Consequences of war

New play examines the toll of WWII

I learned the other day that there are only three living Canadian veterans of the first World War; they are now 105 and 106 years old. As we observe this year's Remembrance Day, and as we pay tribute to those who serve in yet another war, the "Great War" fades into a sepia-toned memory for many, but not for Stephen Massicotte. The Canadian playwright, who received acclaim for an earlier WWI play called Mary's Wedding, returns to the same period with his new play, The Oxford Roof Climber's Rebellion.
Massicotte was struck with the terrible toll the First World War took on a generation of educated, thoughtful and essentially decent young men, thousands of whom returned home scarred from what we would now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. "In fact, everybody in the play is trying to get over some kind of trauma," says Massicotte. "Really, for me, it's a metaphor about how people are trying to get over 9/11. I've been a big history buff for a long time, and a lot of my plays end up taking my interest in history and showing how relevant those times are today, and this play particularly: the subplot of the play is the birth of the modern Middle East," he adds.
The Oxford Roof Climber's Rebellion looks specifically at two remarkable British men who were both marked by their war experiences: T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), and the poet and myth collector Robert Graves. In fact, the two were friends, although Massicotte has used a creative brush to paint their portraits.
"When I was writing my play Mary's Wedding, I was reading a lot of writers' books from World War I, and I read Goodbye to All That (by Robert Graves) at the end," he says. As someone who had always been interested in Lawrence, Massicotte was inspired by Graves' book to dig deeper into the lives of the two men. He even took a trip to England to follow his historical trail.
"I wanted to look at him after the war. I also wanted to explore some of Lawrence's sense of humour. It was always that kind of self-deprecating humour, sometimes making fun of the whole idea of the military," he says. "When he was awarded his Croix de Guerre, he ended up pinning it to the French Prime Minister's dog's collar, and the dog ended up running around the peace talks with Lawrence's medal."
When Lawrence and Graves returned from the war, says Massicotte, "their own selves they knew before the war didn't exist any more. I think they recognized in each other kindred spirits, and decided, in their own ways, to fight for England."
It's always important to re-examine these stories to understand ourselves, Massicotte believes. "We're not at the pinnacle of history," he says. "We're in the process of history; we will be a moment in that arc of history."


Tarragon Theatre presents Oxford Roof Climber's Rebellion from November 7 to October 17. For tickets, call 416-531-1827, or visit www.totix.ca.

Publication Date: 2006-11-12
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=6773