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| Friends Frances (Anastasia Martin, far left), Gladys (Lily Caines), Sybil (Sabella Attenburrow), Florence (Marika Karatepeli), and Jack (Ashley MacLauchlan) receive a letter from William (Jonty Peach, far right), who is serving during World War I, photo courtesy of Matt Hargraves |
The Battle of Boat made its premiere at the Rose
Theatre in Kingston last night. This original musical written by composer Ethan
Lewis Maltby and lyricist Jenna Donnelly is set in Britain during 1916, in the
midst of World War I. Coinciding with the centenary of the Battle of the Somme,
it explores the way that a group of children make sense of war and how they
contribute to the effort in their own, creative, way. In association with the
National Youth Music Theatre, the production sets sail on a heartwarming journey,
all told through a cast ranging from ages 11 to 19.
As an
Army brat myself (albeit of the American branch), with a father who has been
deployed several times, The Battle of
Boat takes on a particular significance for me. It is executed with a lucid
truthfulness and earnest delivery, with songs that encapsulate that feeling of
being helpless (a name given to one of the songs), confused, and frightened in
the event of a deployed parent. Regardless of the war or the time period it
takes place in, the emotions remain the same. When I was a teenager in high
school, I joined a program called Deployment Buddies, where I would visit the
nearby elementary school once a month. As “bigs” we interacted with the
“littles,” who had one or both parents deployed, to sing songs, share snacks,
and create crafts. It wasn’t too dissimilar to the coping skills of the
children in the show.
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| Beagle (left, Luca Panetta), William, and Jack play in the woods, photo courtesy of Matt Hargraves |
Florence
(Marika Karatepeli) draws a picture for her father, who is off fighting at war,
and all she wants is to show it to him. Beagle (Luca Panetta) makes a miniature
zeppelin in the hopes that the group of friends can fly to reach William (Jonty
Peach) in France, but it goes down (quite literally) like a lead balloon.
William is the only one accepted by the Army after they swaddle themselves in
oversized clothes and lie about their ages at the enlistment office. They take
on their biggest project yet when they decide to build a boat, which Beagle
brands unambiguously as “Boat.” To me, this perfectly illustrates the sweet
simplicity of children and how their minds work. Unlimited by the constraints
that adults place on their own imaginations, children truly believe anything is
possible, no matter how farfetched or nonsensical an idea might seem. A group
of bullies threatens to overturn the group’s secret, but they won’t go down
without a fight on the home front while William is fighting abroad. Hence, The
Battle of Boat ensues, with a victorious end for our young defenders.
The fact
that their boat voyage is unsuccessful in making it to France doesn’t really
matter, because word reaches William and the rest of the soldiers and it boosts
their morale considerably. When my father was deployed in Iraq, my mother would
send him care packages, often with home comforts wrapped in lush green grass
wrapping paper – a type of vegetation he certainly wasn’t getting in his arid
landscape. Sometimes, it is the simplest of gestures that can provide hope
during the most difficult of times. In one of William’s letters to his friends,
he explains that “little annoyances that used to matter don’t anymore.”
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| Jimmy Biggs (Bill Stanley, center) attempts to fight off Gripper (Haroun Al Jeddal, far right) and his gang, photo courtesy of Matt Hargraves |
Watching
Darragh O’Leary’s synchronized choreography is made all the more impressive
due to the sizeable cast (almost 30 members), of which there is demonstrable
talent. Haroun Al Jeddal as Gripper, the bullies’ gang leader, Bill Stanley as
Jimmy Biggs, Anastasia Martin as Frances, William’s sister, and Jacob Edwards
as Felix, along with the aforementioned names and the rest of the cast, are
clearly all stars in the making. Everyone carries the musical beautifully. The
set is scattered with toys, traps, and glowing trees. A billowing blue piece
of fabric acts as the ocean’s waves and a metal sheet imitates the sound of
thunder. The children’s dynamism and energy is what makes all of these elements
come to life.
The Battle of Boat would be a great introduction to
musical theatre for children, while also making war a digestible topic for
them. I was worried whether the Grim Reaper, scythe in hand, would rear his
ugly head. Luckily, the show manages to skirt around the topic of death, but it
is still broached when a furry member of the crew meets an unfortunate end. The
song “Funeral For a Friend” could easily be about a person, which makes it all the more heart-rending. However, for each somber moment, there is an
equally humorous one (mainly in the form of Beagle’s antics) and it elicits a
sigh of relief from the crowd.
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| The Battle of Boat takes place on the home front, photo courtesy of Matt Hargraves |
Sitting
in the theatre, there will have been individuals touched by war, ones who
haven’t, and those who have served on the frontline. Regardless of which
category you fall into, The Battle of
Boat is a musical that the whole family can enjoy and reflect on in
different capacities. An elderly gentleman to my left occasionally wiped away
tears during the arresting score, while I caught children mimicking moves from
the show and singing the catchy and highly inventive lyrics after the show.
Surely that’s the highest praise that Maltby and Donnelly, and indeed any
writers, could receive. It’s not often that a production can touch an audience
cross-generationally, but they’ve pulled it off with smooth sailing.
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