The story of one family’s war
The Kerikeri Theatre Company will mark Anzac Day, and 100 years since the end of World War I, with a play about a New Zealand family’s experience of the “the war to end all wars”.
Billy Goes to War was written by Kerikeri man David Crewe in 2014, when he was living on Australia’s Sunshine Coast. He has since rewritten the play to place it in a New Zealand context, adding elements of a diary written by a stretcher bearer whose descendants live in Kerikeri.
The play centres around the Smith brothers, Billy and Tom, and the family left behind as the boys go to war.
It follows the brothers as they are sent to fight in the desert, at Gallipoli and the Western Front, before ending up at a casualty station on the Greek island of Lemnos, where one of the nurses is their aunt Olive.
Mr Crewe said the play had a cast of 50, ranging in age from 6 to 75 years, from as far afield as Mangonui, Taupo Bay and Kaikohe. Some had acted in previous Kerikeri Theatre Company productions, but many had never been on stage before, or last performed when they were at school 40 years ago.
The company had hired authentic World War I uniforms, while the Kerikeri Men’s Shed had made the replica Lee Enfield rifles.
The Ode to Remembrance in the finale would be spoken by Vietnam veteran Bill Godfrey, who had been to every rehearsal to instruct the actors in army drills.
“We’ve had tremendous support from the community,” Mr Crewe said.
A live band, made up of adult musicians and local high school students, would perform songs of the era.
Mr Crewe said he was fascinated by the story of World War I.
“I’ve always been moved by the massive sacrifices of all countries involved, the millions of lives that were lost and the folly of it all,” he said.
For New Zealand and Australian audiences he believed the story of Gallipoli in particular had to be told, along with the reasons Germany brought Turkey into the war. World War I and Gallipoli were major areas of study for school children, but his play brought the story to life in a way that could not be achieved in a classroom.
“When we did it in Australia people were completely overwhelmed by the story and the emotional content,” he added.
Mr Crewe worked as a journalist, and owned a PR company in the UK, before retiring to the Sunshine Coast and starting to write for the theatre. He wrote seven pantomimes in Australia, all of which were performed. He moved to Kerikeri with his wife Helen two years ago.
He also wrote the courtroom comedy-drama The Trial of Dr Millicent Malville, which was inspired by his years as a court reporter in London and performed at the Turner Centre earlier this year. ■ Billy Goes to War will be performed at the Turner Centre in Kerikeri at 7.30pm on Friday to Sunday, with a 2pm show on Saturday. Call at the box office or go to www.turnercentre.co.nz for ticket information.