Cree puppeteers from Pukatawagan on mission of laughter and language
Online video stars Bighetty and Bighetty subject of new CBC documentary
When a sick girl had to be flownfrom her northern Manitoba community to a medical facility, hermom showed her Bighettyand BighettyPuppet Show videos to distracther with laughter.
"It's incredible when we hear what is happening," said Ken Bighetty, 54, one of the performers behind the puppets.
These are the stories that fuel Ken and his brothersKelsey and Daniel, the Cree puppeteers fromPukatawagan, Man., about 700 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, whoare the creative minds and performers behind Bighettyand Bighetty.
Theirpuppets deliver laughsin spontaneous interactions in SwampyCree and English with elders, chiefs, adults and children.The brothers film the fun on their cell phones and post the videos on their YouTube and Facebookpages.
The brothers are also in-demandperformers at schools, conferences, community gatheringsand celebrations inManitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the North.
And now theyare the subject of Bighettyand Bighetty, a new 22-minute documentary for CBCShort Docs by Winnipeg-based Ice River Films.(The documentary will also air on Absolutely Manitoba on CBC Manitoba on July 17, 2021at 7 p.m. CT.) They have also produced six social videos for CBC's Creator Network.
Their father Gabriel was a natural comedian who performed skits and entertained in their community. As youngsters, the boys would also stage plays and sock-puppet shows in their bedroom in Pukatawagan, often to entertain themselves when the power went off, said Kelsey, 47.
"That's how we came up with the characters, but it came naturally," he said.
As children, the brothers were big fans of Mr. Dressup, FraggleRock, Sesame Street and The Muppet Show.
"I was always looking out for a native puppet and I would never see one," said Daniel.
In late 2012, Daniel was working as a security guard at thehealth centre in Pukatawagan when he found an oldpuppet in the office and, with his brother Russell egging him on, he began goofing around and creating a voicefor his new felt friend. Later, their brother Ken began filming the antics and posting the videos online.
Their skits were, and still are,mostly improvised. Videos includepuppets getting the flu shot, learning how to build a log cabin, checking the trap lines, hunting with a chief andlistening to an elder tell stories.
The first videos they made were less than a minute long but got a couple of thousand views each, said Ken, who lives in Thompson.
"It exploded from there," said Ken,who works for theKeewatin Tribal Council with the Jordan's Principle team.
Thefirst spike in viewership came after the brothers posted a video of the puppets trying to order neck bones and Ichiban noodles at a drive-throughin Thompson.A video featuring a traffic stop and a puppet pat down by a local RCMP officer, a friend of the family, also went wild online.
The online fame startled the brothers.
"I was just floored," saidKelsey, 47, from his home in Pukatawagan.
The puppetsall have their own personalities. Michel, Kelsey's puppet, is a powerful medicine man based on a real-life medicine man who was revered. The Chief, Ken's puppet, is playful and loves to tease.Marcel, Daniel's puppet, is mischievous, curious and talks a mile-a-minute.
"When I am around people, the character doesn't stop," said Daniel, 46."My brother [Ken]has to stop me and whispers in my ear, 'come on we have to go now.'"
The brothers flip between Swampy Cree and English when they are performing. Younger audiences sometimes have a harder time keeping up but the brothers persist, and encourage kids to learn their languageor "ask an Elder," said Ken.
At schools, the puppets will also talk about bullying and addictions, respect, and self-esteem.
HelenTrudeau, co-ordinatorfor Jordan's Principle at the Keewatin Tribal Council, said the group works with children who may have gone through trauma and have anxiety and depressionas a result and she has seen the puppets' effect on them.
"With the puppets, it's play;it's something they recognize to be safe," she said.
"Some of the children don't speakbut the puppets are able to draw them out.Children are more apt to open up to them."
In mid-May 2019, the brothers embarked on a month-long tour that madestops in 10 communities in Manitoba and one in Saskatchewan. OnJune 13 in Winnipeg, theyopened for noted playwright and authorTomson Highway who was also on tour.
Touring, and the long stretches of driving to communities, is exhausting but the brothers said performingis healing for them, too.
"I used to work as a peace officer for 16 years andthis helps me a lot mentally and emotionally," said Daniel.
"It brings up my mood and my spirits when I see people, kids laughing.It's like a therapy for me."
For Ken, the performances are also cathartic.
"When they laugh you just feel this energy and you are just sweating, too," Ken said.
He compared it to a rock concert.
"You are gone for like five hours and you are just done,you are just spent. It's a really good feeling. Areally, really good vibe."
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