DOC The Girl Who Loved Camellias: The Life and Legend of Marie Duplessis by Julie Kavanagh in Arts-Photography

Description

One of Canadarsquo;s most successful and enduring musical plays; Billy Bishop Goes to War was first published in 1982 and went on to win the Los Angeles Drama Criticsrsquo; Award and the Governor Generalrsquo;s Award for Drama. In 2010; the celebrated story of the World War I flying ace – credited with seventy-two victories and billed as the top pilot in the British Empire – was revised to frame the original play as a retrospective. It is the same play it always was – the difference is in the telling. Billy Bishop now appears in his later years; reflecting on his wartime exploits; and on the business of war and hero making. Bishoprsquo;s reminiscence is not so much about the horror and death of war as it is about being young and intensely alive. “The prime of life / The best of men;rdquo; Bishop sings; “It will never be / Like this again.rdquo;A memory play about war; Billy Bishop has been going into battle onstage for more than thirty years. The Canadian classic is revisited in this second edition; where war is still a terrible thing; but some men say it was the greatest time of their lives. Itrsquo;s about the ironies and the price of survival.The play format is deceptively simple with a solo narrator who assumes multiple roles while his piano-playing sidekick offers sardonic musical comments.Cast of 2 men.