Written and Directed by Michael Hollingsworth

VideoCabaret, the theatre company currently set up in the intimate backroom theatre at The Cameron House, revives The Great War, their hyper satirical farce about World War 1 (and subtitled "The History of the Village of the Small Huts: 1914-1918"), part of their critically acclaimed History Plays series.
The idea of putting such a dark subject in such an over-the-top manner is not new, but is always highly effective. The Great War reminded me a lot of the musical Oh! What A Lovely War (recently put on by Soulpepper but only the National Theatre revival in London from 1998 at the Roundhouse really managed to balance the absurdity of war within a circus act work) with the similar cleverness in all the juxtapositions between the subject matter and the theatrical presentation.

The play tends to quickly cut from one scene to the next, with pitch black scene changes to make the quick scene changes. The vignettes follow several soldiers from their lives back home in Canada, and then into the war. The quick intercuts sometimes hold back the true emotional pull to immerse oneself into the stories, especially at the star, as they tended to rely completely on the satirical nature of the presentation. But while I thought there could have been a few more punchlines in the first act, the stories really begin to culminate in the 2nd act as the show gets to throw the darkest elements after the humourous highs it suckered us with.
The terrific cast of 7 manage to portray dozens of characters, but some particular standouts are Mac Fyfe (especially as Robert Adams), Anand Rajaram, Dylan Roberts and Kerry Ann Doherty. Greg Campbell made a particularly amusing Robert Borden.
While the choppiness of the play is both its flaw and asset as an entertaining way to show the history of Canada's involvement in WWI, the production and design is simply marvelous and clever. The over-the-top cast (and I say that as a good thing) make the history lesson an easily understandable and amusing (or horrifying) show and special kudos to the stage manager and backstage folks for keeping the hectic show (many times in pitch black) constantly in motion!
Vance at http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com
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