The halls of Glashan Public School were alive with the sound of excited Grade 7 students preparing for the last performance of A Trio of Wars: A Gift of Peace, a play about the First, Second and Korean Wars on Thursday evening before Remembrance Day.
Written and directed by Barbara Brockmann, winner of the 2002 Governor General’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History, the play follows three Canadian families through the country’s participation in the three major wars.
The play reveals how each family experiences the call to enlist, the war front, or the home front, while three storytellers narrate the similarities and differences between each experience.
Sydney Page, a Grade 7 student, said she plays a “selfish apple seller” and “dreamy factory girl.”
“I think (the play) shows the kind of stuff that can lead to war like greed and selfishness,” she said, referring to her first character the apple seller. “And then the second [character] shows that a lot of people were affected . . . like more women started to work in factories.”
Michael Davidson, also a Grade 7 student, plays the son of a rich family who decides to enlist rather than go to university.
“My great grandfather was a soldier in World War I, and so I play a soldier in World War I,” he said. “This play really shows the families involved in the three wars, and tells the story of the people who weren’t on the frontlines.”
“I think it is important to remember all the veterans. And all the people who lived, and how some people are still affected.”
“It’s a good chance for the kids to learn about their history, and the context of Remembrance Day,” said Brockman as she prepared for the student’s last performance. “And it gives them a chance to use their drama skills, and honor their veterans.”