Set in Calgary during World War II, this play reminds us that the wounded are not always at the front. Five women gather to work for the war effort while men they love are away. The Ottawa Citizen called this play, which premiered in 1977, "a small masterpiece." The play has also been produced to great acclaim in London, New York, and at Chicago's prestigious Steppenwolf Theatre where it featured both Laurie Metcalf and Joan Allen.
An American playwright who lives in Calgary, Alberta, Mr. Murrell interviewed women in the town about their home-front experiences during World War II. The play, culled from their reminiscences, consists of five women, each representing a member of the Red Triangle Hostesses, a volunteer group that reportedly operated a U.S.O. like center in a Calgary train station where soldiers dropped in." This quote, taken from a New York Times review, is an apt description of the origin, situation and characters of the play.
Waiting for the Parade is a character drama. In a series of episodic, snapshot vignettes, Murrell focuses on the women who shared a common purpose; to serve the war effort and,perhaps more importantly, to survive the war. It is in the character choices of how to survive that Murrell seems most interested asking that we view them with a sense of compassion and understanding and without moral judgement. When Marta is asked to comment on Catherine's action she replies "I don't think about people that way. I just think, "so that's how she manages to stay alive. I wonder if it would work for me."
In a 1995 interview Murrell is quoted as saying "... one of the great mysteries is the idea that women, historically and socially, have been relegated to positions of less authority and less control. And yet by far the strongest, most influential people I've known, in life as well as in the business of art, have been women."
While I do not feel the play is about World War II, it surely is the context in which the action takes place. Particular to this script is the fact that conscription (equivalent to our "draft") was a heated political issue in Canada, with some feeling that the troops should never be assigned to foreign shores. Eventually, conscription was enforced and encompassed the young teenagers who were Eve's students.
The gathering of the women to give comfort and solace to Catherine was the result of the loses the Canadians suffered in the battle of Dieppe "which involved 4,963 men of the 2nd Canadian Division. Only 2,211 returned to England, ... 656 died in the raid, and 1,946 became prisoners-of-war...".
Marta, the German born, naturalized citizen of Canada is treated as "the enemy" simply because she is of German descent. Many immigrants were treated badly in Canada (as they were in the United States) simply because patriotism became a sufficient explanation for any unfortunate incident which may occur.