Love in the time of war

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/02/2024 (432 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Imagine being in love with someone who tried to save the world from the Nazis regime and was imprisoned under the penalty of death. Imagine capturing this moment in time for an audience. This is the love story of Dietrich and Maria.

Deitrich and Maria tells the true story of German pastor, theologian, and spy Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and his fiancé, Maria Von Wedemeyer. Based on their prison letters, the story takes place in Germany during the early days of the Second World War. Dietrich has been imprisoned on charges of conspiracy for his alleged role in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The play is set during one of Maria’s secret prison visits to Dietrich.

“I came across this story about a decade ago now,” said playwright and director Scot Moir. “Eric Metaxas wrote a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer that ended up on everybody’s bookshelf, kind of a big thick blue book. The ending, sort of the last 200 pages of that, is Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life in prison and particularly his engagement to Maria Von Wedemeyer and so I thought that story would: for a long time, it was interesting and it stuck with me after reading it and then I tried to get as much Dietrich Bonhoeffer material as I could. And one of the things that I got were his letters and papers from prison. His letters back and forth with Maria which includes a little account she wrote of their time together in prison.”

Moir’s play was seven years in the making, beginning with two actors reading the letters on stage, then it morphed into a full cast of characters before settling back again into a two actor play sans letters.

“As Marc and Laura were looking to find a piece to do, particularly a more romantic piece, we busted the idea out again and wrote it as a thing for two people and it flowed from there. Instead of trying to give a big biographical picture of either of their lives – What is a day? What is a moment? What is a meeting in this sort of setting, this sort of world like between these two people?” said Moir.

Playing Dietrich is Marc Moir who plays the aristocrat with gravitas and charm. Playing opposite of Marc is Laura Kathleen Turner whose Maria is fiercely loyal and full of gumption.

“They’re very complex because there’s a lot of unusual circumstances surrounding them,” said Laura. “So, there’s a lot of effort put in to figuring out what are they actually feeling in this moment and what are the strongest thoughts in their heads because it’s not just, ‘Oh, I’m here and I love you.’ It’s, ‘I’m here in prison visiting you in secret, not knowing why you’re here, not knowing how long you’re going to be here with no court date in sight, but we’re engaged.

“So it’s where does the happiness shine through? And where does the fear shine through? And where does the sadness shine through? And it’s been just wonderful. As an actor you just love those roles that are really meaty, juicy roles. There’s just a lot of back story. A lot of emotions in the head that get to play out on stage. I found it super fun.”

Marc and Laura will be on stage for one-and-a-half hours telling Dietrich and Maria’s story.

“A two-hander really creates an intimacy both with each other as actors and also with the audience,” said Marc. “When you see a full cast play with the big set and big cast that creates another world. But when you have just two people on stage paying these really human moments that really creates a moment. It creates a really human moment. It creates a spell and the audience can see that. It’s very intimate for the audience.”

“It’s almost like they’re being let in on a secret. They’re looking through someone’s window and wondering what they’re talking about and they just get let in. It’s really special,” added Laura.

While neither actor nor Moir would share the details of a scene, preferring to surprise the audience, they did say there are lines in the play that stand out for them that capture the moment they are trying to portray.

“There are a couple of lines that really hang out and we talk about it all the time. You’re doing the play but you’re also having a moment with each other on stage because those lines just resonate a certain way. The last 10 minutes of the play is (Laura) just giving this emotionally naked monologue,” said Marc.

What the actors want the audience to take away with them is a feeling of wanting to hold their loved ones closer. They want the audience to be entertained but to go for coffee after the show and talk about what they just saw.

“That’s what we hope they will walk away feeling,” said Laura.

The show is geared for all audiences but Laura and Marc, whose production company Looking Glass Theatre is putting on the production, said children from middle school and up would be better suited to watch the play as the subject matter may be too adult for younger audiences.

Dietrich and Maria will run from Feb. 21 to 24 at the Mennonite Heritage Village. Tickets are $30. Curtain rises at 7 p.m. Those who would like tickets to the play can visit www.lookingglasstheatre.ca/dietrich-and-maria.