A HIGH-impact drama exploring the legacy of war on those who live through the experience will open in Toowoomba on Saturday, coinciding with the centenary of the Gallipoli landing, when the nation pauses to remember the sacrifice of a young and hopeful generation.
Emotions are also likely to be raw and nerves frayed among the ranks of the University of Southern Queensland's second-year drama students, preparing for their first public performance as a cohort with We That Are Left.
Written by Robert Kronk and directed by renowned Brisbane actor and director Helen Howard, We That Are Left knits together real-life World War I stories and memories to explore the impact of war on families and rural communities from south-west Queensland against a larger backdrop of global upheaval and national transformation.
Among the cast of 11 is Rosewood's Odessa Phoenix, playing the lead role of Rosie Sticklen, a young woman from Pittsworth who reveals her frustration at not being able to join the fight with her brothers Henry and Josiah, and father Alf.
Also joining Phoenix on stage is Beaudesert's Wenona Moss, who plays Rosie's great-granddaughter Emma - the audience's link to the present day, and the portal by which those in the comfort of their theatre seats can view the not-so-distant past and travel back in time to the tragic decisions made 100 years ago.
Phoenix, who is probably better known to Rosewood locals as Odessa Whitten, unaware that she has adopted her middle name as her stage name, says the collision of ideas and fragmented memories plays out in a narrative driven by themes of inter-generational trauma and the healing power of a shared humanity - Emma's bridge back to Rosie and her family members who fought on the frontline.
"It's a story that tells me no matter how far we progress in time, we can't escape the decisions made by our forebears," Phoenix says.
"The characters in this play show us that for a conflict as shocking and massive as World War I, even the smallest of decisions made can take on tragic and giant proportions, especially for those most vulnerable like women and children."
For Wenona Moss, who has her birthday on Anzac Day and this Saturday turns 19, a similar age to those who enlisted in their thousands in 1915, it's Rosie's story as a strong and independent woman that lies at the heart of the play, despite the tumultuous global events that threaten to consume and suffocate her choices.
"This is a woman who demands to be heard," she says. "So many of our war stories are told about the men who made and participated in the conflict. This is a story about a woman's right to make her own choices as she sees fit, and who won't be constrained by the times in which she lives."
As one of the few male actors in the performance, Toowoomba's Campbell Lindsay will play four roles in the production, even turning his hand at a blind returned soldier.
Lindsay says that even for men of the era - urged by their government to either kill or be killed - choices were limited.
"So for those who opted out, the consequences through vilification and public humiliation were also horrific - and the play explores this as well," he says.
"It's a very powerful piece of theatre and hits home hard because it's a genuine Queensland story, connecting us to a truly terrible, history-turning event."
- We That Are Left runs at USQ until May 2.
Visit www.artsworx.com.au
