tensely emotional and nliightening account of ife in Labrador for the nnu.

In order to effectively ommunicate with their udience. the show was erformed in English ut Walsh says the Innu ctors had problems cre- ting performance art in heir second language.

“At first, they impro- ised in English. But t’s difficult to commu- icate emotionally in a anguage that’s not your wn. So they impro- ised in Innu until they ot something that felt ood to them and then hey translated it into nglish,” says Walsh.

The first half of the show is purely informa- tional, says Walsh, to sive the audience a his- tory of the Innu and how the white people changed their way of life. But raw emotion and revealing dialogue takes place in the second half of the show when the actors trace the experi- ences of one particular

family.

The show is com- prised of a_ series of vignettes that explore

the theme of assimila- tion and illustrates the many ways the Innu are forced to conform or leave.

In one scene, the Talking Heads’s song Burning Down the House blares through large loudspeakers while photographic images of white people’s products, shopping malls, tech-

The white man requests more and more space, his voice dripping with saccharine conge- niality, until the Innu has given up all his space and has fallen off the log. The white man then jumps to his feet, warning the Innu man to “stay off of my log.”

RTP RN

mn \

nology and_ entertain- ment are flashed on the set, creating a super- imposure over the na- tive background. The four Innu actors remove their traditional native garb and put on the acid-washed jeans and Reebok running shoes of their white peers. The audience witnesses the collision of two radi- cally different cultures and the effect it has on the easily-influenced teenagers.

In another eerie scene, actors wear- ing expressionless white masks push one of the Innu around the stage while white voices chant over a loudspeaker “As- similate or get out”.

But the heavily sym- bolic scenes aren’t as telling as the dramatiza- tions of daily life of one Innu family.

The actors moved the audience and themselves to tears when they en- acted the conflicts that one Innu family expe- riences. The influence of white people has per- meated every aspect of their lives and the par- ents and children are divided in the struggle to maintain the tradi- tional lifestyle. The chil- dren eschew the Innu language and tradtional native activities such as hunting and trips to the bush in favour of sports and school-related activ- ities of their English- speaking peers.

When the Innu peo- ple go into a local bar, they are greeted by a caricature of the white bigot, played with fright- ening accuracy by Ot-

tawa actor Gerald Lunz. He taunts them with ac- cusations of living off the white man’s system and “having the best of both worlds”.

“Are your ways so good?” retorts Anasta- sia Andrew.“ Are you so perfect that we should all be like you?”

It is a question the white man cannot an- swer.

The white man’s ways are not “so good”, the Innu people realize. They learn about the ravages of alcoholism on a family when the fa- ther, played by Jack Pe- nashue, starts drinking and abusing his wife. Al- cohol, a product of the white society, becomes

another factor in the de- terioration of the Innu family.

The fam- ily reaches its low point when the teenage son at- tempts suicide, shaking

them enough to realize —

that they want their old lifestyle back. They re- treat to the bush where they set up a_ tradi- tional camp and express their relief that the fam- ily has resisted the ap-

“their homeland.

They share a few moments of thanksgiving and peace.

‘But this tranquility is _ destroyed by a thunder-

ing recording of a mili-

tary plane flying 100 feet

above their heads. During

that one traumatic mo-

ment, the predominantly

white audience and the

- Innu people on the stage

share a common, horri- fying experience.

Walsh says Ntesinan was aimed at making the public aware of the ef-

fects that white Canadi-

ans have had on the Innu and other native com- ‘munities.

“The reaction we want to get from this show is sim- ple.. We want to in- form people who have no knowledge of the Innu lifestyle about the dif- ficulties they’ve suffered due to the encroachment of the white people on

their lives,” she says. During the summer, the show . toured

the Labrador communi- ties of Nain, Davis Inlet, Hopedale, Goose Bay and then home in She- shatshit,where they were warmly received. The show was also featured at an international the- atre festival in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

But Walsh says the group is eager to take the show on a tour of central and western Canada during the fall.

“They are the people who need to see the re-

alities of Innu life,” says Walsh. The group is cur-

rently applying for ev- ery funding opportunity available but Marlene

source Centre for the Arts in St.John’s says they’re not having much luck.

“Ntesinan is a_so- cial /political project, not a professional the- atre production so we don’t qualify for most arts funding,” says Rice.

Rice says they are

. now approaching special

interest and social ac- tivist groups for funding.

“We have heard from other native

groups across the country who are interested in the

show but they have no money to give us. I think they would endorse the project and support us but they can’t help us fi- nancially,” says Rice.

The project has the support of two native groups in Labrador, the

band council of Sheshat- shit and the Oblate Fa- thers of our Lady of Snows.

Ntesinan is billed as

collective cre- atic conceived by the Innu community of She- shatshit” but local crit- ics have suggested it is a well- executed propa- ganda piece.

“This play is defi- nitely not propaganda. Propaganda comes from the mouths of propa- gandists but this story comes from the mouths of the people of Sheshat- shit,” asserts Walsh.

“It’s life. If you can

6 ‘

pealing calls of white Rice, the theatre ad- call that propaganda, culture and returned to ministrator at the Re- well...” she shrugs. . \ Sai

VISAG

UPEI’s Student Literary Magazine

Material Drop off: English Dept. Secretary’s office

Poetry and prose

4th floor Dalton Hall

9

or contact:

Shawn MacDonald Mark Jordan Angéle Foley

Submission deadline: Dec. 21 1987

id a eae = Thursday, November 26 1987

Sete ee amare ee ee ee ee ee Pe eee ea ee

See

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