About Meadows of Stone
Often the things that family members do for each other are remarkable, and come the closest to a genuine altruism that we will experience in our lives.
Meadows of Stone was initially inspired by the true Canadian story of a woman who left Newfoundland to search for her brother, a man who went missing while fighting in Europe in World War I. While researching this play, we learned that family members in both world wars sometimes responded to similar news by personally trying to locate their missing relatives, or learn more of their last whereabouts. Grieving is not always a passive experience—we can weather it through action.
When Vallance Maguire, the protagonist of this musical, arrives as a volunteer (and novice) nurse in France, she is challenged by the demands of work, but also by the loneliness of her pursuit. Here the other main theme of the story—the random miracle of friendship—comes into focus. She learns that her journey is not as strange as she privately believes it to be. People around her are also actively grieving and confounded by the futility of the war. With humour, music and sympathetic people to confide in, she ultimately succeeds: learning about the love in her brother’s life, reaching out to find the echo of that love, and seeing a future of renewed purpose and joy.
Much like Vallance, Gabriel Arnott’s kindhearted nature is both practical and wistfully idealistic. An old piano in the back of the canteen draws them together, and a shared hope of living beyond grief keeps them close. Arriving at a critical time in the war, they become fast friends, giving each other courage.
The work of nurses during the war rarely let up; Amy Newman, in the role, sets out to mirror a troubled world that demands constant energy and invention. The chamber-like score of Meadows of Stone uses only voice and piano, focussing on the simple resources available to musicians near the front. In an homage to that time, it alternates contemporary techniques with lyrical style from the era. Vallance’s quest, like the period she inhabits, is disorienting yet romantic—a maze, set to music.
