SOURCE: A review of The Rez Sisters, in Canadian Theatre Review, No. 65, Winter, 1990, pp. 62-4.

In the following excerpt, Peel discusses the characters and narrative structure of The Rez Sisters.

Tomson Highway succeeds in creating a striking cast of characters who reveal both blemishes and beauty, and possess, on the whole, great human dignity. His The Rez Sisters tells the tale of seven Indian women living on a reserve in northern Ontario who one day decide to travel to Toronto to attend "the Biggest Bingo in the World." The women are sisters, half-sisters, and sisters-in-law, and their ages range from the 20s to the 50s. The polarities and contradictions of their characters reflect the polarities and contradictions of the world in which they live: poverty-stricken, crude and cruel, and at the same time rich in beauty, vitality, and tenderness.

Highway has carved out a number of memorable portraits...