The performances that form the Cultural Arts Theatre series are often musical in nature, but this year event-goers will also get to see the critically acclaimed one-woman show, Jake’s Gift.
Julia MacKey, who wrote and performs the play, along with director Dirk Van Stralen, will perform the show in Westlock this Friday, Jan. 18.
The story follows Jake, a Second World War veteran, on his return to Normandy on the 60th anniversary of D-Day. Jake was one of three brothers from the Canadian prairies who took part in the conflict, and one of two who returned.
“You get a sense that of the two brothers that came home, Jake was the one who pushed it away,” MacKey said. “He joined a Legion when he got home, but he really was not someone who wanted to remember anything about the war.”
His goal in returning is to visit his brother’s grave, which is difficult for him because he wants his memories of his brother to be about the good times they had together.
“He didn’t want his last memory of his brother to be a grave stone,” she said.
He overcomes that, and during the course of the visit meets a 10-year-old girl names Isabel, who ends up teaching him a bit about life, and the value of the freedom he helped to provide the French people 60 years prior.
MacKey said many audiences who see the show — and there vary been more than 600 of them so far — respond with the feeling that there is more than one person on the stage, which is perhaps related to the method she uses to portray the four different characters.
“When you see one-person shows, there’s a lot of character-switching with the actor looking left to right,” she said.
“We don’t do that at all; I just face the audience the whole time and I switch back and forth between the characters using very specific vocal and physical choices for each character.”
The character Jake came out of an acting workshop at Pacific Theatre in Vancouver in 2002, and when it was finished MacKey said she wasn’t ready to part ways with him yet.
Meanwhile, she said she had always wanted to visit Normandy and with the 60th anniversary approaching she realized Jake’s story was that of a Second World War veteran.
“I always wanted to go to Normandy, and I just felt like that’s where I could find the rest of the story,” she said.
MacKey spent a week there doing interviews, attending all the commemorative ceremonies and just walking the beaches that were the sites of the single largest amphibious assault in human history.
“It was truly the most moving experience of my life,” she said. “I knew it was going to be emotional but I had no idea the level of emotion that I would feel there.”
The emotion clearly translates to the performance, which has been lauded across the country since it first hit the stage in January 2007.
MacKey said that at the end of each performance, she presents a print to the local Legion and sells Jake’s Gift buttons, with the proceeds going to the local Legion’s Poppy Fund.
While tickets to Cultural Arts Theatre performances can be difficult to come by, inquiries can be directed to the Flower Shoppe in Westlock at 780-307-3703.
