Letters from the Front brings ANZAC letters alive

Letters from the Front brings ANZAC letters alive

Improv troupe Best on Tap is bringing a special show to BATS for ANZAC Day.

Inspired by centenary commemorations, improv troupe Best on Tap is producing a show based on real-life letters sent to and from New Zealand soldiers in the First World War.

The letters and diaries are all the genuine article, printed from the archives, and the cast have not read them beforehand. Like the audience, the improvisers will be hearing these letters for the first time, and will be inspired to create scenes based on their contents. From the trenches in France to leave in London; training in Egypt, under the gun in Gallipoli and back in the homestead in New Zealand - this is history coming to life.

It’s bound to be an emotional experience.

“I was doing some research pretty early on,” says Wiremu Tuhiwai, one of the players. “I Googled 'ww1 tuhiwai' and the top find was 'Wiremu Tuhiwai', one of the Maori Pioneer Battalion. He died in France in 1917. I read that and I thought, this is getting super real. I hope I do him proud.”

And what about the women?

“Women weren’t just sitting at home knitting socks and worrying,” says Nicola Pauling. “There were women’s temperance movements that rallied hard against the war. And there were women who rolled up their sleeves and got to work while the men were away. They were nurses at the front, and they were ingenious fundraisers back home. Those women’s stories aren’t often told, and I’m looking forward to having some of them come to life on stage during the show.”

Letters from the Front on from 21 to 25 April at BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Terrace. The show will begin at 7pm, and will last approximately 50 minutes.

Tickets are $18 or $14 unwaged and can be booked on the BATS website.

Best on Tap would like to thank the Alexander Turnbull Library for their support of the show and for allowing us to replicate and improvise from the letters and diaries they curate.

Letters from the Front

Dates: 21-25 April 2015

Venue: BATS Theatre, Kent Terrace

Tickets: $14/$18

More Info: http://bats.co.nz/shows/letters-from-the-front/

https://www.facebook.com/BestonTap

ENDS

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