Female secret agents inspire Ungentlemanly show
The atrocities taking place in Ukraine have lent an eerie timeliness to a genre-defying show coming to Vancouver’s York Theatre. The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare is Jonathan Christenson’s combination of script, songs, musical theatre, and graphic work about seven female special agents sent to France in 1940 to help bring down the Nazis.
For Melissa MacPherson, who plays the narrator, Evelyn Ash, the war in Ukraine offers a stark reminder of what these women encountered 80 years ago.
“It really makes you look inside and try to find the source of empathy required to try and portray somebody like this and a situation like this where you know people are dying,” MacPherson tells the Straight by phone before a rehearsal in Edmonton. “People are suffering now, and so it makes it extremely emotional.”
MacPherson’s character was inspired by Vera Atkins, a Second World War British intelligence officer who was born in Romania. She spent much of that war in France, deploying other women who worked as couriers and wireless operators. Author William Stevenson described her in one of his books as the greatest female secret agent of that era.
In The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Christenson takes dramatic licence with this history, but all of the characters were inspired by real women in Europe at that time. MacPherson points out that Atkins went to great lengths to keep her personal life under wraps, which made it even more fascinating to play a character based on her.
“There isn’t really a role that I’ve had that is comparable to this,” MacPherson says. “The way that I’ve approached her is like nothing I’ve had the opportunity to do before, and I’m just so grateful to Jonathan for writing these incredibly complex and nonstereotypical women.”
She not only read about Atkins but she also looked to real women in her life for inspiration. MacPherson says that the courage and humanity of Evelyn has spilled into her own life, giving her the freedom to find these qualities within herself.
“Of course, any role that has some meat to it, I think, is going to inform the rest of your life because you bring your experiences to the role and then the role brings their experiences to you, in a way,” MacPherson states.
She appears alongside Kristi Hansen, Kaylee Harwood, Sarah Nairne, Amanda Trapp, Tahirih Vejdani, and Justine Westby, who play the other characters in the show. Christenson was assisted on the original compositions by Matthew Skopyk.
The show received exceptional reviews when it premiered at the Vertigo Theatre in Calgary in 2019. MacPherson laughs when asked what people might experience when they attend the York Theatre for an upcoming performance.
“Well, I’ve never been in the audience myself,” she allows, “but I’ve heard some things [about] the effect of the music, the design, and the overall sort of splendour of the conglomeration of all these theatrical elements.”
There are seven different languages within the show, with projections offering translations for the audience.
“I know that helps people understand what is being spoken on-stage,” she says. “Locations are highlighted. That being said, I’ve never seen it because it’s happening behind me.”
The shows in Vancouver are choreographed by Courtney Arsenault, whereas the original was choreographed by Laura Krewski.
Catalyst Theatre’s long-time resident designer, Bretta Gerecke, was in charge of the set, lights, costumes, and projections. Over the course of her career, she’s won 17 Edmonton-based Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards for her costumes.
The clothing worn by characters in The Invisible is certainly attention-grabbing. MacPherson appears in masculine attire: a buttoned-up shirt with a tie, vest, and trousers. She credits the wardrobe department for doing a marvellous job of keeping the cast comfortable on-stage even as they perform with a British stiff upper lip that extends to their collars.
“The costumes are lovely because they truly inform the posture and the carriage of the person,” MacPherson says.
MacPherson says she’s amazed that all of this lived inside Christenson’s head for so many years, saying his “genius” comes through in so many aspects of The Invisible.
“He is so meticulous with his vision but also very kind,” MacPherson says of the director and writer. “And I think that comes through in the work. Everything is very specific for the production but it’s also very charged with empathy and real feeling.”
The Cultch presents Catalyst Theatre’s The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare at the York Theatre from April 29 to May 7.