When Montreal playwright and performer Julia Mackey went to France for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day back in 2004, she had no idea it would change her life as much as it did.
After spending a week interviewing Canadian, British and American veterans and Normandy residents, she wrote her one person show Jake’s Gift, started performing it at Fringe festivals in 2007 where it was an immediate hit, and she has been touring Canada with ever since.
The New West Theatre presentation runs at the Sterndale Bennett Theatre Oct. 1-11.
She returned 10 years later for the 70th anniversary.
“ It was very emotional to come back to the place which it is part of,” she said.
She even translated it into French and performed it twice right on the shores of Juno Beach.
“There was woman in the audience who spoke French and she was shaking her head throughout the show. Her family lives in the Queen’s Rifle’s House which I talk about and pointed to it out the window. Afterwards she came up to me and said ‘My name is Isabelle and you’ve just told my story,” said Mackey, who is still amazed by how the show has affected people.
“We had 30 people there that first night and 35 the next,” she said, noting her partner Dirk Van Stralen is directing the production.
“We played a theatre in Bayeux and the window was open so you could hear the waves crashing. And I could actually point to the house where the play takes place,” she enthused.
“ It is about a Second World War veteran named Jake who goes to Normandy for the sixtieth anniversary of D-Day to find his brother Chester's grave. He meets a 10-year-old girl, Isabelle, who is part of one of the families he helped liberate. She encourages him to find his brother’s grave. She helps him remember,” said Mackey, who plays all four characters in the play— the 80-year-old veteran Jake, Isabelle, the 10-year-old girl, her 70-year-old grandmother who was Isabelle's age during the battle and a 30-year old teacher.
“ I consider it to be a love letter to all veterans whether they are from the Second World War to Afghanistan,” she described.
Mackey noted through the four different characters, the play explores the effects of war on four different generations. She noted the differences between the different generations provide much of the play’s humour, combined with moving, touching dramatic scenes.
She also has a personal connection as her grandfather, who passed away four years before Mackey was born, was a Second World War veteran who was a mine sweeper.
“ I never knew. My father lives in England and he had all of these war medals, so I asked him ‘whose are these?’ So he was definitively an inspiration,” she said.
“I’ve been performing Jake's Gift for seven years. I can’t believe how many e-mails I get from people who want us to bring the production to their communities. We’re coming to lots of rural towns on this tour. Because a lot of people from small towns had people who went over there during the war. Every town has a Legion,” she said.
“ We feel blessed that this is how we get to spend our day,” she enthused.
She is selling special pins at each performance, for which all of the proceeds are donated to the local Legions’ poppy funds.
All the profits from the Lethbridge performances will be donated to the Lethbridge Legion Branch #4.
In addition to nightly performances, there are also special school performances as local schools will be coming to the show for several special performances.
“ It is important for schools to have the experience of coming to a theatre and seeing a show instead of us coming to perform in a school gym,” she said.
Jake’s Gift runs Oct. 1-11, every day except Sunday and Monday, at 7:30 p.m. each night. There are also 1 p.m. matinees on Oct. 9 and 11.
There are discounts for military personnel, veterans and air cadets.
