To put Bishop’s true heroism into perspective, we have to remember that airplanes of the 1914-18 era were, by today’s standards at least, little better than crates. Made of wood and linen, they were held together with piano wires. There was no armoured plating, no oxygen masks and no parachutes. One bullet through the gas tank could send them down in flames, ensuring the pilot a ghastly death. In many ways, you had to be a hero just to take one of them off the ground. When Bishop reported to the Western Front in the spring of 1917, the life expectancy of an Allied pilot was a scant eleven days. By the end of his first month in action, almost every member of his squadron had been killed, driving home to him in no uncertain terms just what a dangerous game he was playing. He himself had survived several close calls, including one in which a German bullet grazed the side of his leather flying helmet. Billy Bishop was the recipient of the Victoria Cross, our highest gallantry award, and a true Canadian hero.

Billy Bishop Goes to War was created by Order of Canada recipient John Gray with Corner Gas star Eric Peterson (who met as students in the Department of Theatre at UBC in the early 1970s). It opened on November 3, 1978 at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, co-produced by Tamahnous Theatre. After its run in Vancouver, Gray and Peterson took the play on a sixteen-month Canadian tour before opening in Washington in 1980, with Mike Nichols as co-producer, a prelude to their four months on and off Broadway. Later that year, they toured to the Edinburgh Festival, then to Los Angeles where the show won both Best Play and Best Actor awards. The published play also won the 1982 Governor General’s Award for Drama and three made-for-TV movies were produced in both English and German. John Gray, named after a WW II Spitfire pilot who went down over the English Channel, recalls of their time with the play, “We were in uniform a good deal longer than Bishop himself, albeit with less risk.”

"Do your heart a favour and break it by seeing Billy Bishop Goes to War. I urge every red-blooded Canuck who can, to catch a moving presentation of this Canadian classic." (Peter Birney - Vancouver Sun)

“Riveting and memorable – Billy Bishop tells us the truth about war: that it is horrible and that good men can yet grow in it, even enjoy it. Such honesty is unusual and disturbing.” (Scotsman)

“Creates and deflates the hero myth in the same gesture.” (The Vancouver Sun)

"[I]f there was any doubt that Rodgers was playing in the directorial major leagues, there's no doubt now.” (Jo Ledingham - Vancouver Courier)

"I urge you to see this cocky, hilarious tour de force. With this performance, Ryan Beil secures a position in the city's top tier of actors." (Michael Harris - Globe and Mail)

"Sarah Rodgers makes this a landmark production by directing with an eye to those small things in live theatre that can stand for much more." (Peter Birney - Vancouver Sun)

“With 72 kills to his credit, First World War air ace Billy Bishop was known for taking lives, not saving them. Billy Bishop Goes to War, on the other hand, is a real lifesaver for theatre.” (Sun Theatre Criticpbirnie@vancouversun.com)

“A delightful and cunningly wrought work of art!” (The New Yorker)

"Beil is proving to be a tremendously versatile performer and, like Bishop, bound for glory." (Jo Ledingham - Vancouver Courier)

"...Biel and Gray fit hand in glove, whether singing beautiful harmonies or playing the part of pals in hell, their tight teamwork makes this show much more than the sum of its parts." (Peter Birney - Vancouver Sun)

"Ryan Beil accomplishes the impossible in this 30th-anniversary production: He takes one of the best-known plays in the Canadian theatrical canon and makes it howl on the stage as though it were just born. I was riveted…" (Michael Harris - Globe and Mail)

“A high-flying ace of a show capturing the humor, the hellfire, and the derring-do of an extraordinary career!” (The New York Times)

John MacLachlan Gray is a Canadian writer-composer-performer for stage, TV, film, radio and print. He is best-known for his stage musicals and for his two seasons as a satirist on CBC TV's The Journal, as well as an author, speaker and social critic on cultural-political issues. Gray was born on September 26, 1946 in Ottawa during demobilization following the Second World War. Raised in Truro, Nova Scotia, in a musical family, he and his two brothers all became professional musicians. His father was a Flight Lieutenant with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and his mother, a biologist who did research into the poison gas, phosgene. Gray was named after his father’s best friend, John West, a WWII Spitfire pilot who was shot down during the Battle of Britain. According to Gray, he drifted through his early school days with the “mental clarity of a zombie,” but distinguished himself playing keyboards for The Lincolns, a local rock ‘n’ roll band all through his years as an undergraduate. Beginning in 1965, he attended Mount Allison University, graduating with a B.A. in English in 1968. He then proceeded to Vancouver, where he studied directing at the University of British Columbia, emerging in 1971 with an M.A. in Theatre.

Over the next four years, he directed plays as a founding member of Tamahnous Theatre, specializing in experimental theatre inspired by the New York and East European avant-garde. In 1975, he moved to Toronto, joining Theatre Passe Muraille as a composer and sometime director. From 1975-77, he wrote music for eight of the company’s shows, including 1837: The Farmer’s Revolt. By 1978, Gray had written his first two plays. His first play, 18 Wheels, “with its simple set, witty lyrics, affection for the ordinary guy, and keen sense of Canadian identity, established Gray’s musical and dramatic signature, including its dark existential streak” (Wasserman 289). His second play, Billy Bishop Goes to War, opened on November 3, 1978 at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, co-produced by Tamahnous Theatre. It had been workshopped earlier in the year at Passe Muraille and developed out of the great friendship between Gray and Peterson, whom he first met in 1971, and the merging of Gray’s writing and musical skills with Peterson’s “skilled character development and virtuoso acting” (Wasserman 289).

Gray has written and composed six other musicals including Rock and Roll, Don Messer's Jubilee, Health, Amelia and most recently TheTree. TheTower. TheFlood, commissioned by CBC Radio Drama. Rock and Roll won a Dora Mavor Moore Award in 1982, and became an award-winning feature video entitled King of Friday Night. While Gray’s forte in music and lyrics has been recognized and praised, critics have at times also described his musical plays as lacking “carefully developed plot or complexity of character,” based perhaps on the notion that they are not “serious” as plays. However, Gray writes, “People don’t think of musicals as being as ‘serious’ as plays, but to me the musical is a play with poetry and music. The scenes aren’t bridges between songs, it’s the other way around. To me the singing of a song can be like a soliloquy from Shakespeare; a summing-up of something. Or it can be the moment where you drop the theme like a stone into a pond. Or it can suggest an environment, an era, a way of looking at things in a distilled way” (Gray, website articles).

Gray began writing novels following his mother’s death in 1995. He was steeped in a sense of disillusionment, he found himself “re-staking his territory” when he began writing novels. He also changed his middle name from Howard to his mother’s name, MacLachlan, as a way of honouring her intellectual and personal legacy. In the late 1990s, Gray became a newspaper columnist, contributing weekly pieces on cultural politics to the Vancouver Sun and the Globe and Mail. In the early 2000s he contributed a column to Western Living Magazine called O For The Love Of Dog, in which he wrote about his dog Gus.

Gray is the recipient of a Golden Globe, and the Governor General's Medal. In 2000, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for "his contribution to Canada's cultural landscape". He holds honorary doctorates from Dalhousie University and Mount Allison University. John Gray lives in Vancouver with his wife Beverlee. They have two sons, Zachary (a musician and actor) and Ezra.

Eric Peterson was born (in 1946) and raised in Indian Head, Saskatchewan, and while he now lives in Toronto, he enjoys visiting his cottage in Saskatchewan's Lake District during his downtime. He studied acting at the University of Saskatchewan for two years and spent two years in British repertory theatre before arriving in Vancouver. After a year at the University of British Columbia, he co-founded Tamahnous Theatre and had his first major roles in experimental versions of The Bacchae and Nijinsky, directed by John Gray. In 1973, he moved to Toronto and joined Theatre Passe Muraille, becoming one of its most imaginative feature performers. In 1976, Peterson discovered William Avery Bishop’s autobiography, Winged Warfare, and passed it on to John Gray. From 1976-78, they would work together to develop their musical play, Billy Bishop Goes to War. Peterson’s virtuoso performance in Billy Bishop earned him critical superlatives throughout Canada, Britain, and the United States. In New York, he won the Clarence Derwent Award for most promising performer in 1980, as well as Best Actor nominations from London’s Society of West End Theatres (1982) and Canada’s Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA).

For Western Canada Theatre, Sarah had directed Roger Maris On Stage, The Island of Bliss and last year’s hugely successful production of The Foursome. As an actor, she was seen here in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cornflower Blue & Ed & Ed.

The Sunday Service is a weekly comedy show. The show consists of sketch, video, longform improv and special guests. Over the past two years, the Sunday service turbo has become the toast of the alternative comedy scene in vancouver. “There was a long time when no one was coming,” Beil recalls. “It's packed now.” Irreverent, comitted, and witty, these li'l firescamps always seem to find the funny within the truth of life's li'l moments. Hilari-yes! See their website for more information.

Beil is passionate about improvisation. On top performing with The Sunday Service, he's been a member of Instant! Theatre Company since he graduated from high school, he's part of a duo called the Storytellers, and he recently joined the Vancouver TheatreSports League.

Beil was introduced to improv in Grade 7. “We had a teacher who loved TheatreSports,” he recalls. “We did it [improvisation] once a week as a little reward for being good. I took to it like a duck to water. It was kind of like, 'What? Five minutes for me just to be loud with everyone listening to me?'?”

Most associate the word improv with punchy little sketches, but Beil is particularly enamoured of the long form, in which a coherent piece of theatre is created before our eyes. When asked about his influences, Beil sites Woody Allen. “I like humour that's based in reality,” he says. “A lot of his plots are wacky, but his delivery and the dialogue come from a really real place, and that's what the improv I like to do is like—kind of subtle as opposed to big and huge.” Beil also mentions his grandfather, Charlie Beil, a sculptor: “I'm compared to him a lot in terms of mentality.”

But even with so much happening in his life, Beil remains dedicated to the kid from Owen Sound, once dubbed “a fantastic shot but a terrible pilot,” who flies by the seat of his pants through Billy Bishop Goes to War. “I want to do it for the next 20 years, if I can,” says Beil. “I love doing it with Zach, I love our version of it, I’d love to tour it around. We’re going to push for it and I’m 100-per-cent sure we’ll be doing it again.”

Ryan can't sing all too well and wants to thank Zach for putting up with him. He also wants to thank John Gray and Eric Peterson for writing and perfecting this Canadian Classic. It is the reason he decided to become an actor. More specifically, he'd like to thank Eric for all the bits he stole from him.

Zachary graduated from UBC in 2006 with a B.A. in History and later formed the progressive rock band The Zolas with Tom Dobrzanski. They are capturing the national spotlight with their 2010 album, Tic Toc Tic, produced by New Pornographers vet Howard Redekopp’s. Most of the album was recorded in Dobrzanski's parents' basement, in a studio Dobrzanski constructed while he was studying at the University of British Columbia. Signed to 604 Records, The Zolas are climbing the charts on ChartAttack, Earshot, and CBC Radio 3, as well as gaining significant commercial radio play and tons of devoted fans. The Globe and Mail described Tic Toc Tic as "a smart, complex and infectious indie-prog-rock find". Exclaim! wrote, "Tic Toc Tic strikes the balance between slick and smooth pop and raw rock."

Visit The Zolas on their MySpace Page.

When World War I broke out in 1914 Bishop left the college and joined the Mississauga Horse Regiment. He was commissioned as an officer but was ill with pneumonia when the regiment was sent overseas. After recovering he transferred to the 7th Canadian Mounted Rifles, then stationed in London, Ontario. They left Canada for England on June 9, 1915 on board the requisitioned cattle ship Caledonia.

In July 1915, frustrated with the mud of the trenches and the lack of action in the cavalry, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as an observer. On September 1, he reported to 21 (Training) Squadron at Netheravon for elementary air instruction. The first aircraft he flew in was the Avro 504. The squadron was soon ordered to France, and on January 1, 1916 it arrived at Boisdinghem airfield, near St Omer equipped with RE7 reconnaissance aircraft. During one flight, he badly injured his knee and spent the summer recuperating in Britain, fortunately missing the Battle of the Somme.

Following his recovery he was accepted for training as a pilot. He reported to Brasenose College, Oxford on October 1 1916 for initial ground training. In November he moved to the Central Flying School at Upavon on Salisbury Plain to begin flight training. He learned to fly in a Maurice Farman "Shorthorn". After receiving his wings he was attached to 37 (Home Defence) Squadron at Sutton's Farm, Essex flying the BE2c. He soon requested a transfer to France.

In March 1917, he was posted to 60 Squadron at Filescamp Farm near Arras, flying the Nieuport 17. At the time the average lifespan of a new pilot in that sector was 11 days. Bishop got his first victory on March 25 when he was one of four Nieuports that engaged three Albatross DIII Scouts near St Leger. After that his total increased rapidly. He shot down 25 planes in April alone, winning the Military Cross and a promotion to captain for his participation at the Battle of Vimy Ridge. On April 5 he scored his fifth victory and became an ace. To celebrate he had the cowling and struts of his plane painted bright blue. This was probably inspired by the red spinners on the plane of Captain Albert Ball the then highest scoring ace. On April 30 Bishop allegedly survived an encounter with Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, and in May he won the Distinguished Service Medal for shooting down two planes while being attacked by four others.

On June 2 1917, he flew a solo mission behind enemy lines to attack a German-held aerodrome, where he claimed that he shot down three planes that were taking off to attack him and destroyed seven more on the ground. For this feat he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

He returned home to Canada in 1917, where he was lauded as a hero and helped boost the morale of the Canadian public, who were growing tired of the war. On October 17 1917 at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church in Toronto, he married his longtime fiance Margaret Burden, a granddaughter of Timothy Eaton. Her brother was the ace Henry Burden. After the wedding he was assigned to the British War Mission in Washington DC to help the Americans build an air force. While stationed here he wrote an autobiography entitled Winged Warfare.

Upon his return in April, 1918, Bishop was promoted to major and given command of 85 Squadron, the "Flying Foxes". This was a newly formed squadron and Bishop was given the freedom to choose many of the pilots. The squadron were equipped with the SE 5a scout and left for Petit Synthe, France on May 22 1918. Bishop scored his next victory on the 27th followed by two more on the 28th.

The Canadian government was becoming increasing worried about the effect on morale if Bishop were to be killed so, on 18 June, he was ordered to return to England to help organize the new Canadian Flying Corps. Bishop was not pleased with the order coming so soon after his return to France. He wrote his wife: "I've never been so furious in my life. It makes me livid with rage to be pulled away just as things are getting started." The order specified that he was to leave France by noon on the 19th. On the morning of the 19th Bishop decided to have one last solo patrol. In just 15 minutes of combat he added another 5 victories to his total. He claimed downing 2 Pfalz D.IIIa scouts, caused another two to collide with each other and shot down a German reconnaissance plane.

On August 5, Bishop was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and was given the post of "Officer Commanding-designate of the Canadian Air Force Section of the General Staff, Headquarters Overseas Military Forces of Canada". He was onboard ship returning from a reporting visit to Canada when news of the armistice arrived. Bishop was demobilized from the Canadian Expeditionary Force on December 31 and returned to Canada.

By the end of the war, he had 72 confirmed air victories, including 55 assessed as "destroyed" with the balance "out of control." In any case, he was recognized as the leading British Empire pilot and the second-ranking Allied ace behind French Lt. Rene Fonck with 75.

After the war he established a short-lived passenger service with fellow ace William Barker. In 1921 Bishop and his family moved to Britain where he was quite successful. In 1928 he was the guest of honour at a gathering of German Air Aces in Berlin, and was made an Honourary Member of the Association. Unfortunately the family's wealth was wiped out in the crash of 1929 and they had to move back to Canada.

In 1938 he was promoted to Honorary Air Marshal of the Royal Canadian Air Force and placed in charge of recruitment. He was so successful in this role that they had to turn many applicants away. He created a system for training pilots across Canada, and became instrumental in setting up and promoting the Commonwealth Air Training Plan which trained over 55,000 airmen in Canada during the war. In 1942 he appeared as himself in the film Captains of the Clouds, a Hollywood tribute to the RCAF.

Both of Bishop's children became aircrew. He presented his son Arthur with his wings during World War II, and Arthur would go on to become a Supermarine Spitfire pilot. He presented his daughter, Jackie, with the Wireless Sparks Badge as a radio operator in 1944.

By 1944 the stress of the war had taken a serious toll on Bishop, and he resigned his post in the RCAF to return to private enterprise in Montreal. His son later commented that he looked 70 years old on his 50th birthday in 1944. He remained active in the aviation realm however, predicting a phenomenal growth of commercial aviation in the post-war world. His efforts to bring some organization to the nascent field led to the formation of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal. He wrote a second book at this time, Winged Peace advocating international control of global airpower.

With the outbreak of the Korean War Bishop again offered to return to his recruitment role, but was in poor health and was politely refused by the RCAF. He died in his sleep on September 11, 1956, while wintering in Palm Beach, Florida. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Owen Sound, Ontario.

His decorations include the Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order & Bar, Military Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Honor Chevalier, and the Croix de Guerre with palm. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the King's Birthday Honours List of 1 June 1944.

“Makes you wonder what it was all for …”

It has been an absolute thrill, adventure and honour to direct this gem of a piece, Billy Bishop Goes to War. It premiered with Eric Peterson and John Gray at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre in 1978. I remember as a very young girl (my vanity emphasizes the very) being taken to some theatre—couldn’t tell you where even now—to see a show about a first world war fighter pilot. My only knowledge of such things, at that point in time, was from Snoopy. I had some understanding of the Red Baron and Sopwith Camels—not sure if I realized it was a plane. In the years to come I couldn’t recall much of the play, but the performance and music had a lasting effect on me. I had been mesmerized and enchanted by this moving theatrical piece. Indeed, the three of us collaborating in this production have all been affected greatly by the play. Ryan Beil saw Eric Peterson’s return performance in 1998 and decided, in that moment, that he wanted to be an actor. Zachary Gray himself, well, rumour has it, was conceived on tour in the early days of Billy Bishop Goes to War. He is a Billy Bishop baby. Two years ago, over a beer, in a Chemainus pub, Ryan Beil shared with me a story about his dear high school friend Zachary Gray. For Remembrance Day at their high school Ryan had recited The Dying of Albert Ball and Zach had sung Friends ain’t s’posed to die accompanying himself on guitar. Suddenly, I was filled with excitement—the thought of doing a young, fresh version of Billy Bishop Goes to War sprang to mind.

How wonderful to bring forth the ‘next generation’ - a young, new sound to a beautiful show. If the truth be told, I have been approached to direct this play on previous occasions and I have always declined. I couldn’t imagine ever being able to match the brilliance of the originators. The idea of introducing a new instrument and actually having performers in their twenties (much closer to the actual ages of the young fighters in WWI) appealed to me. Billy Bishop was 24 years old at the height of the war and his military career. Many of the pilots shot down were barely twenty. No performer under the age of thirty has ever played Billy Bishop until this production. I think that the role of Billy Bishop is like a Canadian Hamlet. Actors get to their late thirties and think: “God, if I am ever going to get to play Billy Bishop I have to do it now!” I feel so blessed to have my beautiful young cast and the infusion of some new fresh sounds in the show. I have worked very hard and delicately (okay, at times bullyingly) to introduce the raw and vulnerable sound of the guitar into the show. I believe we have found a lovely balance of the jaunty period piano (I love our wonderfully, honky tonk turn of the century piano) and the delicate, gentle voice of the guitar. As I looked through photographs of the war and this time period there were many shots of young travelling entertainers with their guitars and mandolins in hand. Certainly, it is more likely to find an old guitar in the corner of an aeroplane hangar than any other instrument and, with any luck, a dear old beat-up piano.

For those of you that know the show well, I hope we have blown the dust off a great classic in a manner that pleases and excites, and for those new to Billy Bishop we hope that we have brought some of that magic and excitement that was first felt those many years ago at the Van East Cultural Centre into our production at the Telus Studio Theatre. I want to thank dear Zach for his openness and generosity; Ryan for his patience and trust; and John Gray for letting me muck about. You can chastise me in the bar later!
Happy Anniversary, John and Eric.

Directing this show has been quite a ride, and “all in all. I would have to say, it was a hell of a time.” Enjoy.

Director, Sarah Rodgers
From the UBC Production of Billy Bishop Goes to War program.

Theatre at UBC: In various biographies and interviews, you have said that you were named after John West, your father’s best friend, a WWII Spitfire pilot who was shot down during the Battle of Britain. How has the inspiration for your name influenced or helped define certain aspects of your life, your perspectives on war, your decision to write Billy Bishop Goes to War, and your affinity with the character?

John MacLachlan Gray: Like any kid, I clung to the lore behind my name as a badge of honour—you take what you can get when your name is John Gray. Later on, I was intrigued by this romantic gesture on the part of my Dad, who was in the insurance business and whose great emotive gesture was to sing in the choir at the Presbyterian church. But I thought about West and about Dad writing the show, and when we performed in the West End of London I visited the Air Force church near the Samuel Johnson monument as you enter the City. They have a list there, in volumes, and an officer in white gloves who turns the pages: and there he was. John Edward West from Hopewell, Nova Scotia, a village of 150 people an ocean away.

UBC: In your self-penned biography on the website entitled John MacLachlan Gray, you recounted how in 1995, you changed your middle name from Howard to MacLachlan in order to identify yourself amidst the sea of writers also named John Gray (the name you had used until then), but more importantly, to honour your mother whose presence seemed lacking in your name. How do you feel about this change today, thirteen years later? How has it helped redefine your identity both as a person and a writer?

JMG: My mother was the intellectual of the family. She had an MA in biochemistry, which was rare in her day, and was a deeply curious person, and a lot of my personal interests came directly from her. The Spanish include their mother’s name, and it makes perfect sense. I feel far more represented by the name John MacLachlan Gray.

UBC: In an interview with Alan Twigg in 1988, in which he commented on the easy success of Billy Bishop Goes to War, you replied, “I know. I've only written two damn shows. Now I'm starting to worry that I'm going to have to start thinking of myself as a writer. When you do that, there's always a danger you'll start thinking that you have to write, whether you have anything to say or not. I think that's an awful thing.” Now that you have quite a few publications— both plays and novels—under your belt, has your concept of writing changed? If so, how has it evolved over the years?

JMG: I do, I must admit, think of myself as a writer now. It happened when I wrote my second novel. (Anyone can write a one-off.) I never thought of myself as “writing” plays and musicals. I think “constructing” is a better word. Unlike a book, there is absolutely no reason to think of a play as “finished.” It is a blueprint for a performance, an encounter between performers and an audience, and if I’m present at any productions of my plays, I make changes. Ten years ago I directed my first musical, 18 Wheels, at the Charlottetown Festival, and I completely re-wrote the second act. Now, writing is an extension of an inner voice I actually hear in a sub-vocal way. Personally, it is my way of getting beyond the manipulator inside, the part of the brain that thinks it thinks.

UBC: In the same interview, you also mentioned that “the best reaction [one can] get out of theatre is recognition”, and agreed that theatre’s function is to reflect life, not comment on it. Do you still think this is true?

JMG: That’s a pretty good summation of what I thought then, and Eric [Peterson] too – in fact, I think Eric continues to feel that way; that was his great pleasure as a performer in Corner Gas. But I’m a novelist now, and wouldn’t dream of handing down prescriptions for the theatre, other than that it must be interesting and not boring.

UBC: With this in mind, what, from your experience, are the differences between writing for the theatre and writing a novel? What makes you feel more inclined towards the novel as a genre?

JMG: The problem with a script is that it is not a play, only a vision of a play. As it is with the movies, in order for the script to be a play you must attract a team of people, a venue, and the money to produce the show so that it becomes itself. I got tired of that. With the novel, once it is written it is a novel. Even if nobody else bothers to read it, it’s still a novel, it is itself. Mind, I have the added encouragement of having been published by international and Canadian publishers, and having had lots of encouraging things said about my work. I have no desk drawers full of manuscripts and am not sure how long I would tough it out if I did. Other activities beckon, like carpentry, and the bicycle, and my dog Gus.

UBC: Setting aside prescriptions, what in your opinion, makes interesting and not boring theatre?

JMG: Boring theatre, for me, occurs when, for the audience, nothing happens. There is no interchange. If the audience weren’t present it would still be the same play. An example would be the recent dramatization of the Frost/Nixon interviews. Though well done, I had no idea why I was watching that play here and now, what it said to me about life and the world. But maybe that’s just me.

UBC: What are your thoughts on the play’s meaning(s) or message(s) today, now that we are on the cusp of its 30th anniversary?

JMG: After thirty years I am in no position to comment on the play’s meaning(s). The play is like a child who has grown up and left home and is travelling the world, occasionally sending money home.

UBC: While the play has left home and is travelling the world, you and Eric did travel with it in its early beginnings, touring across Canada, going to the United States, Edinburgh and so on. How has reception of the play differed over the years, in different locations and in the different contexts of war?

JMG: Whatever the war, veterans seemed to see something true about their own experience, from Canadian war vets to the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington. In the dressing-room we watched men in business suits with their arms stretched out like wings, describing air battles. The response to the colonial references varied. Canadians, Irish, Scottish, and Aussies knew exactly what we meant—that colonials try harder out of a sense of cultural inferiority. The Americans didn’t quite get it, because they now have an empire of their own. The British have no trouble with it, since for them colonials generally were inferior.

UBC: What are the major issues that strike you as important for the younger generation and for the older generation, for that matter, to grasp—both in terms of current social perspectives and in your play?

JMG: I would never tell people what to learn from the play. What I came away with for myself is that war is exactly like normal life, only much, much faster: if you survive you get to say good-bye to your friends. In a war, young men learn that lesson way too early, and that’s what defines the rest of their lives.

UBC: In the interview with Twigg, you mentioned that the play is partly about an older generation using a younger generation to fight in a war the latter knew nothing about. It is about older countries using younger countries. How could this resonate with audiences today?

JMG: Hard to say. In countries with conscripted armies, say China or Russia, would take it pretty well as written. In the west, however, we live in an era in which, in a war, the safest place to be is in the army. WW1 was the last war in which the majority of dead and wounded were soldiers. Now it’s civilians who take the brunt of it. Nobody even bothers to tally civilian casualties among Afghans and Iraqis. So when it comes to “learning” something about today in Billy Bishop Goes to War, I think the difference may be as telling as the similarities. As I say, I’m not the authority here. The play has moved on.

UBC: John, you say the play has moved on, and yet, borrowing your analogy of the child leaving home, the parent usually remains connected to it somehow. What have you noticed are the major ways in which the play has evolved? In what ways do you still feel connected to it and also, in what ways have you moved past it?

JMG: If I don’t see the play, I don’t think about it. If I am present for the production, I do some more work on it. I’m thrilled by some of the musical discoveries in this one, and plan to force Zachary to teach me how to play the electric guitar.

UBC: What are you looking forward to in UBC’s production of your play, starring your son, Zachary, who now takes on the role you played, and his best friend, Ryan Beil, both who, as long time friends, have always dreamed of staging this play?

JMG: It’s a startling parallel to what happened in the first place between Eric Peterson and me. Our friendship has always been a subtext of the play. There was no Actor, Writer, or Director—just the two of us, making a show.

From Theatre at UBC Billy Bishop Goes to War Study Guide.

February 2, 1894 – William Avery 'Billy' Bishop is born in Owen Sound, Ontario

August 1911 – Bishop is accepted into the Royal Military College (RMC) in Kingston, Ontario

June 6, 1915 – Bishop's infantry unit leaves for England on the Caledonia

September 1, 1915 – Bishop reports to the 21st Squadron for elementary air instruction

April 1916 – Bishop injures his knee in a takeoff while working as an observer

May 1916 – Bishop is admitted to hospital while on leave in London for his knee injury, and soon after is sent home to recuperate when his father suffers a stroke

September 1916 – Bishop is accepted for training as a pilot at the Central Flying School

March 22, 1917 – Bishop's first patrol

March 24, 1917 – Bishop crash lands in front of General John Higgins

March 25, 1917 – Bishop gets his first victory

April 8, 1917 – Bishop gets his fifth victory and becomes an ace.

April 30, 1917 – Billy Bishop meets the Red Baron in a battle that ends in a draw*

*Some military records show the Red Baron listed as being on leave at this time, leading historians to debate whether Bishop could have mistaken the identity of his combatant, or if perhaps the story was strategically played up for recruitment purposes.

May 1917 – Bishop earns the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for shooting down two aircraft while being attacked by four others.

May 6, 1917 – Albert Ball scores his 44th victory and is killed in battle the next day

June 2, 1917 – Bishop launches his “Dawn Attack” on the German Aerodrome

August 11, 1917 – Bishop is awarded the Victoria Cross for the “Dawn Attack”

October 19, 1917 – Bishop marries Margaret Burden at the Timothy Eaton Memorial Church in Toronto

April 1918 – Bishop is promoted to Major and given command of Squadron 85 the “Flying Foxes”

June 18, 1918 – Bishop is ordered to return to England to organize the new Canadian Flying Corps

August 5, 1918 – Bishop is promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel

1938 – Bishop is made Honorary Air Marshal of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and is put in charge of recruiting

September 11, 1956 – Billy Bishop passes away peacefully in his sleep in Palm Beach, Florida

Adjutant: Officer who assists superior officers by communicating orders and performing administrative duties.

Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF): Overseas force formed by the Government of Canada in August 1914 to participate in the First World War, consisting of volunteers from existing militia regiments. The first troops sailed for Great Britain in October 1914 and went into action in early 1915. Over 600,000 officers and men served with the CEF between 1914 and 1919. The CEF battalion units were disbanded after the war and their battle honours are borne by the militia units that provided the volunteers.

Distinguished Service Order (DSO): British decoration established in 1886 and bestowed on senior commissioned officers of the Army and Navy in recognition of distinguished services. It may be awarded to junior officers in especially deserving cases.

Lewis gun:Drum-fed, light machine gun of a .303 calibre. It was the standard weapon of that type in British Commonwealth armies from the First World War until 1939.

Martello Tower: Round stone towers of several stories with artillery on top. They usually had a low, wooden, cone-shaped roof that could be removed when clearing for action. They were very strongly built and made ideal outlying forts that, while relatively inexpensive to put up, were difficult to capture. They were first built in Canada in Halifax in 1796, and later in Québec (1808-1812), St. John (1813-1815) and Kingston
(1846-1848). Most are still standing today. The name "Martello" is said to be derived from Cape Mortella in Corsica and became popularized in England during the Napoleonic Wars when defence towers were built along the English coast.

Military Cross (MC): Decoration established on 31 December 1914 and awarded to majors, junior officers and warrant officers in British Commonwealth armies for bravery in the field. It ranks below the DSO.

Royal Military College (RMC): Canada’s military college for training officers since 1876, on an outstanding site at Kingston, on the shores of Lake Ontario. Reputed to provide an excellent military and engineering education. Initially, RMC was the only engineering school in Canada. Unfortunately, candidates from French Canada were almost totally excluded until recently, as they were required to be fluent in English. Anglophone candidates had no language prerequirements. This had negative effects on command structures, which were addressed after the Second World War with the opening of Collège Militaire Royal (CMR) at Saint-Jean. Today, RMC is a fully bilingual institution where one can obtain a complete university education in English or French.

Royal Flying Corps / Royal Naval Air Service: Both these organizations formed the air arm of the British forces and were fused into the Royal Air Force in April 1918. As Canada did not yet have its own air force, thousands of Canadians attracted to war in the skies enlisted in the British services from 1914. In 1916, the formation of Canadian reserve squadrons was approved by Britain as ‘Royal Flying Corps, Canada’. In early 1917, 20 squadrons were organized at airfields in the Toronto area at Long Branch, Camp Borden and Deseronto to provide training for pilots and aircraft maintenance servicemen.

Squadron (Air Force): Air forces adopted the squadron structure during the First World War, the first Canadian Squadrons being formed in 1917 when the shortlived Royal Canadian Naval Air Service was established. Distinct Canadian squadrons in the Royal Flying Corps were not formed until August 1918. Squadrons were formed in the Canadian Air Force from 1920 and the RCAF from 1924, which expanded tremendously during the Second World War.

Victoria Cross (VC): Highest decoration for valour in Canada and the Commonwealth forces. It takes precedence over all other orders, decorations, etc., and is equal in merit, but senior, to the George Cross. The act of valour must now be performed in face of the enemy and the VC can be awarded to a person of any rank. The obverse is inscribed simply 'FOR VALOUR'. To date (2004) 94 Canadians have received the award and only one is presently alive.

Sources:
Courtesy of the Canadian Military History Gateway, funded by The
Department of Canadian Heritage and the Department of National
Defence (DND). http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/html/glossary/default-en.asp?t=0