By Pepper Parr
August 23rd, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
It is a difficult play, about difficult issues, with some remarkable performances.
Never the 51st State is about Two Bridges; Two Nations and Two Invasions.
It is running at the Staircase Theatre in Hamilton this evening, Sunday and again on the 28th, 29th and 30th.
It is not a funny play, but there are a lot of lines that will earn more than a chuckle from the audience..
It draws together the challenges facing the situations in Canada that has a border threatened by its closest neighbour, ally, and trading partner and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the ongoing bloody battle.
Maria Zaichenko, a Ukrainian citizen currently living in Canada while her husband serves on the front lines, plays the part of a Ukrainian soldier defending her country. She visits with her husband frequently.
Maria Zaichenko, a Ukrainian citizen currently living in Canada while her husband serves on the front lines in Ukraine.
For Zaichenko the play is very personal. She heard of the production through friends in her church community and felt a strong desire to be a part of it. “I went to the audition and gave it my all.” For Director Rivers, having Zaichenko on stage gave his production a level of authenticity he didn’t expect.
Emily Bolyea, has two roles in the play: a municipal council member who all too painfully represents what Ontario has in the way of municipal Councillors and later in the play as the wife of General Hull, finding that she has to stand up for her husband, who can no longer stand up for himself. She excelled in both roles.
Tecumseh, played by Derek Groulx, a member of the Mohawk tribe that is part of the Iroquois Confederacy, has a withering few words for General Brock when he responds to a Brock remark about the residential schools. As Tecimseh, he is consistently stoic while attempting to tolerate what is taking place.
Ray Rivers as American General Hull, opposite Emily Bolyea who plays Hull’s wife.
Rivers, who wrote and directed the play also plays the part of American General Hull, who basically gives up any effort to defend Detroit in the War of 1812. Rivers conveys a tired old man who just wants to go home. He didn’t want the job in the first place. Rivers uses body language to great effect. The wife was the one with the words.
There is a lot of history in this play. Much that will be new to many in the audience. Rivers did an excellent job of researching the background.
While not a native of Ukraine, Rivers has a lineage that includes the country that he has visited several times and taught English to Ukrainian students.
The Canard River Bridge was a strategically vital choke point in the 1812 war’s early stages. It controlled access to Detroit.The bridge that was never defended by the Americans allowing British soldiers to take Detroit. After much debate in 2012, the bridge was named the Hancock-Dean 1812 Bridge to Nationhood.
Images of two bridges, the one in Canada at which the fate of Detroit was determined in the war of 1812 and a bridge in the Ukraine that had to be held if the Russian advances were to be stopped: both bridges serve as the backdrop for what is taking place. The bridge in Canada is still in place. Few realize the significance of the structure and the role it played in the war of 1812,
The bridge in Ukraine was something that had to be held if the Russians were to be stopped. Holding proved to be impossible – so the Ukrainians blew it up.
The play doesn’t present any resolutions, but it does set out the challenges Canada faces with a President that is both unpredictable and capricious
Tickets available through Eventbrite.
The play was produced by the Classical Theatre Company, an amateur group active in the Ancaster and Hamilton communities.
Use of four huge LED screens that provide different backdrops for various scenes describing the setting – who is on the stage, what they are doing and where and when it is taking place, proved to be very useful.
The production had a $4000 budget – profits, if there are any, will be distributed amongst the cast members.
The producers of the play will be donating the LED screens to the Staircase Theatre. They were used very effectively in this production
Never a 51st State will leave people thinking about what the cast had to say about the future of Canada’s relationship with the United States, and how the war in Ukraine will eventually be decided. Today Ukraine peace seems out of reach.
Maria Zaichenko wants to go home.
