MADDY HEISLER - Playwright's Notes
I have always been fascinated and drawn by the two great wars of the 20th century. My mother lived under the Nazi occupation of Jersey, in the Channel Islands, so there is no doubt her influence in the writing of this play is prominent. As a child I was extremely inquisitive in wanting to know what it was like for her during those terrible times. And there were many stories, from the dreadful and scary to the heroic and sublime. In recent years there has been much talk within my father's family about my grandfather - an elusive character at best - who was rumoured to be a spy working for British Intelligence during the First and Second World wars. Much of the necessary documentation to prove this was blown up in the London Blitz, so it remains hearsay and rumour; but enough remains to suggest he was definitely up to something for someone. Add to this a bizarre boat trip across a Nova Scotian lake to look at a 1930s cottage with swastikas carved all around the window frames and the chance finding of Nazi propaganda in a South Shore secondhand bookstore...Well, I guess you could say it got me thinking. |
