An interview with Tammy Adkin, Guelph Museums manager
This July, Guelph Museums is teleporting audiences back to the time of John McCrae’s life through theatre. Snapshots of McCrae’s years in Guelph will be brought to life as Backyard Theatre produces Jay Wilson’s original work, Guelph In Postcards: The McCrae Years.
Guelph Museums held a preview of Wilson’s original production at the John McCrae House on May 6. The cast and crew of Guelph in Postcards gathered in John McCrae House following the preview show for a photograph with Mayor Cam Guthrie.
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A prominent physician, soldier, author, and poet, McCrae has played a huge role in capturing the context of World War I through his famous poem, “In Flanders Fields.”
The production will invite audiences to learn a little more about this important historical figure by bringing historical postcards to life.During the event, The Ontarion had the opportunity to interview Tammy Adkin, manager of Guelph Museums, to learn more about McCrae.
Crystal Gong: What’s the importance of John McCrae and the John McCrae House to the city of Guelph?
Tammy Adkin: John McCrae was born in this house and only lived in this house until he was two years old. He is respected around the world and across Canada for his contributions as a soldier, doctor, and certainly as a poet, particularly with the words that he left us in “[In] Flanders Fields.”
Guelph is particularly proud to be the hometown of John McCrae. It’s the city where he was raised, where his family shared their values, and almost 100 years after his death people still hold him in high regard.
CG: The preview for Guelph in Postcards: The McCrae Years (1872-1918) is today, could you provide some context for the summer production?
TA: Yes, so we announced today that Backyard Theatre at the McCrae House will return for a third season. It will run from July 8 to July 22. The production is by Jay Wilson; it will include poetry and music to give us some insight into some of the influences in McCrae’s life and what was happening in Guelph at that time.CG: What was the purpose for starting the first season of the Backyard Theatre?
TA: We launched Backyard Theatre three years ago during the 100th anniversary of the writing of “In Flanders Fields.” It was a way to provide some innovative programming, to engage people in a different way, and [tell] McCrae’s story.
So the first year we presented A Night in Flanders, which was written by a local playwright, [Donald Macrae]. Last year we presented Sons of ’17, the musical performance by Mike Ford and Murray Foster, and this year Jay Wilson is presenting a play that comprises of poetry and music.
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CG: Finally, why do you think John McCrae’s story is so timeless and continues to resonate with Canadian youth?
TA: Well certainly the poem from when I was a child, to before that and to this very day is being recited by school children across the country on Remembrance Day. So our job as this museum—and we do this in partnership with authors and scholars—is to remind people who the person was behind the poem.
I think his story resonates so well because he was somebody’s son, brother, and grandson who grew up in a very modest life in Guelph, Ontario.He was steeped in his family’s values of service and community, he did extraordinary things as a pathologist, then as a physician on the battlefield, and he was an artist who sketched. He left us wonderful words in his poetry, not just “In Flanders Fields” but in a number of poems he wrote.
I think that “In Flanders Fields” just captured both the duty that soldiers felt at that time but also [included] the words that challenged us to do right and to not forget. It was just such an honest glimpse of what was happening across the globe to sons of our country. I think his story resonated too because McCrae grew up as an ordinary child in Guelph who went on to do extraordinary things that went on to be recognized around the world in a very modest and earnest way.
Photo courtesy of The Giant Vermin via CC-BY-SA-3.0.