Four centuries after the debut of the first play written in North America, its portrayal of aboriginals in what is now Nova Scotia has outraged a theatre troupe enough to stage a protest — literally.

Written and first performed on Nov. 14, 1606, the Theatre of Neptune in New France includes the god of the sea and four Tritons as characters, as well as four Mi'kmaq, who are referred to as "savages."

The four natives confirm their allegiance to the French crown and express their joy that the French have returned to the French settlement at Port Royal, now a national historic park in Nova Scotia.

To mark the 400th anniversary of the play's first production, Donovan King and the Optative Theatrical Laboratories in Montreal wrote their own play, Sinking Neptune, to protest the original.

King compares it to the blackface shows of yore in the United States, which gave racist portrayals of black people.

"You have white people playing the First Nations and basically demonstrating to them what they want to see from them, which was obedience," he said.

"This play is not something that we should just be celebrating for an anniversary as if it's a nostalgic heritage moment or something," King said.

Marc Lescarbot wrote the Theatre of Neptune in New France in 1606. Lescarbot, a lawyer from Paris, had been put in charge of the French settlement at Port Royal while the leader of the colony searched for a more inviting site for the settlers.

When Gov. Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt's ship appeared on the horizon on Nov. 14, 1606, a theatre troupe went out to meet the vessel to perform the play.

It was the first published theatrical script produced in North America.

Play defended as cultural 'landmark'

But while some consider the 400-year-old play racist and Eurocentric, others say it's important to consider the play's message with the context of today.

"It is a landmark in our cultural history," said Jerry Wasserman, a professor of Canadian theatre history at the University of British Columbia.

"Until we begin acknowledging those landmarks and taking our cultural history seriously, we are not really going to have a serious culture."

Musique 400, a group from Annapolis Royal, is staging a stripped-down version of the original play — a reading of the script.