Writing play reconnects authors with heritage

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Mother tongue is a play that is both collaborative theatre and performance art.

It explores the unique and person stories of two women and their struggle with cultural identity.

The richness of story-telling is used as a vehicle to explore the parallels and contrasts between the Metis and Scots cultures: the legacy of the two artists.

It explores their struggle between childhood traditions versus society and its environment, and the fight towards reclaiming personal identity as grown women within their own cultures.

The performance represents more than a year of collaboration between the two artists, Cheryl L'Hirondelle and Alexandria Patience.

Cheryl grew up in a middle class white community in Edmonton. Her mother came from the Kikino Metis settlement north of Edmonton. Cheryl is a descendent of Cuthbert Grant, the Metis leader, and for her, Mother Tongue has acted as a catalyst

in her reclaiming her Metis-ness.

Reflecting on her childhood, she has become aware of the social structure that

has been -- and still is -- in place to keep her from acknowledging her Metis ancestry.

"The process of Mother Tongue has made me aware of how rampant erasure

is -- how it is still very prevalent today and how much work there is still to do.

"Mother Tongue is another step in my realizing my Metis-ness. It is simply another part of a personal journey."

Alexandria is of Scots descent. Her plight as a child growing in up a northern

Scots fishing community was the duality of language and the struggle that it provoked.

At home her native tongue (Doric) was used and yet with friends, English was spoken.

"English was considered the 'intellectual' language and when you spoke the

Doric you were caught into a situation of feeling less."

As a result she learned to compartmentalize elements of her life. Through the collaborating of Mother Tongue she has accepted this opposition and drawn understanding into the reasons behind a lack of communications at certain times with

her family.

Both performance arts provide autobiographical and abstract stories of childhood members. They alternate and weave a dramatic tale of honesty and vision from the past into the present.

It is an exploration that has brought personal growth and acceptance of spirit. Mother Tongue explores the similarities of personal choices and the dilemmas of cultural differences.

It is about friendship, relationships and loyalties. It is about mothers and daughters and the coming of acceptance.

During the performance, both artists successfully bind the importance of communication as a way to understand the past, accept the present and look to the future.

In one incident, Alexandria tells of the time her father's fishing boat, Vantage, lost radio contact and how that lost link in communication bred both fear and intimacy at the same time among the community.

"Communication among family, friends, anyone is difficult at the best of times," she asserts. "Mother Tongue has created a bridge to acceptance."

For Cheryl a segment of the performance that acts as a powerful connector from the past to the present is in what she calls her "Grandmother piece."

Her four suitcases, representing the four directions, provide a symbolic platform for acknowledging the grandmothers. From each of the suitcases, Cheryl reveals a gift, then returns it by offering thanks.

"This piece is a way of acknowledge all of myself. To say, yes, I am German and French, I'm Iroquois and yes, I am all those things and they are all a part of who I am. It was a way to call them all," she explains.

Both artists agree that Mother Tongue is not a final product. It has been a jumping-off spot for personal realization and growth and the beginning of a new way to look at their work.

"It has been a journey for me saying 'I am a Metis and being able to own this as part of myself and my culture," she says.

"Definitely the work will continue within us," adds Alexandria. "Separately but within us."