Saskatoon's Persephone Theatre explores war through the eyes of Canadians

For the Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon, war is not a topic to avoid.

It is very present, it is very immediate.- Del Surjik 

"It's something that we cannot leave unexamined," the theatre's artistic director Del Surjik told CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning.

Each season, Surjik said, Persephone finds a play that attempts to examine the meaning of war and the impact that it can have on society. That's not an easy task.

But with This is War, Surjik believes Persephone succeeds in going behind the scenes, to tell the story of war from the perspective of the soldiers themselves. And in this case, he said, the actors are not trying to capture a moment in military history, or the experience of a foreign army. He said the play is about our friends and neighbours, our daughters and sons.    

"It's about Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan," he said. "It's very present, it's very immediate."

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So immediate, that this week the Canadian military admitted that 59 soldiers committed suicide after serving in Afghanistan. The suicide figure represents more than one-third the number of soldiers killed during the mission, and highlights the enduring effects of the war and how best to treat victims of PTSD.

Yet for Surjik, exploring the impacts of life on the front line through drama isn't about making a political statement about war.

"I think our duty is to refresh their thought, for them to go into an experience where they hear a compelling story that reinvigorates their own investigation about how they feel about all these considerations when we put our own citizens in harm's way."

Surjik believes This is War will find many local veterans as audience members, and so cast and crew dug deep for authenticity, inviting Afghan vets to come in and go over the tedious details of life as a Canadian soldier in a war zone.

"There is an expression God is in the details. It's an accumulative effect."