No Man's Land

This is a Theatre Review for which I don't have a dedicated blog getting out like that being such a rare activity for me these days.

While the rest of Canada celebrates July the First as a holiday marking the birth of Canada; in Newfoundland it is a day of mourning for the death of Newfoundland as a nation. The Newfoundland Regiment served in France during World War One and on July 1, 1916, 800 men went over the top to assault a hill at Beaumont-Hamel, got caught up in their own barbed wire, and were mowed down by withering machine-gun fire. Only 68 made it back alive. That single engagement wiped out an entire generation of Newfoundland's brightest and best; leading, in no small part, to its eventual union with Canada. The history of this encounter is recorded in Kevin Major's book, No Man's Land, which he adapted for this stage production.

For most of the play the stage looks like an underground bunker with foot lockers that look ominously like tombstones, benches, a few tables and a backdrop of burlap. The acting areas are created by spot lighting though the long cobweb hanging from the first spot added a bizarre touch. The nine men on stage are all in uniform and those army-beige uniforms looked lived-in, indeed slept in, their pockets loaded with gear. Except for the Madam who puts in a brief bawdy appearance and the nurse, the ladies wait back home making bandages and writing letters. We spend the majority of the play getting to know the men and the rigors of life in the trenches. The action of the climactic scene takes place off-stage, only one seventeen-year-old boy making it back onstage alive. The Oakville Centre's sound system was barely up to the task of reproducing the tattoo of machine gun fire.

As with most colloquial speakers true Newfoundlanders don't sound nearly as "down-home" as their ex-patriot brethren. What does ring true is their ability to break into song at the drop of a hat no matter how dire the circumstances and their ability to find humour in adversity. The singing is done a cappella throughout and the vocalists were without exception talented. The Spartan nature of the staging seemed appropriate and the lighting design and execution were spot-on. Obviously this crew are accustomed to mounting productions with meagre resources and little lead time. The actors truly inhabited their parts.

Anyone who would wish to learn more about the play or the company could do worse than to follow this shortcut:

http://www.risingtidetheatre.com/Study_Guide.pdf