No Man's Land: A Play

Ian C. Nelson, Librarian Emeritus, former Assistant Director of
Libraries (University of Saskatchewan) and dramaturge (Festival de la
Dramaturgie des Prairies).

Kevin Major is the author of some 15 books, four of which he has adapted
for the stage. This masterful adaptation of his celebrated war novel
includes archival illustrations and photographs by Ned Pratt from Rising
Tide Theatre’s 2001 and 2003 productions of the piece in an
exquisitely designed softcover edition. His play re-creates the July
drive of the Great War in 1916, “the drive of men and boys into a wall
of bullets.” From the whole Newfoundland regiment that went over only,
68 answered the roll call the following morning. Incorporating many
World War I songs, this play is Newfoundland’s Oh! What a Lovely War!
without the satirical Pierrot show. The cant barked by rigid officers
(“You will not have your men doubting what we can do”) still leads
to the inevitable slaughter. In economical speech true to the time (the
“Dominion” refers to Newfoundland) Major evokes a host of
characters: older and underage soldiers, men with entrenched class
differences, colonials seeking recognition as they fight for the Empire,
lads hoping to make their fathers proud, and finally a young lieutenant
from Saint John’s and a nurse from Grand Bank who seek love amid the
fray. He even includes the portrait of an unpopular loner who has no
family back home and who, considering himself expendable, is more than
ready to give his all. From our perspective on history, we cringe when
we hear an assurance that “there won’t be much left in our way.”
Or when someone opines: “The Generals won’t send our lads into it,
then. There’ll be no reason.” Precisely! We know where this effort
is headed.

Major’s play stands as fitting tribute to an event faithfully
commemorated every July 1 in Newfoundland. In Trinity, No Man’s Land
has been a regular feature of Rising Tide’s summer theatre festival.
The final lines resonate across time and tide: “I ache to think it was
easier to send them into the bullets because … the cry of their loved
ones was an ocean away.”