Spiral Dive probes heaven and earth

Collateral damage: a military euphemism coined during the Vietnam war to downplay the effects of military bombings on innocent civilian deaths and deflect criticism from the administration.

While the term was non-existent during the Second World War, its effects on pilots were no different than today. Young boys who volunteered their lives to fight for freedom and glory quickly grew up into tough men, hardened by the horrors they witnessed. And while many survived physically, they were forever left damaged by the experiences.

Playwright/director Kenneth Brown (Life After Hockey) takes us back to that era in Spiral Dive, a five-hour trilogy that runs as part of the Workshop West mainstage season before it flies off on a national tour.

A meticulous researcher, Brown has been fascinated with the Second World War since he was a child in the 1950s when he carried a prize trading card of a Spitfire everywhere he went.

Spitfires were the hottest machines around, a glorious symbol of British resistance, says Brown. The Spitfire’s mystique never wavered in his imagination and from it he created the character of Jack Harding (Blake William Turner), a prairie boy enamoured with flying. He becomes part of a group of Canadian pilots of the 412 squadron of the RCAF Fighter Wing that volunteers for deadly aerial dogfights.

On the ground, Jack juggles an equally dangerous romance with Eva, a Polish Jew who has been deeply wounded by the war.

“I call this my Icarus story — the person who aspires to fly to the sun. It’s about a young man who jumps into a complex situation and how it changes him,” Brown summarizes.

“Part of flying a Spitfire was that it seems so romantic in defending Britain. But it becomes uncertain and he learns it is hard, dangerous and ugly. He has to do the grotesque, immoral work of a highly skilled assassin. And he has to face moral issues.”

Brown cast Turner as the protagonist because of his intelligence, sensitivity and a well-developed athleticism needed to deal with the script’s demanding physicality. “Blake was a pre-Olympic soccer player. In fact the whole cast is very athletic.”

While Turner invests his talent exclusively as Jack, Jeremy Baumung, Caley Suliak and Bryan D. Webb (not the dancer) fill out the complex narrative’s other roles.

Marissa Kochanski, who designs for St. Albert Children’s Theatre and recently designed the costumes for Billy Bishop Goes to War (Citadel), is set and costume design consultant.

“Marissa has gussied up the costumes but the props and set is minimal. We discovered early on that the story moves quickly and too many props slow it down. We use them only when absolutely necessary.”

The trilogy rotates its shows daily. For a complete calendar, visit www.workshopwest.org.