war

Joanna Gaskell plays a phenomenal role in this production. I cannot gush enough about how much intensity and passion she brings to her performance and how captivating her storytelling is. Iris O'Neill was the real star of the show however, all two feet of her!

The actual production is about Joanna, playing the role of a fighter pilot in the US military, telling the story of her journey from flying her F-15 “Tiger” in Iraq, to returning stateside as a new mother, to flying drones from Las Vegas. Sam (played by O’Neill) is her pre-school aged daughter and...

This play is a lament for the painful consequences that radiate in all directions from a violence-infused culture. It’s a reflection on frustration, anger, abandonment, hidden disabilities, and sexual violence. It reveals a struggle to understand the causes of pain across four lives: a dead American soldier, perhaps by suicide, perhaps involved in Abu Ghraib atrocities in the US/Gulf War; his wife, perhaps unloved, a young woman, now a therapist, emotionally abandoned by her father; the soldier’s artistically-inclined, identical, gay twin brother (wouldn’t they both be gay?) worrying about his life; and the father of the brothers, a Vietnam veteran...

The Fighting Season features strong acting and writing. It is also an intense, heavy drama that may haunt you long after you leave the theatre- not unlike the characters returning from Afghanistan. I usually avoid movies and theatre about war, no matter how well done they are. And this is done well. If you can handle the content, this is definitely one to catch. It is also enlightening. I have no idea how they did it, but somehow the Canadian Forces Health Services group at Kandahar Airfield Base Role 3 Hospital maintained a 97% success (patient survival) rate. For that,...

          Kirsty Provans He Roars treads familiar territory with its portrayal of journalist Roses (Kirsty Provan) struggle as she pursues a relationship with her childhood friend Charlie (Sebastian Kroon) who is a soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces. The play charts their romance between Charlie...