BACK IN THE FIGHT
‘The Return of the Cape Breton Liberation Army’ storms the HAT stage
CBLA gets theatrical showcase at HAT.
For the first two weeks all we did was brawl. Halifax Hardhats bullying peaceloving pub denizens. Oddly named supervillains faced down the patriots of the Cape Breton Liberation Army in a final confrontation. Weapons ranged from the traditional beer bottles and pool cues to the comic book tropes of pizza boxes versus Tar Monsters. All set to the music of a jaunty reel.
As much as this sounds like real life on Cape Breton Island, it’s actually an inside look at the new Highland Arts original musical production of Wesley J. Colford’s “The Return of the Cape Breton Liberation Army”.
I have a small role in the show playing a mysterious singer/songwriter/Cape Breton Post columnist improbably named “Ken Chisholm.” It’s been the biggest stretch of my acting career.
The original Cape Breton Liberation Army was the inspiration of a group of young men in Sydney Mines during the 1970s. What started off as an in-joke around the table of a late night kitchen party quickly became a household name around Industrial Cape Breton thanks largely to the efforts of radio personality the late Dave Harley (“General John Cabot Trail”) and artist Paul “Moose” MacKinnon.
MacKinnon drew and self-published a series of comic books, “Old Trout Funnies”, which retailed the adventures of the various generals of the CBLA battling bureaucratic malfeasance and mutated giant spruce budworms among other menaces. After deciding not to produce any more comic books (I worked briefly on the uncompleted fourth issue with him), MacKinnon kept the CBLA in front of the public with his annual CBLA calendars which ran into the late 1990s and hung on walls from Cape North to Kapuskasing.
Two years ago, the Cape Breton University Press published “Old Trout Funnies: The Comic Origins of The Cape Breton Liberation Army” which featured reproductions of almost all of MacKinnon’s original CBLA artwork along with an introduction and explanatory notes by CBU folklorist Ian Brodie.
The launch of the book at the CBU Art Gallery saw many of the CBLA’s generals (and everyone was a general in the CBLA) gathered together in the same room after many decades. They shared old stories and viewed many panels of MacKinnon’s art with their kids and grandkids, chuckling over the impossibly buff physiques with which the artist had endowed their characters. (As the brother of the subject of several “Old Trout” comics, Peyton The Semi-Barbarian, I can attest his manly six pack on the cover of Issue One was an artist’s invention but probably closer to how our Mom saw him.)
The renewed interest in the CBLA sparked the imagination of Highland Arts Theatre artistic director, Wesley Colford, who sought out MacKinnon’s permission to use the “Old Trout Funnies” as an inspiration for a new musical spectacular
along the lines of the HAT’s earlier hit, “Heart of Steel”.
As a cast member, I cannot divulge any major plot points other than to say there is another nefarious conspiracy to foil, outlandish villains based around everyday Cape Breton cultural references, and a new generation of “generals” ready to stand for the cause (or at least take a pause for the cause). It has everything a good comic book movie has (except for a gratuitous Stan Lee cameo) only it’s a live performance by people who spent the first two weeks of rehearsal learning stage combat, maybe for the first time, from dancer and choreographer Thomas Colford. So be warned: There might some unintended and unlikely but possibly lethal audience participation.
Our cast includes Frank McKibbon, Maureen MacAdam, Donnie Antle, Kevin Munroe, Rory Andrews, Diana McKinnon-Furlong, George MacKenzie, Ron Newcombe, Mark Delaney, Lesley MacLean, Sarah Walker, Breagh MacInnis, Tristan Barlett, and me.
While looking back at the history of the CBLA, this HAT production is set in the present day and (humourously) looks at contemporary Cape Breton problems with the same satiric spirit that MacKinnon worked on the issues of his day. Raunchy, rude, rowdy, and riotous, we’re hoping our show entertains and maybe inspires a new generation of “generals”.
“The Return of the Cape Breton Liberation Army” runs at the Highland Arts Theatre 8 pm nightly from Wednesday, March 22, to Thursday, March 30.