Sisters deal with life through auntie's death

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Love's Kitchen is the name of a 45-minute, one-act musical that was performed seven times at the Edmonton Fringe Festival in August.

Sisters and co-creators Cathy and Anna Marie Sewell, wrote, produced and sang a slice of life reminiscent of Native sharing, caring and familial complaining around an oilcloth-covered kitchen table about the things that never seem to change - for those of us who come up the hard way, anyhow.

The reason for seven songs, for jokes, reminiscences and introspection is that a beloved auntie and caregiver has died and two nieces have laid her out in her house before the funeral. The play is a mirror reflecting different ways of coping with grief; it reminds us we all deal with death in our own way. And judging by the audience's reactions, most of us aren't immune to hilarity, either, even during an otherwise sombre occasion.

Cathy plays Sarah Roy, the responsible, up-tight elder sister who tries to put on a brave, pragmatic front. It's her mission to take responsibility for everyone else's problems and "set an example." She's also the one whom you sense is constantly being knocked down, dragged back or simply misunderstood as she tries to raise the collective self-esteem in her Native community.

Anna Marie acts the part of Imogene Nolan, who makes Sarah uncomfortable with her out-there sentimentality over their Auntie Love's passing. Imogene's sense of self-worth seems to hinge on her having the hang of having kids. Carrying most of the load of raising them keeps her too busy to glimpse that there is a bigger picture, and maybe there'd be a happier life, if she took control.

The play reverberates with the sentiment that 'this is some of what we have learned about life and we expect you have experienced similar things. Life's about grim stuff, but we've all got to decide if we're going to stare it down, get on with it, and find a reason to laugh when it sucks the most.'

The story line, if that's what you expected, is a trifle thin, but the experiences the Sewell sisters shared at the Fringe are not. Listening to them perform is very much like being the unseen visitor hovering at the entrance to their kitchen and finding yourself immersed in their world.

An underlying angst and just a touch of the raw bits that remind you of the ugliness of being poor and socially isolated are delivered with a huge dollop of humor and optimism that lighten the heart's burdens and prove that Native storytelling traditions are burgeoning with life in the contemporary world.

The songs alternated Native sounds with the rhythms of rock and folk. An a capella rendering of The Bannock Song, set to the tune of Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flack, was down-home kitchen humor at its best; they get a lot of requests for it when they're touring, the sisters say.

The Sewells first performed Love's Kitchen at the En'owkin Centre in Penticton, B.C. in March, and most recently during the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in Hawaii the week before the Fringe.

Anna Marie obtained her BA in drama from the University of Alberta and she is the founding artistic director of Big Sky Theatre. She's done youth drama work, community development, and among her many endeavors at home and abroad she has also taught creative writing.

Cathy has a BA in Native studies from the University of Alberta and is working on a masters degree in education. She also studied voice, recording and music at community college. She sings with the Aboriginal women's vocal group Asani, of which she is a founding member. She writes, acts, occasionally instructs Native studies courses, and co-edits the Buffalo Yell News.