Actors put harrowing battle on stage

OVER THE TOP: The play Once on Chunuk Bair will be performed by members of the Rotorua Little Theatre Society (pictured) at the Shambles Theatre to mark the 100th anniversary of the infamous Gallipoli battle. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Rotorua Little Theatre actors will tell the harrowing tale of war and death in their latest play Once on Chunuk Bair, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the infamous World War I battle.

Director Richard Rugg said the play tells the story of Kiwi soldiers on August 8, 1915, when they fought Turkish defenders led by Mustafa Kemal on top of the peak named Chunuk Bair on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Of the 760 men who reached the summit, 711 were killed.

But the play is not without humour, Mr Rugg said.

"There is humour in it, it's not just doom and gloom, but it is the actual depiction of an actual battle."

He said the play focused on the relationships and character of the men, which provided a window into their world-view, and a snapshot of our history.

"There's definitely what I would say a Kiwi attitude that we have moved away from in our present day. Some of what they say and think and feel and how they respond, I sort of go 'wow, that doesn't seem very Kiwi now, it seems like an ancestral-Kiwi kind of way of looking at things'."

"The focus is on characters and relationships, primarily the two officers and their sergeant - it's their triangle that is the main focus of the play in many ways."

Rotorua RSA president William MacDonald said the play was a good way to tell part of the story and history of World War I.

"Personally, I think it's actually a reflection of the high command and what almost seemed like the expendability of the Anzacs. It happened again on the Western Front.

"It's just beyond anybody's imagination, I have had a few scary times but nothing like what those poor sods had to go through."

The play will run from Wednesday next week until Saturday August 8, with its final performance coinciding with the anniversary of the battle, Mr Rugg said.

"I hope, more than anything else, if people come and see it they remember these were real people and that these events did happen ... it's not just a story, it's depicting real life."

On the night of the final show a small Anzac Day-style tribute will be staged with a short history of the battle, the playing of The Last Post and Reveille, and a reading of the Ode to the Fallen.