A SOLDIER’S STORY
After serving in Afghanistan, Christopher Johnston has written a play to shine a light on our longest war
It could go either way. Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Johnston’s foray into the theatre has resulted in a gripping Afghanistan war drama entitled First Casualty, which has its world premiere at Queensland Theatre on November 12.
QT’s artistic director Lee Lewis – who championed the work and helped Johnston fashion his drama – thinks it’s a winner but what about his superiors?
The army is a bit bruised after Afghanistan, particularly with some of the negative press in recent times. Johnston hopes the brass will approve but nothing is guaranteed in war ... or life. He happens to be the army attache designate to Japan and is deep in advanced language training for his deployment to Tokyo, where he will undergo more intensive language studies before taking up the role in 2024.
“Depending on the outcome of this interview I’ll either be going over to Tokyo as the army attache, or I’ll be a staff officer grade 2 in charge of blanket folding in Dubbo,” Johnston says. “Much depends on my media engagement.”
His defence could be that as a soldier who served in Afghanistan he’s telling the truth. But as we all know, the first casualty of war is the truth. He’s hoping fiction is a good vehicle for veracity.
Johnston, 45, is a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and First Casualty is an imagined account of soldiers on a remote patrol base in southern Afghanistan, informed by the authentic experience of Johnston and his comrades.
“In 2011, I deployed to Afghanistan as an intelligence officer. At that time our regular soldiers were stepping out daily on long, dangerous foot patrols into the ancient valleys of Uruzgan province, then returning to austere combat outposts we shared with the Afghan
Army. First Casualty is set on one of these outposts, which I have called Mirage.
“The scale and duration of the Afghan conflict makes it tough to fully comprehend, let alone communicate in a compelling way. That makes it hard for most Australians to relate to our experiences there.
“My play is set in 2011, at the apogee of our commitment, when the war began spilling and shifting. By focusing on a small group of soldiers I can portray the competing dynamics which I think ultimately defined our campaign. I wrote the play for my army friends and family, to experience together among our community.”
Johnston has had a self-confessed “colourful military career” beginning in his mid-20s. It followed a period when he was virtually a travelling troubadour in Europe.
“The year before I joined the army I was touring Germany and Italy in an a cappella group of six young men singing early music,” he says. “We had a large and devoted following of women in their 70s and 80s. We were called Pablo and we did a fine line in black skivvies. We were fashionable in Germany and I’m not sure what they says about us.”
Johnston is a musician and has composed songs for the play.
After officer training at The Royal Military College, Duntroon, Johnston did his army intelligence training at Canungra in South East Queensland and he has had a varied career including serving in Afghanistan as a chief intelligence analyst based at Tarin Kowt.
Keen to tell the story of Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan from a soldier’s perspective he decided to write a play and entered it in the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award. It didn’t win, but it did catch the eye of Lewis, one of the judges and then with Griffin Theatre Company.
“From the first reading I had a huge interest in the play,” Lewis says.
“When it was clear it wasn’t going to be a finalist I called Sam Strong who was then artistic director at Queensland Theatre and asked him if I could pick the play up.”
That was in 2015 and it took seven years for it to get to the stage.
Johnston’s play conjures the day-to-day realities of the soldiers’ lives on a remote base, but he weaves the story together with theatrical ideas.
Lewis says she is excited to bring this very real story to life.
“To see this story live onstage and not in a film will be a revelation for audiences,” she says.
“We are so used to hearing our military history told by the British or the Americans in TV and film. To see the story of our soldiers, in their own voices will allow us to understand better our place in world military history.
“First Casualty is not an anti-war story, or a pro-war story. It’s a story about our sons, husbands and fathers, people we love. It is a window in on the Australian soldier’s experience of a conflict we are only beginning to
I THOUGHT IT WAS IMPORTANT TO PUT A HUMAN FACE ON THE CONFLICT, TO TELL THE STORY OF OUR SOLDIERS IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE TO HONOUR THEM AND THEIR FAMILIES
understand as a nation. It’s important that it’s a soldier’s voice, not a media voice. It rings true but it’s not actually true.”
When I meet with Lewis and Johnston, rehearsals have just begun.
“It’s day one,” Lewis says. “We just had our first read with the actors. It was petrifying and awesome to hear those words coming off the page out of Christopher’s head. There are sentences in there that people have actually said although it has been fictionalised.”
Lewis confirms that there is “nothing in the play that is an attack on the army”.
“It’s about the soldiers,” she says.
“It’s not demonising them or mythologising them, its trying to humanise the experience so that we as Australians have a better understanding and curiosity about what has been done in our name.”
Johnston reckons: “Afghanistan has become so contentious, and our conduct there so controversial, so political.
“I thought it was important to put a human face on the conflict, to tell the story of our soldiers in their own language to honour them and their families; to understand the impact of our longest war.”
To prepare the cast for the production, Johnston took them on a three-day bush training camp and the actors donned uniforms and kit worn by Johnston’s comrades and that’s what they will be
wearing on stage.
“The actors are literally stepping into the boots of soldiers who wore them on patrol in Afghanistan,” he says.
“We spent three days out in the Brisbane hinterland with a dedicated veteran friend of mine and it was an extraordinary experience.” Brisbane actor Mitchell Bourke, 25, plays the lead role of Captain Trent Kelly, a soldier from Townsville, in an impressive cast that includes Christen O’Leary and Steven Rooke, among others.
Bourke says the bush training was bracing.
“They really gave it to us,” Bourke says. “They threw us in the deep end. We slept in swags under the stars, got up at the crack of dawn and were really enriched by the whole process. I had long chats and dinners with Christopher gaining an insight and reading and re-reading the script. We want to give the soldiers who served in Afghanistan the recognition that is due to them and to thank them for their service.
“Having Afghans in the show adds to the authenticity. That makes it really special.”
One of them is actor Reza Momenzada, 35, who lives in
Sydney but is originally from Kabul, Afghanistan’s troubled capital.
Momenzada came to Australia aged 15 and is a professional actor. In First Casualty he plays Ali, an Afghan interpreter working with the Australian Defence Force.
“I’m very lucky to be part of this,” Momenzada says. “It’s a privilege and for Christopher to give us a voice is an honour in itself. I think it’s about time Australia saw something like this on stage. It will be upsetting at times but it’s important. It’s very hurtful to see what has happened to Afghanistan.”
Johnston says he believes theatre is a medium for reconciliation and redemption.
“It’s a way of dealing with the past and coming to terms with it,” he says. “I was worried that yet another generation of Australian soldiers couldn’t share their stories and talk about their experiences. If we can provide a dramatic context for that, one that protects them and protects the army and allows the soldiers to shake hands with their younger selves on stage, that will be good.”
Lewis counselled against Johnston and his comrades attending the first preview and felt they should wait until opening night. Traditionally it takes a few runs for a play to settle in. But such is the curiosity and enthusiasm of the group, they couldn’t wait.
“All my mates are coming to the first preview,” he says, smiling.
No pressure. ■