War of 1812 Introduces John Terence, Chief Warrant Officer (Ret'd) MMM, CD Producer




 










Photo by Gary McWilliams, Ontario Visited
"The Battle" at the Canadian International Military Tattoo & Festival
Interview with Mr. John Terence, Producer, Canadian International Military Tattoo & Festival

WAR OF 1812 & the Canadian International Military Tattoo & Festival

“HISTORICAL AUTHENTICITY & ACCURACY ... ?!” …

I understand that producing a quality show such as the Canadian International Military Tattoo & Festival can be challenging. I wrote a Blog article for our War of 1812 Celebrations website (Link) that spoke of “The Ten Foot Rule”. Basically, it reflected on the challenges of “authenticity” depicting War of 1812, battles, reenactments, living history alike. My question to Mr. Terence, in particular, with the War of 1812 being part of the focus for the Canadian International Military Tattoo & Festival, how do you meet (or overcome) some of the challenges presented by the unique criteria to keep the “authenticity” and “historical accuracy”?

Mr. Terence does extensive travel, reading and research. With the War of 1812 being part of the performance this year, John recognizes that he will need to enlist assistance when needed, saying that “nobody has that much knowledge”. John Terence and Canadian International Military Tattoo & Festival work diligently on being as true to accuracy as possible. He feels you can overcome some of the “challenges” of “staying true to authenticity” by “diverting them in the first place”. Again, do your homework! He said that “some of the challenges are in the context of presenting history today, but, at the same time entertaining the audience. After all, it is a show!” He goes on to say that in his opinion, “history can be dry and factual”. (I have to agree, although through reenactments, Tattoo’s and many other documentaries and visual aids, history is becoming exciting for me personally). Last year John said it was a bit risky trying to not bore the audience. They did a scene last year of a Veteran from Hong Kong depicting a story. John’s idea was that during the narration by the Veteran, a single music piper would play in accompaniment. This added to the entertainment value while still getting this Soldiers message out!

(To Be Continued)