By Madeline Baker, Times-Chronicle
After three years of planning and delays, the South Okanagan Amateur Players (SOAP) are finally able to bring Raymond Briggs’s famous Cold War-era dark comedy, Where The Wind Blows, to life at Venables Theatre.
Complicating matters is the fact that circumstances around the Oliver-based theatre troupe – and the world at large – have taken several dramatic turns since 2019, and one particular current event threatens to paint Briggs’s play in an entirely new, upsetting light.
Cold War tensions between Russia and the West, particularly the ever-present threat of nuclear weapons, have taken on new relevance since Russia’s devastating attack on and subsequent occupation of many major cities in Ukraine. Some people might say that the topic is currently too relevant for anyone to laugh about.
SOAP President Ritchie Kendrick, who also co-directs and co-stars in the upcoming production, begs to disagree with that point of view. Kendrick has sought to bring Where the Wind Blows to North America since he first saw it staged in Britain in 1983 and he believes that now is his moment.
“I brought forward the idea of doing this play just before COVID-19, and then we had to cancel our seasons for the last two years. Then this crisis comes up, and some people have said, ‘’Are you taking advantage of a situation that is uncomfortable for many people?’’ We said, no, we need to go forward with it because 40 years later, the situation has not changed.”
This view was shared in no uncertain terms in a statement on the SOAP website: “The threat of war, including nuclear war, was front and centre in our popular psyche in the 1980s. Anti-war protests were not uncommon. These worries and protests were the catalysts for Briggs to originally write When the Wind Blows.
“Now, as we contemplate the current world situation, we realize that not much has changed in 40 years. While the threat of war may have taken a back seat since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, and some say it was swept under the rug, we realize it has remained a real threat all along.
“The people of Ukraine are the most recent, living, eyewitnesses to the horrors of war. We dedicate this show to them and to all other peoples suffering from the effects of invasion, civil war, terrorist insurrection and all armed conflict around the world, including Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Ethiopia and Palestine, to mention only a few.”
Kendrick and his wife, co-star Margi Chantler, were both active in those cross-border protests against nuclear armament in the early 1980s, the time period in which Briggs wrote Where The Wind Blows. He recalls a time when US nuclear testing took place in Alberta’s Cold Lake and protesters carried signs in response saying ‘You can’t hug a child with nuclear arms.’”
“I feel very strongly about the question of nuclear arms,” says Kendrick. “I have grandchildren. I want to see them grow and have families of their own. We want the world to be a safer place, and we thought maybe [the world] got over that hump, but unfortunately, the last few weeks show us that we’re not even close.”
That said, Kendrick does understand why some people may want to avoid the performance due to its subject matter. He only hopes that they will maintain an open mind and give Briggs’s sharp satirical writing a chance to entertain rather than upset them.
“I think people should realize that you’re not coming to watch a black abyss of death and destruction,” says Kendrick. “It’s entertaining. It’s actually a good laugh. You’re watching a wonderful story of a loving couple that could be your mom and dad, your grandmother and grandfather, who just want to retire in peace … and you know, they are optimistic right to the end.”
When The Wind Blows plays at Oliver’s Venables Theatre on April 22, 23, 29, and 30 at 7:30 p.m., with a matinee performance at 2 p.m. on April 24. Advance tickets are $22.50 for adults and $13 for students and can be purchased online at venablestheatre.ca.
