Commanding show from top down

ATTENTION:Once on Chunuk Bair, performed by Limelight Theatre at Carterton Events Centre. Pictured are actors Greg Webb (Colonel Connolly), left, and Danny Clenott (Bassett).

So far, to mark 100 years since World War I, we've had re-enactments in the Masterton Town Square, art exhibitions and hundreds of white crosses in the ground.

But it was a play in Carterton which really transported me back across the decades, right into the gritty, blood-soaked heart of battle.

I attended the opening night of Limelight Theatre's rendition of Maurice Shadbolt's Once on Chunuk Bair on Saturday - exactly a century since the Battle of Chunuk Bair at Gallipoli.

The whole event was a poignant one: beginning with a speech from Carterton Mayor John Booth, who shared his grandfather's experiences of war, and ending with a digital roll call of the members of the Wellington Battalion who died at Chunuk Bair, with a reading of Wilfred Owen's Anthem, for Doomed Youth playing over the top.

And, thanks to a combination of the towering set, stark lighting, billowing dry ice for every gun shot, and the earthy performances of the cast, one could practically feel the glare of the Turkish sun, smell the cordite and taste the stale air.

The play tells the tale of the Wellington Battalion as they struggle to take the hill of Chunuk Bair from Turkish forces, abandoned by the British generals.

On the inhospitable slopes, bonds are forged between the characters: the formidable Colonel Connolly (Greg Webb), patriotic Lieutenant Harkness (Quintin Pope), wisecracking Porky (Stefan van Trigt), tough-talking Mac (John Mabey) and disillusioned Holy (Bernard Vose).

Disappointingly, I have been full of cold and, on account of blocked ears, any lines from actors not directly facing me were lost.

But what I did hear was excellent.

Webb in the leading role was superb, giving a commanding, muscular, yet compassionate performance as Connolly, the leader who believed in his men until the bitter end.

With his gruff voice, razor-sharp wit and impassioned speeches, Webb made a colonel not to messed with.

With a crisp English accent, Pope made a gloriously insufferable Harkness, rattling off army jingoisms and references to classical mythology, yet showing vulnerability when his faith in the Empire crumbles.

Colton Stuart was also solid as the dependable Sergeant Frank South, chilling the audience with his unbridled grief when everything falls apart.

No less stellar were the lower-ranking troops: an exuberant performance from van Trigt as Porky, the class clown who eventually succumbs to shellshock; Nathan Matthews as Smiler, an idealist in the grips of dysentery; Mabey as the no-nonsense rugby fan Mac, and Vose as Holy, whose strangled rendition of Abide With Me got the waterworks flowing.

The best character acting came from Ben Adams as Maori solider Otaki George and Danny Clenott as the earnest linesman Corporal Bassett, while youngest cast members AJ Southey and Joel Charters gave sincere performances as the naive Fred and dimwitted Scruffy.

What really made the performance a cut above was the troops' collective effort. Each minute they were on stage, the cast members were acting - whether it was sluggishly fanning themselves, hunching over their rifles, or muttering for water, they brought the miserable atmosphere to life.

My one criticism was that the pacing lags in some parts.

But that aside, beautiful job by director Lynn Bushell and her team. A touching tribute to our Anzacs.