the broken typewriter

Bringing to life an important piece of Canadian history, Vern Thiessen’s play, Bluebirds, tells the story of three Canadian nurses in Etaples, France in 1918, at Canadian Hospital No. 1, going beyond their duties as nurses, delving into their experiences and daily lives as women far from home, as they serve behind the front lines.

Director Emry Mika says that when she discovered this play, she read it in one sitting and “and it just started coming alive in my head and I knew I wanted to bring it to the stage.

“It’s such an important piece of our history, when we talk about war history, we often talk about the men and granted they had great sacrifices, but there were many women involved in these situations as well, and this tells their story.”

The title of the play comes from the colour of the nurses’ uniforms, which Mika describes as a beautiful blue, and so the patients, the young men would call them Bluebirds.

The three nurses whose journey is brought to life are Gladys Mary Wake (Bab) played by Stevi MacGillivray; Margaret Lowe (Maggie) played by Erin Czitron; and Katherine Maud Macdonald (Christy) played by Jeryn Mackey.

Maggie is the oldest, the matronly nurse who, after welcoming them to France, teaches the other two women their duties and responsibilities as war nurses.

“They are roomed together so we get to see their friendship develop and their journey throughout the time they are in France taking care of the boys, what the conditions were like in the hospital where they worked, what they would do for fun on their days off,” Mika said.

It’s a fluid and dreamscape-like play, with the story transitioning from caring for the boys to their day off at the beach and back, and the experiences they each have in caring for the young men who were still essentially kids.

The playwright, Mika said, took some creative licence with the trio’s story. It’s the story of three nurses who did exist and did serve at this hospital, but he builds into the show some more of their story, shows them writing letters to loved ones.

The letters that Bab, Christy and Maggie read aloud as they write them in the play, are letters that the trio wrote to the loved ones back in 1918.

Mika said that during research into the background of the play, “we’ve been able to find some of those letters from those real women to their loved ones, so we’ve been able to do a lot of deep research into the timeline and what these women were going through.”

The letters are all on the Canadian Museum site, as well as pictures of the women.

“There’s some beautiful information there,” Mika said.

Bluebirds is a smaller production than the usual fare from Stage North, with only three actresses telling the whole story, but they are all enjoying their roles and have embraced the opportunity to portray these moving characters from a pivotal point in Canadian history.

Erin Czitron, who plays Maggie, said that she cried the first time she read the play. “It was such a beautiful story of the friendships between these women.”

In addition to the letters written by the nurses, the cast also sings a few songs from the era, which Mika also enjoyed researching. Tunes such as I Love You Canada, and Why can’t a girl be a soldier, feature in the show, which Mika notes is not a musical. The songs simply add more atmosphere, taking one back in history.

Bluebirds runs from May 1 to 3 in at North Peace Secondary School in the drama room. Doors open at 7 p.m., with the show starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 cash at the door. Bluebirds will also be going to the Peace River Zone Festival May 22-24 at NPSS.