The story of All Changed

Piet and Anneke are a Dutch immigrant couple trying to start over again in Canada in the 1950s. Still haunted by what happened back home in Holland under the Nazis before the Canadian army freed them, they remember a more innocent time, as well as the terrible events that changed everything.

Through a series of flashbacks the audience experiences an exciting and dramatic World War II story of Holland in 1943. Interspersed with scenes of ironic comedy and tenderness, it is an emotional and tragic story of resistance, passion, and heroism, as well as fear, loss, and regret.

History and All Changed

We all know of the close relationship between Canada and the Netherlands. But to the best of my knowledge, no novels or plays have been written about the sizable Dutch-Canadian community who flooded into Canada after the war.

All Changed is their story--or at least one of their stories.

This play’s central WWII story is based on true events during the farmers’ strike of May, 1943, and those who died have been recognized by the Dutch government as war heroes. A general strike (the second) was triggered in the Netherlands in 1943 when the Nazis drafted former Dutch military personnel for forced labour in Germany. Both general strikes were effectively suppressed by the simple method of shooting workers who refused to work. The 1943 strike continued a little longer on the farms in the north, where strikers were less easy to identify. (Read a brief history of the Netherlands during the war here)

The themes of the play are universal, not just specific to the Dutch Canadian community. All Changed is a complex play about how some things change everything. It makes personal the terror of historical events outside our control, and shows how these events can derail lives, leaving us possessed by self-doubt and an almost endless search for absolution.

The experience of the Dutch is not unique, but representative, often shared by more recent new Canadians from further abroad. The stories of all such groups should be remembered. Much of Canada’s history took place outside our geography—not only in the courts and battlefields of England and France, but also in the homelands of all immigrants. As Mike says in All Changed, “People all have their own stories. You add all the stories together and that’s their history.”

Development and Recognition of All Changed

All Changed has received recognition and attention while going through the following development process:

• 2002-2003 - Review and input from Colin Norman, retired Queen’s Professor of Shakespeare, an experienced published poet, fiction writer, and editor; and Fred Euringer, retired Head of Drama at Queen’s , director, actor, and playwright
• 2006 - Dramaturgical feedback from Greg MacArthur, Playwright-in-Residence at Playwrights Workshop Montreal (PWM), actor and artistic director
• 2007 - A round-table workshop at Playwrights Workshop Montreal, with Equity actors, led by Paula Danckert, then the PWM Artistic Director, and now Resident Dramaturge at the NAC
• 2007 - Sole runner-up in the full-length play category, Theatre BC’s Canadian National Playwriting Competition
• 2008 - Workshop at Theatre BC New Play Festival, in Kamloops in April.
• 2009 - A new draft completed, based on input from the Kamloops workshop, Gladstone Theatre manager John Collins, and director Janet Irwin.

As the Jurors and Dramaturges of the Theatre BC Playwriting Competition and the New Play Festival in Kamloops (2008) commented:

• "This story of the Dutch occupation & Dutch immigrants to Canada is very moving."
• All Changed is a "powerful and searing human drama."
• "What a play!"

The planned production was accepted as an official event in the 2009 Canadian Tulip Festival Celebridée Series, with the help and encouragement of the Dutch Embassy. This of course also has been postponed.

 

Read Playwright Bio

Starry Nights Productions is a new theatre company, set up initially for the purpose of producing All Changed (in partnership with The Gladstone Theatre), and will continue to promote and/or mount other productions of this play. In future, the mandate will include works by other local playwrights, or existing plays translated from Dutch. The company's name was chosen to suggest a theatre night of stars, but of course also refers to Starry Night, by the great Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh.