Repertory to stage ANZAC play

In the lead-up to Anzac Day and the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli, Hawera Repertory has chosen to present the very powerful and emotional play ANZAC.

Heading the show is the experienced director Clive Cullen who selected the play as a remembrance and celebration of the sacrifice made by so many young New Zealand men in World War I.

As well as being a tribute to them, it is also for Clive's great uncle John Rayner who was killed in 1917 at the Battle of Messines (Belgium) after being at the front for just 13 days.

Clive says John Broughton's play ANZAC encapsulates the whole range of the war experience, from the fervour of patriotism to the excitement of young men seeing the world and going on a great adventure, through to the grinding reality of war and how it very quickly became a soul-destroying experience for these men.

It also shows that wars aren't just about these young men going out and being killed but also how it totally shatters life at home and changes it for ever.

This aspect is brought to life very strongly in the play, he says.

The drama of ANZAC is a marked contrast to Clive's previous play, the very successful comedy Four Flat Whites in Italy, which he directed for Hawera Rep last year.

He has previously directed four Shakespearean plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night and Macbeth plus a number of one act plays and has also appeared in a variety of roles on stage.

Clive says the ANZAC cast has worked hard for three months to bring their characters to life and it has been an emotional journey as they have got to grips with the hardships and terrible events that befall their characters.

Three of the cast also have to play multiple roles and switch rapidly between their different characters. He is delighted with the huge commitment the cast and crew have made to the show as the audience is taken between war in Turkey and France and back to the home front in Dunedin.

ANZAC is in the Hawera Memorial Theatre, opening on Saturday May 18 with a matinee on May 19, then performances on May 23-25. Tickets cost $10 for adults, $5 for students (plus booking fee) from TicketDirect or the South Taranaki i-SITE.