The Ship’s Company Theatre in Parrsboro brings three of Canada’s First World War nursing sisters back to life in a powerful, touching and enlightening 75-minute drama Bluebirds, by Canadian playwright Vern Thiessen.
This production is excellent in casting and design as Thiessen gives voice to long-lost heroines based on real people and real events in 1918 in Étaples, France. There is even archival film footage within a brilliant projection design by Christian Ludwig Hansen that turns the set of a giant canvas tent into a screen.
Bluebirds, first produced by Theatre New Brunswick in 2022 and staged by Eastern Front Theatre in 2024, received a standing ovation at a recent matinee mainly of older folks who can likely relate to this history; for example, my grandfather fought in the First World War.
However, in the way Thiessen and the actors bring these women and their dreams so vibrantly alive, Bluebirds becomes a timeless story of resilience, courage and friendship.
In 1918 women do not have the vote; they are not meant to have careers beyond marriage. Christy, Maggie and Bab are nursing school graduates all seeking change, adventure and an opportunity to serve even as they pine for the woods and waters of home – very well depicted at the beginning of the play.
Original director Natasha MacLellan has a wonderful, unified cast in Mary-Fay Coady, as Christy, a young bride full of innocence and enthusiasm; Sharleen Kalayil as the older, more experienced Maggie, with a secret about her private life, and Bridget Bezanson as Bab, an efficient, worldy-wise and thoughtful person unafraid of breaking the rules.
The play is poetic and propulsive as the three treat soldiers, start to wonder about the nature of war and experience increasing privation as well as joyful days off.
MacLellan directs rhythmically with the balance of long, hard days in the hospital – the motion of the nurses marching around folding blankets and moving cots conjures up a busy hospital tent full of the wounded – and the languid Sundays at the beach where the three tell their secrets and cement their bond. The play’s ending in lighting, sound and acting is extremely powerful and haunting.
The design uplifting the poetry and the meaning in words and events includes sound by Stewart Legere, Hansen’s projections, lighting by Christopher Saad, costumes by Sherry Kinnear and choreography by Sarah Power with stage management by Christine Oakey.
This play piques curiosity to read more about the Canadian bluebirds nursing sisters known their distinctive blue and white uniform. While the First World War is over 100 years ago the pain and violence of war are always present as (largely) patriarchal players move around the chess pieces of destruction in total disregard for individual suffering.
After provincial arts budget cuts this spring, this production was initially cancelled then saved due to”exceptionally kind” donations, as artistic director Laura Vingoe-Cram put it in a news release, from Roman Doswald, Dorothee Kuhlmann and Dr. David Howe as well as an outpouring of community support. However, this problem will continue next year if the cuts remain.
“While these donations have made it possible for us to move ahead this year with our full season of programming, it is a one time solution,” says Vingoe-Cram. “Next year we will be in the same position again, trying to produce a full season on funding that was insufficient in the 90s
“The cancellation of the Artist in Schools program means the Ship’s educational and community programming is at risk, and across the province children and teens will have reduced access to arts programming. Furthermore, The Ship is part of a larger tourism ecology that is intertwined with our friends at the Fundy Geological Museum, The Parrsboro Heritage Society and Joggins Fossil Cliffs to name a few. All of these cultural institutions have received a significant cut to their operating budgets …. This will not only impact our audience numbers for years to come, but it will devastate our local community which relies on tourism dollars during the summer months.”
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