Canada, It’s Complicated Tour had a complicated run on reserves, says performer

By Dustin McGladrey of CFWE-FM
Windspeaker.com Contributor

The “Canada, It’s Complicated Tour” has been getting the cold shoulder from some of the reserves it has been scheduled to play across Canada.

Described as a “biting satirical review of our history,” by Chad Anderson, an Indigenous performer with the tour, he said “a lot of our reserves have pulled out, and I think that it’s because it has Canada 150 attached to it.

The tag line for the “Canada, It’s Complicated Tour” is ‘After 150 Years, We’re Starting to Get the Joke.’

“We (Native people) don’t want to celebrate Canada 150, but it saddens me—and I understand the reasoning—but at the same time the reserves we have gone to they loved it….

Chad Anderson

“I think also, in the same breath, the Canada 150 thing is what draws such a non-Native audience to it. Most people come and think, like ‘oh, this is going to be this wonderful celebration of Canada and its rich and beautiful history. And we’re like ‘No. This is the truth. This is the stuff that they leave out in history class.”

Anderson insists the show doesn’t shy away from an unvarnished look at Canadian history. In fact, the opening number is titled “The foundation of our nation is a big fat lie.” The show then launches into a scene called “First Contact”.

In that scene, the stand-up comic living in Winnipeg, but previously of The Pas, Man, says he and Dakota Ray Hebert of Meadow Lake, Sask. (a stand-up comedian and the first Indigenous student taught at the Globe Theatre’s Conservatory Program) play an Indigenous couple meeting with the European settlers for the first time.

Anderson describes “Canada, It’s Complicated” as a sketch comedy show with a lot of music. “It’s Complicated” was the inspiration of Mary Walsh, the director and a writer on the show. Walsh has a long history of making Canadians laugh and is best known perhaps for her work on the current affairs show “This Hour has 22 Minutes”.

Also writing for “It’s Complicated” is Marie Clements, an award-winning author and feature musical documentary-maker of “The Road Forward”, currently making its way around the world on its film festival journey. Clements’  first opera libretto will premiere in Vancouver in November. See our story here: http://www.windspeaker.com/news/windspeaker-news/missing-marie-clements-first-ever-opera-libretto-premieres-nov-3/

Anderson said he only received the “It’s Complicated” script in August in St. John’s for the first rehearsals. Walsh had sought Anderson out to be part of the production, and explained the concept to him though.

“When Mary Walsh calls you and you’re a comedian and trying to make a name for himself, whatever she asks you to do, you just say ‘yes’.” Anderson did confess to being worried about getting out there and being asked to put a braided wig on and some buckskin and told ‘That’s what we need to do in the show.’

But the script was amazing, Anderson said. And he wasn’t playing one-dimensional, stereotypical characters, and had input on the costumes and the language of the content if he found it to be offensive.

“It was refreshing,” Anderson said.

The tour is at the Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon tonight, and when it hits Alberta tomorrow, the tour will be going to the Samson First Nations Community Centre Oct. 25 for a free showing. It will be in Spruce Grove at the Horizon Stage Oct. 27. There is a date in Banff and in Red Deer too. It then moves into British Columbia for its final dates, wrapping up in November.

Visit http://canadaitscomplicated.ca for more information.