WAITING FOR THE PARADE by John Murrell, directed by Joseph Ziegler, with Fiona Byrne, Deborah Drakeford, Michelle Monteith, Nancy Palk and Krystin Pellerin (Soulpepper). At the Young Centre (55 Mill). Previews begin Saturday (May 1), opens Wednesday (May 5) and runs to May 29, Monday-Saturday 8 pm, matinees Saturday and some Wednesdays 2 pm. $29-$70, some rush. 416-866-8666. See listing.
For the past few months, Soulpepper’s been engaged in battle – of a dramatic kind.[rssbreak]
Opening the season, Billy Bishop Goes To War and Oh What A Lovely War looked at the First World War.
Now, Waiting For The Parade, set during the Second World War, offers a female perspective on the fighting.
One of John Murrell’s best plays, Waiting focuses on five Albertan women, most of whom watch the men in their lives go off to combat.
“These five remain behind at what’s called the home front,” says Deborah Drakeford, who plays the “aggressively cheerful” Janet. “That phrase is accurate, because it feels like the women are at war, too, but fighting a different kind of battle. We rarely get to hear the voices of women during wartime.”
Janet takes it upon herself to “galvanize the women and get tasks done with perfection. She’s not scared to be the boss as long as the job is taken care of, and she doesn’t care if she alienates the others.”
Given her officious manner, she does that much of the time. Margaret, the eldest, keeps saying she can’t stand Janet, while Janet sometimes has the young Eve in tears. Catherine, working in a local factory, pays her less attention no one cares much about the opinions of the ostracized German-born Marta.
Coincidentally, Drakeford played Marta in a university production of Parade and made her professional Toronto debut in Murrell’s play October.
“I love the fact that John has given all five characters such incredible backstories,” offers the warm actor, who’s recently done fine work in The Dining Room and The City. “Everyone has a chance to present a complex personality and why they behave as they do.”
This revised version of the script makes the interaction between the women even more precise, adds Drakeford.
“What’s wonderful is John’s understanding of what isn’t said about the war, about the men being gone, and the fact that some men have stayed by choice or necessity.”
Like Clare Boothe Luce’s The Women, Waiting For The Parade is populated solely by women, but women continually influenced by the missing men in their lives.
“In a sense, Janet is the man in this story, the one who takes control, who understands her ties to king and empire. Ironically, though she’s proudly Canadian, she feels that the women will get through the war by following Mother England loudly, fiercely and passionately.”
But Murrell lets the audience in on what lies beneath the surface for Janet and the others, from the wordless first scene in which they reveal their feelings simply by dancing.
“The fear, despair, nervousness, anger, self-protection and jealousy that can exist in female relationships are all on view,” notes Drakeford, “and also the fact that these women would like to be friends, but circumstances don’t allow it.
“On one level,” she smiles, “it’s a good old girl story.”
Additional Interview Clip
Waiting For The Parade’s song and dance
jonkap@nowtoronto.com
