theatre 24 - Wednesday, September 12, 1990 - North Shore News Fringe Fest offerings are Wilde, weird and wistful HE FRINGE Festival is billed as the chance to see in- novative, exciting theatre, but it’s a kind of hit and miss situation. To catch the hits, go to the Fr- inge club with a program be- forehand and listen to the gossip. Go against the usual human in- stinct and gravitate to the longer lineups and wear comfortable shoes for walking between the 10 venues on Main Street. The Fringe Festival runs to Sunday, Sept. 16. For information phone 873-3646. The following are some of the selections at the Fringe: Eleemosynary — Don’t worry, you'll know what the word means by the end of the play. Three gen- erations of women — grand- mother, daughter and grand- daughter — strugggle against their similarities and differences. Although they all! share the same brilliance and selfishness, they clash in their different approaches to life. Brenda McDonald is a delight as the eccentric, interfer- ing, esoteric grandmother. Unlike some of the other Fringe offerings, this play has structure and charac- ter development. 90 minutes. A Florentine Tragedy — A fragment in blank verse seems an odd choice for the Fringe, but this is the perfect venue at which to take risks. Considering the Fringe’s requirement of a minimum of props and sets, the play suc- cessfully conveys the atmosphere of 15th century life. The pacing is a bit ponderous in this one-act written by Oscar Wilde. The dialogue rarely overlaps, so as one person speaks the others are frozen in static postures. Stephen Makaj as Guido comes across as a kind of swagger- ing Victorian Arnold BIW Classics Collect all four Only 4s Neon Coloured DICK TRACY S BARBARA: a BLACK theatre review Schwarzenegger with his mini- mum of dialogue and snug tights. Tony Eyamie brings life to the blank verse as the almost cuckolded husband who only discovers his wite’s value by being offered a price for her. An ex- cellently staged sword fight and surprise ending make up for the slow pace. 43 minutes. No Place Like Home — The subject matter of this one-man production is very heavy: child abuse. Shane McCabe tells his own chilling story of an upbringing fill- ed with physical and mental tor- ture inflicted by his father. A very emotionai show, but balanced with funny anecdotes and sweet memories of escaping from an unhappy home life through the cinema. 105 minutes. Jones and the Bird — Actually two short solo pieces, full of the usual artist angst of alienation, ecstasy and monomaniacal rav- ings. The first piece was supposed to be about the musings of a drowning man, but came off as confusing, raunchy, mental masturbation. Rappaport’s body movements conveying the contortions of a SUPER SPECIALS CASIN VIDEO CASSETTE * Certified Quality * High Grade Colcur * Lifetime Guarantee Only Each A.M. RADIO with headphones Perfect for play by play, jogging etc. 3 colours to choose from Only 8°... Neon Coloured (VHS) Boxes troubled sleep in the opening ot the Bird showed some promise, but the show degenerated into ir ntaung spurts of shouting, mutter: ings and cut-otf sentences, Fach piece used the same cheap trick of ending the way it began. 60 minutes. Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie — Sounds intriguing doesn’t it? This popular Edmonton comedy troupe serves up bar-room humor with Canadian content. The opening song on the in- famous National Gallery painting acquisition ts fun. Everybody loves to bash Toronto, so the song, Toronto Sucks, was a crowd pleaser. Also good was a skit about two gophers getting 2 ro- dent rush from darting traffic on the highway and their timely crack about being a “distinct society of rodents.” Entertaining and cheeky, but the non-babyboomer generation didn’t laugh. 60 minutes. —— LAND he provincial government has developed a new “made-in-BC” policy for negotiating and settling Native land claims in British Columbia. Under this new policy BC will — for the first time — join the federal government and BC Native people at the negotiating table to work out settlements which are fair to everyone. The © | province will assist the Government of Canada in Meeting its obligations to fully settle Indian land claims. This new approach to land | claims is based on recommendations from the Premier’s Council on Native Affairs, The Council has spent the past year travelling the | province and meeting with Native Leaders. Claims accepted by the Government of Canada for negotiation. Treaty areas im] 2 Accepted claims Aoticipated clavens A NEW NATIVE shoto submitied TONY EYAMIE and Ana Valine star in the Fringe Festival play A Florentine Yragedy, set in 15th century Florence, directed by North Vancouver’s Martin Millerchip. The play finishes with an exciting sword duef. FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA MADE-IN-BC POLICY BASED ON FAIRNESS, BALANCE, AFFORDABILITY. | CLAIMS POLICY | WHAT WE'RE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOING RESPONSIBLE FOR CLAIMS The province has announced: e anew Claims Registry to receive land claims proposals which have been accepted by the Government of Canada; a new Claims Negotiations Unit in the Ministry of Native Affairs. This will ensure an orderly and consistent claims negotiation process. At the same time, following another recommendation of the Advisory Council, the province will provide the public with additional information on land claims. For further information please write: Land Claims Information Parliament Buildings Victoria, BC V8V 1X4 The Canadian Constitution makes the government of Canada solely responsible for “Indians and Indian lands.” Ottawa has the ultimate legal and financial responsibility for land claims in British Columbia. ° tn British Columbia the federal government has accepted 19 claims for negotiation, has three more under review and is expecting eight others. These claims extend over every region of the province. BC SHOWS LEADERSHIP ON NATIVE CLAIMS The province is joining land claims negotiations to right a historical wrong and to ensure tair treatment for all British Columbians. Current federal policy allows only one negotiation et a time in BC. That's not good envugh — this “made-in- Ottawa” policy doesn’t allow for the large number of claims we face in British Columbia. The provincial government will join BC Natives in pushing Ottawa for a more realistic “made-in-BC” negotiating process which allows us to settle more than one claim at a time. BACKGROUND One third of all indian Bands in Canada are located in BC. There are almost 200 bands in the province, organized into thirty tribal councils. Almo:t 20 per cent of all Canadian Native people live in British Columbia, Two thisds of the { country’s Indian reserves are located in BC (1600 reservest. Fifty four percent of BC's 77,000 status Indians live on ceserves. MINISTRY OF NATIVE AFFAIRS Honourable Jack Weisgerber, Minister