reviewvancouver: Mary's Wedding

Gateway Theatre couldn’t have picked a better opening date for this WWI play, November 11th, Armistice Day. The play was introduced with a one-man narrative tribute to the men and women in uniform who lost their lives.The stage backdrop was simple and appropriate. A long line of sandbags represented the trenches and a square wooden stage set became a barn, horse and a wagon.

Mary’s Wedding was based on the real life of one of our Canadian soldiers, Lieutenant Gordon Muriel Flowerdew who was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously after he died on the battlefield. The Victoria Cross is the highest honour awarded in Canada. Mary’s Wedding took place in Mary’s dream the night before her wedding to her second fiancé. In the dream Mary relives her time with her first love Charlie (Giovanni Mocibob) who joined the forces and unfortunately lost his life. Nicola Elbro who played Mary also played the part of Charlie’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Flowerdew, on the front lines.

What made it interesting was that there was no change of costume from Mary to Charlie’s commanding officer. Elbro played both roles well. The time period was between 1914 and 1920. Mary and Charlie first met in the country during a thunderstorm. Charlie was afraid of thunderstorms, so Mary comforted him. The irony in this was that Charlie would soon be hearing the violent explosions of military weapons on the battlefield that were by far worse than thunder storms on the prairies. You had to pay attention to the role transformation from Mary to Lieutenant Flowerdew and back since there was no costume change.

The play was a bit too simple in its story line and could have had more substance. There were a few humorous lines when Charlie and Mary were horseback riding. The play’s main achievement was to bring to light the impact of WWI. It showed us the sad reality of the personal losses that so many endured because of war. Indeed, this was an appropriate stage production for Remembrance Day.