FRINGE 2019: Saga of World War I nurses comes off like a work in progress
Bluebirds
Stage 40 (The Al & Trish Huehn Theatre, Concordia College)
A large troop ship is caught in a mighty gale while carrying Canadian troops and a contingent of 19 Bluebirds to Europe at the beginning of World War I.
“Bluebirds” is the affectionate name Canadian nurses earned first in the 1899 South African campaign – inspired by their blue dresses, white aprons and sheer white veils. The heroic ladies gained fame for their bravery and caring ways.
This play begins on board ship where three nurses, Maggie (Darian King,) Christy (Justine Schultz) and Bab (Teneil Whiskeyjack) are miserably holding on to each other. Other than being from small Canadian towns they have little in common – but there is nothing like an imminent war to bind strangers. The three stride to the front of the stage to deliver powerful and atmospheric monologues about growing up in the glories of a pre-World War Canada. Their thoughts are given stirring life by playwright Vern Thiessen.
The rest of the play is composed of soliloquies and short dialogue scenes told through the easy humanity and tellingly heart-tugging, ethereal dialogue.
Soon the three are in the middle of battle. In one scene they walk down rows of wounded, doing triage, dolefully intoning the promise of life or death.
“Immediate care … Likely to survive … Will not survive …”
In their spare time, the nurses go to the sandy beaches of France (in a set by Michael Peng) to swim and share their lives.
The three actors are superb, combining the yearning thoughts of young girls being strangled by the hideous consequences of battle.
One night, the Huns hit the hospital. One hundred and sixty nine soldiers are killed – as are the three nurses.
And then, just like that, the play is over.
You may be stunned by the terrible event – as you are stunned by the short 35 minutes of the work.
This is not so much a play as a protracted vignette in search of a longer life. You just get to meet these young ladies, watch them grow and change and then they are taken away, which renders their death dramatically unresolved, unsatisfactory and unfulfilling. Acknowledging the quality of this Wishbone Theatre production, the effort lavished on it by a number of organizations in its gestation period and the obvious passion of director Chris Bullough, let us hope that the promise of further development will come to pass. The potential is there for the same richness Thiessen gave us in this same time on a similar battlefield in his masterwork, Vimy.
The Bluebirds have been largely forgotten and their story is one that should be told. I hope this play is not so much an end as a beginning.
3 out of 5
