Iron Peggy

By Marie Clements

Peg is struggling for survival at her boarding school. Three über-cool “it” girls take aim at Peg and make her life utterly miserable. When her beloved Grandmother dies she just wants to disappear. Then an unexpected gift arrives; inside it, Peg finds three cast-iron Canadian soldiers. In despair, she throws them against the floor. How can they help her? They are so small, and the girls’ shadow is so big. But, miraculously, the toys come to life as Indigenous snipers from World War I, just in time to wage an epic battle against the girls. A powerful play that will appeal to audiences both young and old, Iron Peggy uses a creative and ever-surprising blend of voices and sceneries to tell this moving story. With 2018 marking the 100th-year anniversary of WWI, Iron Peggy is an excellent introduction to its history and a touching testimony that not only celebrates the First Nation participation in the war effort but also a young girl’s personal victory.

Iron Peggy, by award-winning, international Métis performer and playwright Marie Clements, was commissioned by the Vancouver International Children’s Festival and premiered at Vancouver’s Waterfront Theatre in 2019. (Adapted from Vancouver International Children’s Festival online presentation.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Talonbooks
• Release date: Mar 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781772012934

Marie Clements

Marie Clements is an award-winning Métis performer, playwright, and director whose work has been presented on stages across Canada, the United States, and Europe. She is the founder of urban ink productions, a Vancouver-based First Nations production company that creates, develops and produces Aboriginal and multi-cultural works of theatre, dance, music, film and video. Clements was invited to the prestigious Festival de Theatre des Ameriques in 2001 for Urban Tattoo and in 2002 for Burning Vision. In 2002, she worked in the writing department of the television series Da Vinci’s Inquest. A fellowship award from the BC Film Commission enabled her to develop the film adaptation of her stage play, The Unnatural and Accidental Women. She is also a regular contributor on CBC Radio. Clements writes, or, perhaps more accurately, composes, with an urbane, incisive and sophisticated intellect; her refined artistry is deeply rooted in the particulars of her place, time and history. The world premiere of Copper Thunderbird is the first time Canada’s National Arts Centre has produced the work of a First Nations playwright on its main stage.

Book preview

The cover features an impressionist painting of a young girl with pigtails wearing a school uniform, surrounded by three soldiers in brown uniforms with green helments. None of the figures have faces, and they are painted with rough brushstrokes where you can see the texture of the canvas below showing through.

Table of Contents

Iron Peggy

Production History

Characters

Setting and Time

Note

Scene One: York Girl's School

Scene Two: Peg's Dorm Room

Scene Three: Under the Door

Scene Four: The Hallway – Morning

Scene Five: Class Room

Scene Six: Dean Hall's Office

Scene Seven: The Hallway

Scene Eight: Peg's Room

Scene Nine: Peg's Room – Night

Scene Ten: Peg's Room – Night Into Morning

Scene Eleven: The Battlefield

Scene Twelve: Battlefield Two

Scene Thirteen: Battlefield Three

Scene Fourteen: The Battle of All Battles

Iron Peggy Study Guide

Background Information

Indigenous Characters

Francis Peggy Pegahmagabow

Henry Louis Norwest

Private George McLean

Where Do the Iron Soldiers in Iron Peggy Come From?

Definitions of Importance

Bullying

Overview of World War I

Canada's Involvement

Some Facts About the War

The War & Indigenous Peoples in Canada

Overview

Reasons for Enlisting

Indigenous Women in World War I

Charlotte Edith Anderson Monture

After the War

Recognition from the Canadian Government

Medals and Bars

Spanish Flu: 1918–1920

Play-Related Activities

Before Reading the Play

Pictures from the Play

Play with Words

After Reading the Play

Class Conversations about the Play

Operation Stand Up

Indigenous Communities

Nani-Ma’s Village

A Letter for Grandma

Peggy’s Medals

The Chant in the Play

Anti-Bullying

Prevent Bullying

Kindness Rocks

Send a Kind Note

Write a Review

Also by Marie Clements

Page List

Cover

iii

v

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

103

ii

iv

Landmarks

Cover

Title Page

Scene One: York Girl’s School

Iron Peggy Study Guide

Thank you for purchasing and reading Iron Peggy.

If you came across this ebook by some other means, feel free to purchase it and support our hard work. It is available through most major online ebook retailers and on our website. The print edition is also available.

Talonbooks is a small, independent, Canadian book publishing company. We have been publishing works of the highest literary merit since the 1960s. With more than 500 books in print, we offer drama, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction by local playwrights, poets, and authors from the mainstream and margins of Canada’s three founding nations, as well as both visible and invisible minorities within Canada’s cultural mosaic. Learn more about us or about the playwright, Marie Clements.

Iron Peggy

A PLAY

WITH STUDY GUIDE

MARIE CLEMENTS

TALONBOOKS

Talonbooks logo

For all the Indigenous soldiers who fought with such bravery in the World Wars and brought this grace and will to the fight for equality in Canada. To those, however young, who are standing their ground with their still minds, steely guts, and open hearts. I thank you all for the courage forward.

Production History

Iron Peggy was first produced from May 28 to 31, 2019, by the Vancouver International Children’s Festival and Boca del Lupo in association with Red Diva Projects in Vancouver, British Columbia, with the following cast and crew:

Characters

PEG, age ten. British Indian. Mixed blood. Her mother was originally from India, and her father is English. A new student at a private girl’s school in London. Smart, pretty, and kind. Faced with odds she can’t seem to fight against. Must be played by a South Asian actor.

GRANDMOTHER, in her early sixties. Peg’s beautiful grandmother, who writes to her every week from India. She worked hard from a young age and became a designer, securing a better life for her family. Soft-spoken, graceful,