By Emily R. Zarevich, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
They’ve migrated from Canada to France to participate in the war to end all wars. “The boys call us bluebirds,” says one of the main characters at the start. When three bold Canadian women shed their Edwardian corsets and don their blue nursing uniforms, their former lives cease to exist except through the letters they send to offstage ghosts that never appear. They become a bonded trio, a matching set, comrades for life. All they really have anymore is each other, while the world around them succumbs to the Earth-shattering horrors of World War I. This is the premise of Winnipeg-based playwright Vern Thiessen’s Bluebirds, which opened at Theatre Burlington on Friday, April 11, 2025, at 8:00 p.m. It’s a story about an untold story, that of women’s gentle friendships prevailing against the violence and hatred turning millions of people against each other after the century turned. It’s also a story of Canadian pride, unshaken by global politics.
Directed by Graham Clements, Bluebirds is a venture into the pockets of women’s issues that passed virtually unnoticed in a time period where everyone was fixated on the actions and movements of men. Women’s work, women’s freedom, and women’s sexuality are all incorporated into this three-way conversation, which stretches to a modest but appropriate 75 minutes. Vanessa Scott is Bab, a plucky but nostalgic nurse whose coping mechanism is penning letters to her long-deceased grandfather. Christine Marchetti, who previously appeared in this year’s Timepiece as a disgruntled daughter, plays Maggie, the resilient leader of the group whose practicality doesn’t override her longing for true love and passion. And Jennifer Graham is Christy, a bubbly, naïve, and questioning young woman with a secret she counts on the others to keep. These three women are not called upon to be wives and mothers during this war. They’re called upon to be nurses, and sometimes angels, to the dying soldiers. They volunteered for this life willingly, and they also volunteer to be inseparable friends to each other.
All three actors make a convincing clique. Bluebirds emphasizes that during wartime, what kept up the morale of its participants was not necessarily antagonism or a strong sense of duty but the small moments of happiness and peace that intercepted the chaos. In the wards, the nurses rush from bedside to bedside, comforting and administrating medicine to the injured and the ill. During their time off, they picnic on the beach, gossip, swap stories, laugh about wearing brassieres, and make vows of eternal friendship. This is what gives them the strength to keep going.
Bluebird’s storytelling relies entirely on the strength of the trio’s performances. There is a bare set save three fold-up cots, with not a single prop. The actors mime drinking wine on the beach or reading their patients’ medical records aloud from a clipboard. They’re not even given pens to write their many letters with. The scarcity of objects is an effective strategy for establishing atmosphere. Living in wartime means living in scarcity, and one must learn to cope with the absence of familiar things. For some audience members, the stripped-down set and nonexistent props may require a stretch of the imagination that may prove difficult, depending on one’s level of acquaintance with strife. How do you know what a war hospital is like unless you’ve been to one?
Showings of Bluebirds will continue at Theatre Burlington until Saturday, April 26, 2025. This is the last full-length show of the theatre’s 2025 season. Tickets can be bought here. Following the show’s closing night, Theatre Burlington invites you to Play Time 2 in June, its short play festival, which will feature sixteen short plays written by Canadian playwrights.
