By the end of 1914, British and German troops had dug themselves into trenches across the European landscape. The nations of Europe had been engaged in warfare since that summer, and bloody years of fighting still lay ahead.
But on the eve of Christmas in 1914, soldiers for a short time remembered Christ’s message of hope and peace. On that day, some British soldiers heard German troops singing Christmas carols on the other side of the battlefield. So, the following day, they called an impromptu truce and met in “no man’s land” to exchange presents, take photographs and toast one another’s health.
This historic “Christmas Truce” of 1914 came to the stage at Missouri Baptist University, Dec. 2–3, with an acappella stage production of the musical, “All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914.”
In their own words
“It was a beautiful show,” Kasey Cox, MBU director of theatre, told The Pathway.
“The entire show is told through letters, written home from the men who were actually there when the Christmas truce happened,” she said. “So all the dialogue that takes place within the show is actually words from their letters. The music is mostly traditional Christmas carols, sung in English, but also German, French — and there was a little bit of Dutch also.
“There is so much beauty and hope in a show that’s about two groups of people who are actually at war, who can find unity around the gospel,” Cox added. “That gives me a lot of hope for the future.”
Two hundred people attended each performance of “All is Calm,” ending the MBU theatre department’s year on a strong note.
To learn more about MBU’s theatre department, go to https://www.mobap.edu/academics/theatre-department/, or follow the department’s pages on Instagram and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/mbutheatre).
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Benjamin Hawkins and originally published by Missouri’s the Pathway.
