Spycraft presented by Theatre Collingwood
Spycraft is a two-act play about a female operative who spies on the Nazis in WWII occupied France by knitting code into ordinary garments.
It’s modern day, and Cleo and her adult daughter, Sophie, receive recently declassified information about Cleo’s grandmother from the Imperial War Museum in London. It turns out, Audette was not just a sweet old lady who knitted socks—she also worked for Churchill’s Special Operations Executive (SOE) as a spy in Occupied France.
The debrief of Audette’s espionage activities answers some questions, however it leaves many more. Cleo and Sophie’s present day dovetails with Audette’s past. In 1942, as a middle-aged woman and hidden Jew, Audette's male colleague at the SOE is skeptical she’ll make a difference because she’s a woman, and an "old" one at that. But she challenges the chauvinism and ageism of the time by using her "invisibility" to employ her knitting, a classically female craft, to pass coded intelligence to the Allies.
After learning the secret story of Audette’s unique and brazen Nazi takedown, Cleo and Sophie (a new mother herself) grapple with the sudden discovery that they are Jewish, especially when Antisemitism is on the rise, and spreading disinformation about the Holocaust has become commonplace. Will they hide their identity as Audette did, or will they embrace it - and all that it means?
Like The Imitation Game or Bletchley Circle meets knitting, Spycraft is a cool twist to the classic espionage story. Knitting is a commonplace and seemingly inconsequential hobby that is usually attributed to women, especially older women—who are also frequently rendered invisible and considered inconsequential. So there is power in defying expectations by using this invisibility to change the course of history.
SPYCRAFT is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Toronto Arts Council.
November 20th & 21st 7:30 PM
November 21st 2:00 PM
Marsh Street Centre
Clarkesburg
Tickets: 705-445-2200
www.theatrecollingwood.ca
info@theatrecollingwood.ca
Details
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