Aaron Schilling and Britian Seibert Photo by Mikki Schaffner

Aaron Schilling plays Charlie Edwards, a rough and tumble young farmer who fantasizes about being a military hero on horseback. Britian Seibert is Mary Chalmers, a strong-willed, independent young woman transported from London to the wilds of Canada by a stern mother who has high expectations for her daughter. The pair first meet during a thunderstorm that terrifies Charlie, who counts the seconds between lightning and thunderclaps. Mary calms him by pushing him to recite some poetry, but the only verse he has memorized is Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade." It works, but it also foreshadows Charlie's fate as a cavalry soldier who perishes in an ill-fated brigade's valiant effort to resist a German advance into France.

The romance between Mary and Charlie predates the outbreak of war on a day when he gives her a ride on horseback. Although there's no horse onstage–they mount a gate draped with a horse blanket–the actors' physical and emotional response to a sturdy ride galloping across the Alberta countryside is easy to imagine. Mary knows nothing of horseback riding, and shy Charlie steps up to help her learn. But their shy love affair is interrupted when the Canadian Cavalry Brigade is called upon to be part of the war effort and Charlie ships out with the troops.

Scenes of horrific wartime conflict–poison gas, machine guns, trench warfare–are vividly reimagined in the most impressionistic way, often begun by letters from the European warfront that Charlie sends back to Mary that alternate in dreamlike fashion with the lovers' courtship before the war. As the words of his letters become real, Seibert occasionally dons a military jacket to become Charlie's friend and commanding officer, Gordon Muriel Flowerdew. She changes her demeanor and voice when she transforms into the kindly, compassionate military man. (Flowerdew was the real-life leader of Strathcona's Horse Company C, who died valiantly in battle in March 1918 and received the Victoria Cross posthumously.)

Seibert and Schilling, guided by director Blake Robison (the Playhouse's producing artistic director), turn in heart-tugging performances as lovers in a time of desperation, separation, and longing. They are believable and changeable, both with expressive faces that broadcast a vast array of emotion and movement that convince you they're riding horses.

The 100-minute production (no intermission) is a wild emotional ride to a wrenching conclusion, and there were sniffles and tears in evidence onstage and off as the actors took their curtain calls. The Playhouse's Rosenthal Shelterhouse Theatre is the perfect intimate space to stage this production where all the action is just a few feet from the audience.

Lex Liang's scenic design–a gray, rough-hewn horse barn wall with sliding doors, a plank floor, steps to an upper level, and farm implements scattered here and there–set the rustic tone for the story. There are moments when Robison has the actors step off the platform into a space off the edge of the stage. At these moments, they telegraph the characters' powerful emotions as they stand close to the audience in almost confessional moments. (Liang is also the production's costume designer, including the delicate, virginal white-on-white ankle length nightgown that Seibert wears, a constant reminder that barefoot Mary is dreaming.)

Moody, expressive lighting (designed by Michelle Habeck) helps to delineate between the nostalgic scenes of first love and the traumatic moments of battle that Charlie experiences. In the opening scenes, Charlie's fear of thunderstorms is underscored by flashes of lightning and rumbling thunderclaps (Matthew M. Nielson designed the sound.)

Mary's Wedding is not a new play. It debuted in Canada in 2000 and won several awards there. Local audiences saw it in 2008 when it was memorably produced by Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati. We should be grateful to see this poetic, deeply moving work again in this beautifully evocative production.

Mary's Wedding continues through March 8, 2026, at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, 962 Mt. Adams Circle in Eden Park, adjacent to Mt. Adams, Cincinnati, OH. For tickets and information, please visit cincyplay.com or call 513-421-3888.