FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
| THEATRE Fighting Days The story of Nellie McClung's mock parliament is now a famous episode in Canadian history. McClung organized a parliament of women into which a single man entered to ask for the right to vote. Naturally, there were the usual arguments against granting this peculiar request - if men could vote, they would enter public life; they would abandon the kitchen and the children.... What isn't so well known is that McClung credited journalist Lily Beynon with the idea. Sisters Francis and Lily Beynon were suffragettes and women's rights activists in Winnipeg from approximately 1910 until 1917. Fighting Days is their story. Written by Wendy Lill, the two-act play examines the friendship between the three women and the differences of opinion that caused them to go their separate ways. "The title is actually from a quote by Francis where she says, 'Oh, I'm glad to be living in these fighting days,'" explains director Donna Tunney. "She's referring, of course, to the political climate. But the title also points to later years when the group starts to break up because they have different ideals - as any group does." The play charts the ways in which each woman is willing or unwilling to compromise these ideals. According to Tunney, McClung and Francis Beynon make a real study in contrasts. McClung struck a chord with many women when she announced, "We're not going to raise sons to die on a distant battlefield." Ironically, this confirmed pacifist ended up advocating conscription and calling for more troops to be sent overseas. In fact, she asked that women cast their first votes on this issue. Not all women of course.... In defiance of her earlier words, "Democracy for all women," McClung eventually watered down her statements to include only British women - with the hope that she could win votes for other women later on. "Those two points really come back to haunt her," says Tunney. "Francis, on the other hand, doesn't believe in conscription. 'What about freedom?' she asks. 'How are we using our vote to decide the fates of other people?'" In a sense, Fighting Days is a character study about the distance between principle and practice, with Beynon representing one and McClung the other. "I think all the characters in the play have to make those choices," explains Tunney. "What do I settle for now? What can I get now? Or do I go for my ultimate goal and be uncompromising?" Part of what makes McClung and Beynon different, says Tunney, is simple circumstance. McClung was a mother with a son at war. Like many women, she wanted to end the war quickly and conclusively, whereas Beynon had no children and was therefore guided more by conviction than practical concerns. "As a theatre company, we were drawn to the universal theme of fighting for your rights politically," says Tunney. "I think the play is very relevant today. It's a question of personal freedom, of the need for minority groups to stand up and say, 'No, we don't want to be treated that way.'" |