A SOLDIER’S STORY
Veteran’s letters inspire play
MATT OLSON
When Joshua Ramsden’s grandfather passed away, he left Ramsden a number of letters he’d sent during his time as a soldier in the Second World War.
“It was all these letters that he’d wrote home to his family when he was in the army,” Ramsden said. “By the end of the letters I was like, ‘I understand the point of view of that person. I’ve met that
man ... but I never really met the man or voice before he’d gone overseas.’ ”
It was those letters and experiences that were passed down to Ramsden that inspired him to write A Soldier’s War, the next show in the Live Five theatre season in Saskatoon.
A younger Ramsden lived with both his grandparents for a time, and he said his regularly bedridden grandfather would often tell him
stories about his fellow soldiers. Ramsden could recall a time when his grandfather called him into his bedroom and showed him a picture of himself alongside fellow comrades. He’d point to a picture and simply name a time and place — the time and place where they died.
Moments like that are what got Ramsden thinking more deeply about the war and the personal struggles of veterans and their families, but it was that moment that really stuck with him.
“He was obviously overseas protecting and fighting for our freedoms ... but he was also, in his letters, not discussing the chaos and tragedy that was around him,” he said.
Ramsden said the show about to debut at the Refinery is the third iteration in the past five years as he’s made changes to make it more impactful. He said his goal in writing the show was to highlight the mindset of soldiers who returned home from war, as part of the mandate for theatre company Strikes Twice Productions is to shine a light on issues surrounding mental health.
He said he felt it was necessary to do a lot of research surrounding PTSD and mental health impacts on veterans before he could write the play.
“It looks at the cost and transformation human beings must go to when faced with traumatic events,” Ramsden said.
The show is scheduled to open on Nov. 1 and run until Remembrance
Day. It’s near-perfect timing for the run, but Ramsden was adamant that while Remembrance Day is an important day to recognize with the highest regard, it’s equally important to regularly connect to the past and not only once per year in November.
“As we’re getting farther away from World War II, we have less and less veterans of that time still living,” he said. “To me ... it’s also important that we address it every year ... we need to be available and thinking about it every year.”