A one-woman play about a man returning to the shores of Normandy 60 years after D-Day began with a mask.
Julia Mackey and her partner Dirk Van Stralen were at an acting workshop in 2002 where, using a mask, they had to create a character.
“The mask that I was working with actually looked like an old man and so that’s where the story started,” Mackey said. “I just came up with this idea of this guy and his brothers from the Prairies and their connection to the Second World War and it kind of grew out of that.”
That’s where Jake, the protagonist of Jake’s Gift, was created. The play was performed in Kelvington, Melfort and Tisdale.
A year after that workshop, Mackey was watching the news with Van Stralen and saw a piece about the 60th anniversary of Normandy.
“I had one of those feelings that was where the rest of the story was because after that workshop, I felt like I really wanted to explore Jake’s story more and I felt it was unfinished.”
So she went there for a week in June 2004, interviewing as many former soldiers about their D-Day experiences and what it was like to be back. For a lot of those veterans, this was their first time back since D-Day.
“It was a very moving experience and a lot of them were very generous with their stories and experiences during that time,” Mackey said.
By combining those stories with her own experiences, Mackey wrote Jake’s Gift. The play sees Jake return to Juno Beach for the 60th anniversary to visit the grave of his brother Chester, who died during the war. While there, he encounters Isabelle, a 10-year-old from the nearby village.
“When I was writing the story, I wanted to find a way of how to wrap this all up and the little girl was inspired by this really young group of French students that I saw saying hello to the Canadian veterans,” Mackey said. “There was this one girl in particular who was just a little bit pushy and she was trying to get to the front of the pack and shake the hand of these veterans.”
Isabelle helps Jake crack out painful memories that he’s had for 60 years. Both characters are the type who speak their mind.
“Even though they’re both at the opposite ends of life, they’re both at a time of life where there’s no inhibitions so they just kind of say what they think.”
Mackey said when she wrote the play, she didn’t anticipate it would be a one-woman play. She knew she wanted to play Jake after years of working on the character, but she also knew how the other character would sound and act.
“So I just said to Dirk one day, ‘do you think this could be a solo show?’ I always wanted the challenge of doing that as an actor because I had never done a solo performance before.”
Van Stralen, who’s the play’s director, told her to give it a try and it ended up working out to Mackey’s satisfaction. She now has little problem transitioning between the characters.
At the play, there will also be buttons for sale, with proceeds to go to the local Legion.
The actor said she still loves performing the play even though she’s been doing it for 10 years.
“I’m not tired of it at all and so as long as people will keep asking us to come to their communities, I think we will do that as long as we are able to.”
