MORE THAN A HISTORY LESSON
Powerful tale takes personal look at ‘amazing’ Canadians who fought in bloody First World War battle
Like the charge by Canadian troops who took and held Vimy Ridge in France a century ago, a humanistic play recalling the successful onslaught takes its toll.
It was a century ago that troops mainly from an adolescent Canada won a fight that raged from April 9-12, 1917. Other Allied countries had failed in taking the ridge, considered critical ground not only in that battlefield, but also to a large military offensive in the First World War.
Credit went to the soldiers’ bravery and tenacity, but also to an attack plan that was practised for months ahead of the rush from their trenches. It dictated that advancing Canadians stay just behind a torrent of artillery shells lobbed over them to soften the enemy’s defences.
In one day alone there were 3,500 dead and 10,000 wounded among the Canadian contingent, according to Mark Claxton, director of the play called Vimy, being presented by the Regina Little Theatre on April 5-8 at the Regina Performing Arts Centre.
“It was a bloody battle,” Claxton said. “There’s no question that it was a striking tactical victory, that it cost a lot of Canadian lives and that it took on a great deal of importance in the decades after for those who were interested in Canada as a nation.
“The beauty of the play is that it’s a lot more than a history lesson. It’s a very powerful human story in addition to being a tribute to those who fought in that battle, and a bit of a reflection as to what it meant for Canadians.”
But it’s not just about the gore in this work, by Alberta-based playwright Noel Thiessen and first staged in 2007. Vimy respects the duty of war … and there’s even a hint of romance.
Regina actor Abbey Thiessen (no relation to the playwright) portrays a nurse in a medical tent where she tends to four ailing soldiers — meanwhile seeking word about her sweetheart, who’s involved in the fray.
The play acknowledges the “amazing” accomplishment of this battle, says Thiessen.
“It was a huge move for Canada and for so many nations.”
But it also helps audiences understand “why we should never have to do it again,” she added.
“It’s become unimportant again. And that’s kind of awful, because tens of thousands of men sacrificed their lives so that we could live a free country.”
The battle for Vimy Ridge was just before the Canadian government ordered men to join the nation’s forces, and each soldier had their own reasons for volunteering to fight in the First World War.
The four soldiers in the play’s medical tent come from Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Quebec. So they represent various regional viewpoints on the war and volunteering to fight.
A chance to break with his family’s tradition of earning a living as a butcher was motivation enough for the injured J.P., a francophone soldier from Quebec who is played by actor Tyler Toppings.
“They didn’t have news broadcasts and television images of the war showing that it was awful, awful, awful. They all went in with these romantic ideas of fighting a war,” Toppings said.
“I don’t think anyone knew what they were in for. J.P. absolutely did not. They saw an opportunity to make a name for themselves, for glory, to break a chain of events in their family line. They saw something different, maybe something better.”
J.P. also represents soldiers of the era who suffered from “shell shock,” now called post-traumatic stress disorder. At that time, treatment of the ailment could be as brutal as the incident that inflicted it.
“Some of the worst suffering was at the hands of their superiors and other officers, because shell shock — PTSD — wasn’t understood as a psychological upset,” Toppings said.
“Many soldiers were shot for incompetence and disobedience.”