What do you think New Zealand women did in the war of 1914 to 1918? Did they knit, bake Anzac biscuits, or were nurses? It was a time when women's lives changed beyond recognition, in their homes and families.
Celebrated actresses Ilona Rodgers and Cathie Harrop have built an impressive performance around the topic. Their show They Also Serve can be seen at Tauranga Art Gallery on April 16. With the support of musicians Paul Harrop and Jennie Khan, Ilona and Cathie will bring to life, through words and music, the stories of Kiwi women at home and abroad during WWI .
Ilona and Cathie will entertain with integrity and humour, whilst bringing to the public through the medium of theatre, this part of our history when women 'rose to the occasion' and with true No 8 wire mentality they more than coped, only to be forgotten almost completely by the history book writers of our nation.
Many women were greatly affected by the loss of their men and the social turnaround in their lives over the four years of war and shortly afterwards. Should we also remember the despair of the women who just couldn't knit, who may have received up to four of the dreaded telegrams, or the misguided white feather girls?
"The audience will be encouraged to pass on their own family history of women at the end of the performance when there will be time to talk about their stories with the performers," says Tauranga Art Gallery's event co-ordinator Kalou Koefoed.