Once again Alberta Theatre Projects delivers to Martha Cohen Theatre a play that is all humour and heart, plus hockey. Glory, written by Tracey Power and directed by James MacDonald, sees four women and their male coach take on a world rife with labels, stigma and uncertainty through the ultimate Canadian sport, hockey.

Helen Schmuck, Marm Schmuck, Hilda Ranscombe and Nellie Ranscombe are four bucksome, athletes – hard set on proving first town and later country that they can play just like the boys can, maybe even better. Beyond the social stereotyping and overt sexism that gets in their way, but does not serve to deter them, two of the sisters are Jewish as Adolph Hitler looms the threat of war over the globe, and one is a lesbian falling for her married teammate.

Glory, as its namesake suggests it might be, is glorious on all fronts: direction, music, choreography, script and acting. Kate Dion-Richard, Gili Roskies, Katie Ryerson and Morgan Yamada deliver hearty performances, well deserving the standing ovation that concluded Sunday’s matinee performance. Thus it was disheartening to see the theatre seats less than halfway filled. Like many sports, and indeed most areas of life, because the story follows four female athletes it might not be gleaning the attention it would should they be male characters. But this should not be the case: Glory had me laughing and teary-eyed within the same minutes.

The Canadiana in this script leant it a wonderful northern ambiance – it was truly parts CBC and parts John Candy era comedy. Do yourself a favour and close off the 2017-2018 ATP season with this wonderfully funny and thoughtful play. Glory runs until April 21^st.

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Contributor Janine Eva Trotta |

Locale Calgary |

Topic Alberta Theatre Projects | Theatre |