The CANADA SHOW: The Complete History of Canada in One Hour

Monster Theatre—John Hirsch Mainstage

A chest painted with the Canadian flag is at center stage, a man stands on it strumming a guitar, and two women flank him, all of them singing a fantasy song about how great Canada could be. At one point they sing about the dollar being worth ninety-nine point nine nine nine nine cents US, which leads into the coda from Hey Jude (“… na na na na-na-na na…”). Thus begins the Canada Show, which promises “twenty thousand years of history in one hour.”

They talk or sing about the great European discoverers of this land, include Cabot, which leads to a “Who’s on First?” routine featuring Cabot and Costello, and do a sketch about Jacques Cartier involving the puppets from Mr. Dressup. Along the way, the history and grievances of the indigenous peoples, the French, and the English, are represented by one performer each.

This trio skips briskly through history from the Battle of the Plains of Abraham to the War of 1812 to Confederation (and posit that it was a reaction to the recently completed American Civil War, a historical theory that is interesting to ponder), to Louis Riel and the Red River Rebellion, to women’s suffrage, and beyond. As they move through all this content, they use and discard a lot of different props, which eventually come to litter the entire spacious stage.

The three performers do a few very funny songs with great energy, including one listing great Canadian women (which includes a misunderstanding about whether Kim Mitchell is a man or a woman). Another song runs rapidly through all the Canadian Prime Ministers, from drunk Sir John A to “I am a robot” Harper, culminating in Trudeau II, who, according to this show, cares as much about the concerns of his populace as the early British governors, which is to say: not much at all.

Konrad Antony