Actor Mark Wright plays role in video as Hauraki cancels Anzac Parades

Monologues from Gallipoli to premier in Waihi where actor’s great-grandfather once owned a hotel

NMy great-grandfather used to own the Rob Roy Hotel in Waihi and two of my greatuncles left from there to serve in Gallipoli, so this collaboration with Hauraki District Council and the RSA is very special for me. Mark Wright on Voices behind the Uniforms

o civic Anzac Parades or services will be held in Hauraki, despite a change in the Covid-19 traffic light setting.

Instead, Hauraki District Council is promoting its collaboration on a video with New Zealand actor Mark Wright.

Wright will commemorate Anzac Day with a one-man show to premier in Waihi, where his great-grandfather once owned the Rob Roy Hotel and farewelled two of Wright’s great-uncles to Gallipoli.

The Waihi Beach-based actor wrote the play, Monologues from Gallipoli, which will premier at Boyd Rd Theatre in Waihi, home of the Waihi Drama Society.

Mark travelled to Turkey in 2014 to front a TV documentary Sons of Gallipoli.

Hauraki District Council has announced that civic parades will still not be held throughout the district.

“Planning these events was done well in advance and when the call was made to not go ahead with the parades, it was because the guidelines in place were too tight,” said Mayor Toby Adams.

“Now, even with the easing of restrictions, we’re conscious of the importance of keeping the vulnerable [people] in our community safe, given the current spread of Covid in the Waikato.”

Local RSAS will host dawn services on Anzac Day.

Adams says while it was a difficult decision to cancel parades, especially with the red traffic light setting changes announced, he is confident it is the right one.

In a collaboration with Wright, excerpts from Monologues from Gallipoli will feature alongside interviews with members of the RSA and footage from previous parades in Hauraki district as a commemorative alternative