Review: The Invasion of Turtle Island

Being an Indigenous person automatically makes you a story collector and a storyteller. Whether it be through oral storytelling, written storytelling, or visual storytelling, our job as Onkwehón:we is to listen to the stories from our elders and pass them down to the next generation. And there are many different ways to tell a story.

I remember my first introduction to the world of musical storytelling when I first attended the Turtle Island Theatre youth group summer drama camp.

Whether it be taking a trip down to The Big Apple and seeing a professional Broadway production, or in your own community with a make-shift stage and volunteer performers, there is something magical about watching the story come to life in front of your eyes.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to catch one show out of a two-night event at Kateri Hall, The Invasion of Turtle Island, an original musical play by Kevin John Saylor.

This rendition was first performed as part of the First Peoples Performing Arts Festival in Gananoque, Ontario, this past September, and made its way to Kahnawake once word got out about how brilliant the show was.

Everyone performing that night came out and gave their all. From the first note sung by Mr. Frayne McCarthy to the final bow on stage, I was captivated by this fun, interesting, thought-provoking story.

There was something particular about this play that stirred many warm emotions in my heart. Perhaps it was the musical prologue that had some resemblance of Disneyesque themes. Perhaps it was the lightheartedness that lifted the weight from such a normally sensitive topic. Perhaps it was just me being a sucker for musicals.

Regardless of what it actually was and where those feelings came from, The Invasion of Turtle Island was reminiscent of all the things I forgot I loved about musical theatre.

Something that I loved about the show was the flipping-the-script of certain historical events.

This not only allowed the audience to have a comedic break but also raised an eyebrow at what things that could’ve happened if they had unfolded differently.

As Indigenous people, we often struggle to have our voices heard on the issues such as land distribution and what would happen once we run out of space on our reserves.

While these topics were explored throughout the play, another theme arises. And that theme is friendship. Among the adult actors shined the two child actors, Iehwatsirahni:ra’ts Gilbert and Julian Deer.

Not only were these two the most impressive part of the whole entire show – they blew me away with their singing and dedication – but they also reminded me of what it was like to be a kid.

When you are young, children are just children. There are no colours, there are no politics, the only thing pulling them apart was the adults.

During the show, I had the pleasure of talking to Kevin John Saylor about his creation. He mentioned that he held onto this show for almost three decades and originally wrote it for grade four to five. Saylor adapted the show from a quick 45-minute fable into a full two-act show.

It is shows like this that remind me why theatre is so important to the community. And I await the next thing that Saylor has up his sleeve.

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