Review: City Lights’ ‘Truce’ finds hope in the midst of a brutal war

On Christmas Eve, 1915, an attempt to replicate the famous truce amongst the soldiers of World War I fell on deaf ears. There was still a short ceasefire, but the conditions which allowed for miraculous bonding amongst those new to the hostilities of war in 1914 were no longer.

At the tail end of 1914, the terms trench warfare, zeppelin bombings and phosgene gas attacks were not yet in their prime, a year’s worth of crippling battles still to come in the new year. World War I was in Month 4, with endless rains leading to impossible and discouraging conditions for those looking to simply stay both alive and dry.

City Lights Theater Company’s revival of “Truce: A Christmas Wish From the Great War,” tells the story of that miraculous and pragmatic 1914 pause in fighting between German and British soldiers, connected to the rain’s slowing. The production’s strength is its unifying sharpness, despite some of the piece’s most critical turning points offering a few too many moments of sanguine sentimentality.

Director Angie Higgins steers the piece with rich tones and tight pacing, the show offering up its own miracle to even make it to opening night. The original date was pushed back a week due to illness in the cast. But Higgins’ staging in moments both grand and miniscule hit as many correct notes as the flavorsome harmonies implemented by the rather large cast. Many of the show’s additional choral voices were part of the original 2014 production.

There are multiple stories at play, all connected through the war’s horrors as well as the piece’s most humane moments. Playwrights Kit Wilder and Jeffrey Bracco have crafted the story with many terrific touches, combining historical fact and narrative storytelling to portray the unlikely pause between the battling young soldiers, which appealed to the world’s better angels.

The individual anecdotes compel mightily, the story understanding how internal strife and external challenges motivate each conflicted soul. There is the English poet Tommy (Eddie Zhang), a perceptive youngster who struggles to embody all that war offers. One who doesn’t carry the gray area of war is German soldier Georg (Myles Kenyon Rowland), a fiery gent who desires to embody the heroism of war. He parries beautifully with nurse Anna (Sarah Benjamin), opening up with his insights into the daft machinations of war, from one who has a front-row seat to the bloodshed.

Some of the most powerful aspects of the show come from how seamlessly the beautifully balanced script offers up wisdom while incorporating many historical facts that led to the first world war, with many firmly committed performances that tackle many emotional demands effectively.

Yet, there are times when the conflicts feel tempered. The entry into the truce has a rushed insistence, but that initial pathway doesn’t last long. Once Germans and English flutter into their first accidental harmony, no man’s land fills with rich, humane camaraderie and impromptu soccer.

Much of the play’s success comes from its detailed minutiae, greatly enhanced by the terrific technical aspects. Kristin Lundin’s varied, period-style costume design is a marvel, down to the disturbing barbarism of the pickelhaube. The lighting from Paul Skelton and sound design from George Psarras go a long way toward building an all-encompassing world of literal and metaphoric light and dark.

There are many historical facts that build the story’s context, covering all aspects of the casualties of war that aren’t just limited to the battlefield. Pressure lurked on all sides, always with those who yearned for their loved ones to return home in one physical piece, despite war’s dismantling of the mind.

But for one brief, sparkling moment, parapets weren’t solely used as protective walls inside muddy trenches, but as countertops where cigarettes, chocolate and yuletide connection were exchanged.

Sadly, for many soldiers, the truce was one of their final Christmas memories. The next few years saw battles such as Verdun and Somme contribute to millions of casualties.

To tell the story within a holiday season gives the piece renewed relevance. While the play sometimes veers too close to the sappy, it’s an appropriate and necessary use of sap within our modern world which has become too fraught with cynicism.

But any cynical being certainly has an achilles heel. To that end, consuming the soul-stirring harmonies that come with this production’s choral rendition of “Oh Holy Night” is a gift that would cause anyone to fall on their knees.

David John Chávez is chair of the American Theatre Critics Association and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (‘22-‘23); @davidjchavez.bsky.social

‘TRUCE: A CHRISTMAS WISH FROM THE GREAT WAR’

By Kit Wilder and Jeffrey Bracco, presented by City Lights Theater Company

Through: Dec. 22

Where: City Lights Theater, 529 S. Second St., San Jose

Running time: 2 hours with an intermission

Tickets: $20-$63; cltc.org