Theatre 2023: Mirvish - Pressure

Pressure is a Scottish play which deals with an unlikely Scottish World War II war hero who never fired a shot, but whose actions saved the lives of over 300,000 men and affected the outcome of the war. The play was first performed in 2014 at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh before moving to London’s West-End in 2018 and now to Toronto in 2023, delayed by several years due to the COVID shutdowns.

James Martin Stagg (1900-1971) was a senior meteorologist with the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force who was tasked with leading a team of 6 who had to predict what the weather would be like over a period of 3 days between June 5 to June 7, 1944. The Battle of Normandy, a massive military campaign codenamed “Operation Overload”, was planned to take place some time during this narrow window, based on predictions of favourable tides and the phase of the moon.  The assault would begin with air bombardment by 1200 planes to take out German airfields and fuel supplies, followed by the approach of 5000 warships carrying soldiers for ground battle. 

 The allied forces led by American general Dwight D. Eisenhower had tentatively scheduled “D-Day”, or the first day of a major military operation, to be on June 5.  It was up to Stagg to confirm if the weather would cooperate.  A successful mission depended on clear skies and a full moon so that the air operations would have good visibility to see their targets, low winds and calm seas so that the fleet could safely approach the shore, and low tides so that the descending ground troops could see German  mines and other obstacles. 

Stagg, who was native to the area and familiar with the capricious nature of the English Channel, predicted a huge storm would descend on the scheduled D-Day, despite the weather being sunny and pleasant several days before. His American counterpart, commercial meteorologist Irving Krick, strongly disagreed and predicted good weather.  While Stagg used both experience and technical measurements of temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloud cover and wind patterns for his forecast, Krick used a misguided and since debunked method of predicting future weather based on similar historical patterns and cycles.

Stagg was correct in his predictions and luckily convinced Eisenhower to postpone the original D-Day, thus avoiding catastrophe since a major storm did blow in. His heroics went even further when he then spotted a brief window of improving weather for the next day, which allowed D-Day to go forward on the early morning of June 6, 1944.  Although the conditions were not ideal, they were good enough for a successful operation and the rest is history, as the saying goes.  Stagg was awarded the Legion of Merit and appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his invaluable war efforts.

Haig's play Pressure focuses on the big decision of whether to proceed with the scheduled D-Day with a secondary plot exploring the rumoured war-time affair between Eisenhower and his secretary/personal chauffeur Kay Summersby.  In the first act which sets up the scenario, we are a bit overwhelmed by weather-forecasting lingo and statistics as Stagg analyzes information from maps and data that are gathered remotely from off-shore observers and weather balloons. There were no satellites to aid him back in 1944.  To help with our understanding, the large weather maps that are delivered intermittently throughout the play are covered with large swirly weather patterns with storms identified in large red letters named L1, L2 .. L8, and a big red H representing a high-pressure system which theoretically would bring good weather.  As each new map is rolled out, we could see the markers for the storms shift and grow as Stagg explains the meaning of the movements. 

The role of James Stagg is played by Kevin Doyle (known for playing the butler turned schoolteacher Joseph Molesley from the TV show Downton Abbey).  The name of the play cleverly alludes to both the atmospheric pressure that Stagg measured, as well as the extreme pressure that he was under to come to the right conclusion about the weather on June 5.  Adding further to the drama was his concern over his wife’s difficult pregnancy and impending child-birth.  This may or may not have been added for dramatic purposes, but Stagg’s second child was indeed born in 1944.  As the antagonist in the play, Irving Krick is portrayed (perhaps excessively or stereotypically) as a loudmouthed, overbearing American who spouts his misconceptions as facts, living up to his reputation as being more of a showman than a scientist.

Although all the action took place in the single room where Stagg performed his analysis, a clever piece of staging helped to accentuate the problem that he faced.  To the right of the stage were a set of double doors that opened up to reveal the "weather outside”.  Through use of lighting to simulate bright sunshine, it was clear that the weather was fine for days leading up to D-Day.  This made Stagg’s prediction of the impending storm even more difficult to accept. The harbinger of the big storm that finally arrived was conveyed by a gust of wind that caused the curtains around the doors to flap and some papers to fly around.  Then the skies darkened as pelting rain, thunder and lightning could be seen and heard, all through these doors.

Rounding out the play are multiple tender interactions between Eisenhower and Summersby that left no doubt as to their emotional (and perhaps physical?) connection.  It was also made clear that with the success of Operation Overload and the impending end of the war, this relationship, borne out of extreme and heightened circumstances, would also be coming to an end. Sadly for Summersby, she would be left behind as collateral damage.

Considering how often weather predictions are wrong today, even with all our modern technology, the feat achieved by James Stagg and his team was remarkable, especially given the dire importance of getting it right.  This was a gripping piece of history, but having said that, it still was quite the accomplishment for this play to make weather sound exciting.