A scene from Billy Bishop Goes to War
Directed by Barbara Willis-Sweete (Canada)
John Gray and Eric Peterson's 32-year-old musical about the First World War flying ace was revived in 2009 and 2010 by Soulpepper Theatre Company, under Ted Dykstra's direction. The new production offered the perspective of Bishop as a man near the end of his life, but it also served to celebrate the much-produced and much-travelled play itself. Director Barbara Willis-Sweete is loving in capturing the details of the stage production as much as its two stars, as Gray sings and plays the ironic, rough-hewn songs and Peterson delivers a tour-de-force in multiple roles. Though Billy Bishop has been shot before (for CBC Television in the early eighties), the current production feels particularly pregnant with archival purpose to document a piece of classic Canadian theatre, with its timely message about the business of war and hero-making.
Sept. 15, 7:30 p.m., AMC 7; Sept. 18, 9:45 a.m., Lightbox 5
Liam Lacey