By Daphne Finlayson
Based on the true story of the Preston Rivulettes, who won an astounding 350 games during their tenure (Canadian Encyclopedia), Prairie Theatre Exchange’s Glory transforms the Cherry Karpyshin mainstage into a hockey rink to showcase how our heroines made their way from Depression-era softballers to national champions. We meet our starting lineup during a softball game against their rivals, the Port Dover Sailorettes, before they decide to stay active during the winter season and break ground as a women’s hockey team. We then follow the Rivulettes from their inaugural season all the way up to being Olympic hopefuls.
Led by Hilda Ranscombe (Cora Matheson), the team consists of sister Nellie Ranscombe (Emily Meadows) and the team’s second pair of siblings, Marm and Helen Schmuck (Jada Rifkin and Katie Welham respectively.) Cory Wojcik is reluctant coach Herb Fach, who acts as the face of period-accurate sexism as our players fight to prove themselves on the ice. Our unseen announcers (played by Gord Tanner and Wayne Buss) help out in this regard as well. Both throw out some truly boorish comments about femininity as our players batter their opponents. Rest assured, these ‘little ladies’ are here to throw elbows and foul just as hard as the boys. Even harder, given we see multiple penalties, a missing tooth, and an all-out Donnybrook by play’s end.
The set remains sparse throughout, dominated by the ‘ice’ with a net and a few choice pieces helping orient us between the different games, shoe factory, train, and change rooms. The makeshift ‘boards’ have a nice, worn-in look that speak to game after game of players getting battered into the wood. Likewise, Victoria Exconde’s choreography places us into the world of the games. No roller skates here; our players glide across the floor with jazz shoes and balletic grace. The choreography, from slapshots to pirouettes, pair nicely with Joseph Aragon’s original score of upbeat jazz. The commitment to the faux-skating is great throughout, including some wonderful physical comedy from Emily Meadows as she does her best Bambi impression. The games do get a bit repetitive throughout, especially with unseen foes battling it out on the ice, but the difference in staging helps orient us along the Rivulettes’ journey to the finals.
The script is also a tad uneven from a pacing perspective – the Rivulettes go through all the major beats of your standard sports underdog story in the first act, from forming the team through a training montage culminating in the 1933 Dominion Title championships. We then join the team in Act II after a five-season time skip and blaze through the team’s journey to a European tournament before a stark reminder of just what year we’re in rears its ugly head. If the play feels at all anticlimactic, there’s only history to blame.
The play is far from hopeless however. Glory is a charming start to Prairie Theatre Exchange’s season, taking audiences on a tour of Canadian history and wins for gender equality in our nation’s favourite pastime. Despite the collar-tugging comments about the future of women in sports (it would be ninety years after the Rivulettes first hit the ice for Canada to get a professional women’s hockey league), the audience roots for our players until the very end.
Daphne (she/her) is a director and creator based in Winnipeg. She is a graduate of the University of Manitoba with a BA in Theatre and Film Studies. In 2022, she graduated with honours from the inaugural Red River College Digital Film and Media Production program. She has worked with companies like Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Prairie Theatre Exchange, The Village Conservatory for Music Theatre, The Keep Theatre, Theatre Projects Manitoba, and Rainbow Stage, in addition to running her own company, Hypothetical Projects. Daphne was the recipient of the inaugural Dan Augusta Promise Prize from Sick + Twisted Theatre and received the Gladys Cameron Watt Award in the 84th National One-Act Playwriting Competition.
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