mother, because they have so much that is so interesting and that I'd be unlikely to stumble across elsewhere—and in particular, the library is really good about stocking First Nations writers with diverse perspectives. I like the way this one is done; it's mostly straight scenes between people (even if they don't always say quite what they mean) but with the occasional drift into the unreal (conversations with ancestors, dreamscapes) because...that's a sort of thing you can do in plays and have it make sense. Would be a nice one to see performed.