Canadian live theatre hit a new level - came into its own in many ways - with the play Billy Bishop Goes to War. It debuted in 1978 with then-unknown actor Eric Peterson in the heavy lead role. It was unabashedly Canadian, it was an international smash hit, and catapulted him to stardom.
The play's subject matter was about that same historic arc largely on one man's shoulders. Canada came into its own as a nation with distinctive exploits in the First World War - partly the victory at Vimy Ridge and partly the dizzying success of World War One flying ace Billy Bishop, one of the greatest dogfight soldiers the world ever knew or has ever known since.
Although Manfred von Richthofen or The Red Baron was more famous in popular culture, he won his 80 battles in a superior plane with superior guns, had a year's head start on Bishop (as did French ace Rene Fonck, 75 kills) and the Baron was killed in combat whereas Bishop was accelerating his totals when he was pulled from service at 72 official battle wins. His superiors wanted him to lead their morale campaign back on home soil, and his name still inspires pride in Canadians.
Now, through this play, Theatre North West has broken through a theatrical wall. Billy Bishop Goes to War has opened their 20th anniversary season with a glorious salute.
Whomever plays the lead role in this John Gray-written touchstone work must have guts and courage of his own, or the whole production would go down in flames. TNW wisely drafted David Leyshon for the mission. With seven seasons at the Shaw Festival under his belt, twice tapped for the lead in professional productions of It's A Wonderful Life, and other meaty roles besides, he was able to heft this challenging piece onto his capable shoulders. His delivery is so casual and sleek, he rolls the long script out for the audience like an expert professor delivering a keynote lecture without notes because he has the material so ingrained.
He even steps in to help in subtle ways. It is not always the case for the Billy Bishop actor to step so deeply into the musical part of the production. That foxhole is often occupied solely by the piano player - the only other actor we ever see on the stage. He is a fresh-faced rookie soldier about to embark for the Second World War, but by chance meets First World War hero Bishop thanks to the youth's fateful decision to sit down at a piano in a Legion or war museum he visits just before departure. Bishop appears and tells his story (historically controversial though it is) to the wide-eyed recruit.
The piano player is played at TNW by Victor Dolhai, a perfect embodiment of the ruddy, young volunteer anxious for the adventure of the European front. His piano, violin and vocal skills are superb almost to the point they overshadow his skills as an actor but his subtleties are no fluke. He is a three-season veteran of the Stratford Festival and 17 cabarets with Atomic Vaudeville, plus many other credits.
What helps the play immeasurably is the strong singing voice also beheld by Leyshon. Together, the two of them slide through the songs and epitomize the instant brotherly relationship between the two comrade characters.
For the audience, being at ease with the relationship between the two, and in awe of the musical performances, there is no disbelief left for the other shifting of gears Leyshon must do on the stage. While he is usually Billy Bishop, he also kicks into 17 other characters - women, Scots, several Brits, one Irish, etc. - and successfully hopscotches back to Bishop.
He also has to utilize body language carefully, with enactments running the gamut from machine guns to feather boas. He is convincingly a female lounge lizard one moment, a murderous sky-killer the next.
The set has to be just as shifty. Set designer Jennifer Goodman puts the audience practically in the cockpit of Bishop's biplane, which has the effect of chilling one's heart when you see it as a weapon but fills the wonder-sense when you imagine it as the motorized kite those machines really were. She also manages to make it a hospital bed, barstool, and a number of other settings all built into one.
If there is one chink in Leyshon's delivery it might be that he missed hitting some key words to deliver built-in jokes within the script. Or did he? Perhaps he let them hang casually on purpose in order to keep the conversational atmosphere, because certainly the script is strong enough without pandering for laughs.
This melts into irrelevant detail when he delivers one of the greatest monologues in Canadian theatre history. The "death of Albert Ball" soliloquy is a poetic jaw-dropper in the right hands and Leyshon's are the right hands. His speaking of those lines draws out magnificent darkness and a reverence akin to hearing the commonly recited poems heard at Remembrance Day.
Perhaps this is what director Kevin McKendrick was striving for. This play is an ode to bygone times but ones that still influence our daily lives. The subject matter is about one man, and yet about us all, as families and as a nation. The fact that I saw the TV version in 1982 when I was 10 years old, never saw it again in any form, yet could still sing along to large parts of several songs is testament to how strong the material is, and McKendrick delivered a version that stands on a carpet of respect for the history of the play and the 100-year history of what the play means to Canadians. He and his cast and crew did such a fine job, it wouldn't be out of place to wear a poppy when you take your seats.
Billy Bishop Goes to War is on at TNW until Oct. 15. Tickets are on sale at Books and Company while supplies last.
