St. Albert Gazette Review,
Firing Lines: Journalist Beatrice Nasmyth Covers the First World War – ★★★★
(Strathcona Branch, Edmonton Public Library, 8331 104 St.)
The setting is the Canadian Women's Press Club in 1939. Journalist Beatrice Nasmyth, the first Canadian woman to cover the First World War in 1914, is invited to speak about her wartime experiences reporting on the “women's perspective.”
She plies her audience with stories of bloody trenches stinking with dead bodies, shell-shocked soldiers treated with electroshock therapy and bombs exploding near parks.
She speaks about knitting socks for soldiers, collapsing from malnutrition, and intense romances with soldiers kindled by brief meetings and speedy partings.
Firing Lines: Journalist Beatrice Nasmyth Covers the First World War is completely riveting.
Playwright Debbie Marshall has telescoped 20 of Nasmyth's wartime letters into a drama that tugs at every emotion while director David Chereos skilfully navigates the flashbacks and keeps the momentum flowing.
Perfectly cast, St. Albert's Jenny McKillop plays the younger Beatrice — an idealistic, passionate and curious young woman. Veteran actress Heather D. Swain instead takes on the role of the older Beatrice, an astute, pragmatic woman that saw the bloodbath for what it was and refused to gild the lily. Randy Brososky fluidly moves in and out of various soldiers' roles.
Amongst the Fringe froth, Firing Lines is a one-hour play with considerable substance and sympathetic characters that survived a horrific ordeal, something worth thinking about.
— Anna Borowiecki
Firing Lines: Journalist Beatrice Nasmyth Covers the First World War – ★★★★
(Strathcona Branch, Edmonton Public Library, 8331 104 St.)
The setting is the Canadian Women's Press Club in 1939. Journalist Beatrice Nasmyth, the first Canadian woman to cover the First World War in 1914, is invited to speak about her wartime experiences reporting on the “women's perspective.”
She plies her audience with stories of bloody trenches stinking with dead bodies, shell-shocked soldiers treated with electroshock therapy and bombs exploding near parks.
She speaks about knitting socks for soldiers, collapsing from malnutrition, and intense romances with soldiers kindled by brief meetings and speedy partings.
Firing Lines: Journalist Beatrice Nasmyth Covers the First World War is completely riveting.
Playwright Debbie Marshall has telescoped 20 of Nasmyth's wartime letters into a drama that tugs at every emotion while director David Chereos skilfully navigates the flashbacks and keeps the momentum flowing.
Perfectly cast, St. Albert's Jenny McKillop plays the younger Beatrice — an idealistic, passionate and curious young woman. Veteran actress Heather D. Swain instead takes on the role of the older Beatrice, an astute, pragmatic woman that saw the bloodbath for what it was and refused to gild the lily. Randy Brososky fluidly moves in and out of various soldiers' roles.
Amongst the Fringe froth, Firing Lines is a one-hour play with considerable substance and sympathetic characters that survived a horrific ordeal, something worth thinking about.
— Anna Borowiecki