Download As Told By The Boys Who Fed Me Apples Notes File

EDUCATION NOTES AND RESOURCES
presents
AS TOLD BY THE BOYS WHO FED ME APPLES
22 Mar –2 April, 2017
Writer
R. Johns
Director
Greg Carroll
Lighting Designer
Shane Grant
Sound Designer
Michael Havir
Stage Manager
Kylie Russell
Set Designer and Cover Art
Peter Mumford
Performers:
Actor ONE - MAJOR GENERAL BRIDGES (Gallipoli) VETERINARY OFFICER (France) ARCHIBALD
JORDAN, groom (France/Australia) ...André Jewson
Actor TWO - SANDY...Miklos Gerely
AS TOLD BY THE BOYS WHO FED ME APPLES
SUMMARY:
The action of the play takes place in Gallipoli and Europe during World War I, and returns to
Australia at the end of the War. There are flashbacks to convey aspects such as recruitment,
treatment of warhorses and the soldiers’ nostalgia for home.
The play is based on the true story about Sandy, a horse that hauled bricks in Tallangatta before
becoming a warhorse and the favourite of Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges in Egypt.
Sandy was the only horse, out of 136,000 that left Australia, to finally be returned home at the
end of the war. Bridges was the only soldier whose body was repatriated.
Unlike the large-scale UK production War Horse (which also revolves around World War I
horses), this piece relies on just two actors, one of whom plays the horse, using mime and
symbolic costume to portray the animal. The performance style is non-naturalistic and the stage
comprises a set of duckboards, with a pit of earth. Sound and lighting are used for the transitions
between scenes and, as in Poor Theatre, the production relies on the audience’s imagination to
create the scene as interpreted by staging and acting.
Many of the boys who went to this war were the same age as VCE students. This production
challenges the audience to think about the dreams of the returning soldier as well as the
meaning of war. Behind its horrors, we see how the human spirit is maintained through the love
between man and horse.
Advice to schools
Content: This production refers to animal cruelty and warzones.
NOTES ON R.JOHNS (Rosemary Johns) PLAYWRIGHT:
Rosemary has a First Class Honours Degree in Drama (Manchester University U.K) and received a
one- year drama scholarship to Tulane University, New Orleans.
Her play Black Box 149 will have its European premiere at the State Theatre Nuremberg ,
Germany in March 2017.
Rosemary was invited to the 10th Women Playrights' International Conference, Cape Town, 2015,
with the devised work Don’t Go There (with Mary Helen Sassman), presented with South African
actors.
Her published plays by Currency Press include Stray, Black Box 149 and Carrying Shoes into the
Unknown. All have been selected previously for the VCAA playlists and were presented by La
Mama Theatre.
All her plays to date have been produced at La Mama, Big West Festival, 45 Downstairs, New
Theatre Sydney, 12th night Theatre Brisbane, Playbox at St Martins, and also presented in
Stockholm, Mumbai, Athens and New Zealand.
As well as writing plays, Rosemary works with children and youth in rural areas devising
performing arts experiences.
NOTES ON Director, Cast and Creatives can be found in the published book that accompanies the
play, along with the complete script.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLAYSCRIPT
As Told By The Boys Who Fed Me Apples' draft script was workshopped over two weeks in July
2015 with actors Jordan Fraser Trumble and Miklos Gerely and musician Michael Havir, director
Greg Carroll, production designer Peter Mumford and the writer Rosemary Johns.
As Told by The Boys Who Fed Me Apples had a first presentation in Public Programs at The
National Gallery of Victoria as part of The Horse Exhibition on 21st October, 2015. Cast and
Creatives: Jordan Fraser Trumble, Michael Havir and Rosemary Johns.
As Told By The Boys Who Fed Me Apples was first produced at Big West Festival, Beanland
Theatre, Victoria University College of the Arts, Footscray on 24th November, 2015 with the
following cast: ACTOR ONE- Dion Mills MAJOR GENERAL BRIDGES (Gallipoli) /
VETERINARY
OFFICER (France)/ ARCHIBALD JORDAN, GROOM (France/Australia); ACTOR TWO- Miklos
Gerely SANDY. Director, Greg Carroll, Production Designer, Peter Mumford, Sound Designer,
Michael Havir, Lighting Designer, Shane Grant Production/ Stage Manager, Kylie Russell.
As Told By The Boys Who Fed Me Apples was first produced at La Mama Theatre Melbourne (at
La Mama Courthouse), on 22nd March, 2017 with the following cast. ACTOR ONE- André
Jewson- MAJOR GENERAL BRIDGES (Gallipoli) /VETERINARY OFFICER (France) /ARCHIBALD
JORDAN, GROOM (France/Australia); ACTOR TWO -Miklos Gerely- SANDY. PLAYWRIGHT’S NOTE and Background to the Play:
This project marries two opposing theatrical forms - mime and dramatic monologue. The script
explores the symbiotic relationship between horse and soldier. It is based on the true story of
three men who cared for the warhorse Sandy, the only Australian horse to return to Australia
from World War One, when more than 136,000 horses originally left these shores.
Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges was the only Australian soldier killed in action whose
body was repatriated from that war in 1915 (until the unknown soldier in 1993), yet more than
sixty thousand enlisted men were killed. It is said the Major General’s dying wish was that his
charger Sandy be returned home. However apocryphal the tale, it illustrates the strong bond
between man and horse.
In this play Sandy’s story is explored through three sets of the eyes: those of Major General
Bridges, mortally wounded at Gallipoli; a veterinarian on the Western Front; and the groom who
brings Sandy home from Calais. Each soldier is strangely affected by their relationship with the
horse amidst the brutality of the war.
I was inspired to write this play because the story of Sandy found me. I went to the Australian
premiere of War Horse (National Theatre of Great Britain / Global Creature, Arts Centre 2012),
and a stranger accosted me in the foyer. She was very upset and told me how her grandfather’s
beloved horse had been sold to the Indian army after World War 1 and that many of the other
Australian war horses were either sold, shot (the soldiers couldn't bear to leave them behind to
be cruelly mistreated) or butchered for meat to feed the starving population in Europe. The
possibility of disease and the expense of shipping were deciding factors in the horses' fate.
I noted in the War Horse program that only one Australian horse, Sandy, made it home to
Australia. I sat there wondering, as the lights went down, where that horse went.
In 2013 Marcia Ferguson, Artistic Director of the Big West Festival, sought writers interested in
writing plays for the Anzac Centenary, centered on Footscray and World War 1.
As I was researching, I was amazed to discover Sandy spent his last days at the Maribyrnong
Remount Depot, outside Footscray, and that there was a community group called 'Friends of
Sandy and The Australian Light Horse' (FOSALH). This group has two Order of Australia recipients
and some ninety- year- old members. Member Alan Ross sadly passed away within a few weeks
of our meeting. Alan’s father fought at the Battle of Beersheba with the 4th Light Horse Brigade.
FOSALH has fought long and passionately to have the historical remount depot land behind the
Maribyrnong Community Centre recognized and preserved as a permanent memorial to the
thousands of horses who went to war, and as Sandy's burial place.
With the blessing of FOSALH, the creation of the work allows the audience to imagine the story
of Sandy and the forgotten men who served with him.
The production of War Horse which began this journey was epic in scale. Our Australian war
horse, the one who stands as the symbol of all the horses left behind, is an intimate piece. A
horse created not by puppetry, but by an actor, powerfully and affectingly. The remarkable skills
of Cast and Creatives have combined to create a very special storytelling in this ANZAC
Centenary, to remember the heroic lives of all those who served. ..............R. Johns
CHARACTERS The cast comprises two male actors.
Actor ONE plays three soldiers, with text - MAJOR GENERAL BRIDGES (Gallipoli) VETERINARY
OFFICER (France) ARCHIBALD JORDAN, groom (France/Australia)
Actor TWO plays SANDY. He never speaks.
ACTOR ONE, as soldier, transforms with subtle progressions of physical attitude and vocal
accent, into each next character; from Major General, to veterinarian, to the “permanently unfit”
lost soldier. Major General William Throsby Bridges is a classicist. He is a heroic character. This episode of the
play is mythological and poetic in tone.
Episode Two is more visceral. The Veterinarian is realistic and hardened by his experiences, yet
he is finally overwhelmed by the suffering of horses, and their struggle to serve through the gas
attacks, the shelling, the mud, bitter cold, and hunger of France. Episode Three is romantic, simple, humorous, and ultimately tragic. The Groom, Archibald Jordan
is “lost”, classified permanently 'unfit' he has been removed from the front lines. Through the
horse he finds emotional connection again and dreams of returning home.
ACTOR TWO, as the horse Sandy, represents the 'essence' of the horse, from the actor’s
viewpoint, both physically and emotionally. SETTINGS The play is set during World War 1. The action consists of 3 Episodes, constituting three separate
Monologues conveyed in Brechtian style:
Episode 1- Gallipoli and the hospital ship. 1915 World War One.
Episode 2- Behind the lines, a shelled village, an hour in hell on the Western Front, World War
One 1916. (This episode is based on a few lines from The Argus December 1918 about Sandy in
France.)
Episode 3- Outside the Australian Veterinary hospital at Calais, 1917 - 1918 World War One
(compressed time); The ship on the way home 1918; Maribyrnong Remount Depot after the
War. DIRECTOR’S NOTE
As Told By The Boys Who Fed Me Apples is a story about a horse and the men who lived and died
with him. The very nature of the play is non naturalistic and the central idea to this is the
presentation of ‘what is horse?’
The horse must be anthropomorphised. This choice was simple in relation to the text and aims
of the writer. It must be a man with the physical traits of a horse but depict feelings, emotions
and some form of intellect that is easily recognisable as human. In this way the horse can
become ‘like us’; understand and live with men through hardship and horror, love, sadness and
adventure. Human beings have always overlaid their feelings onto animals and particularly
with the horse. It has been central to the rise of civilization. The theatrical path for this
production is a mixture of non naturalism with elements of realism. The text is poetic, vernacular
and lyrical and there is heightened language in the first monologue. The text is also deeply
embedded in our feelings and thoughts, real and absurd. The production has pathos and
moments of comedy. It does not pretend to recreate the ‘natural’ world.
We are creating a world of the imagination, both beautiful and horrific. It is in the tradition of
Brecht, Beckett and Barry Dickins........................Greg Carroll
STAGECRAFT ELEMENTS THAT SUPPORT THE PERFORMANCES
-DESIGN
The designer, in consultation with the writer, determined the best approach for the design of
this production was to maximize the atmosphere and create a visceral setting evoking the
elements of the war environment in the most minimal and evocative way possible, both poetic
and representational.
It was important in this instance that the setting be situated within a black void. A pit of soft
earth surrounded by duckboards creates a caged, trapped quality that underlines and contrasts
the elements of conflict and warfare. The actors crawl in the soil pit, lie down in it, become
wounded in it.
There is a saddle hanging from the lighting bars, symbolically and poetically embodying the
'missing in action' - both horse and rider.
-PROPS
As well as no decoration in the set, props are also minimal. A bowl of water and a horseshoe are
secreted in the soil. A trench spade is used and a hurricane lamp. Props were only utilized if they
were useful to an actor's progression and to advance the story.
-COSTUME
As with the setting and props, costume was approached in a minimal way, using the principals of
poor theatre.
Actor One- Transitions into his 3 characters need to happen quickly and with minimal
interruption.
First the actor wears a Light Horse uniform, with hat. For his second scene/character (The Vet),
the hat and jacket are removed and a great coat put on, signifying the change from the heat of
Gallipoli to the cold of the Western front.
In the third sequence, the greatcoat is removed and his shirt, revealing just a singlet and braces.
Common to all three characters, played by Actor 1 are puttees and army issue boots.
Actor Two /The Horse- is dressed in period full length long johns, dyed the colour of a bay horse,
army issue boots with steel heel and toe caps added , so the actor may utilise the sound of
hooves with his movement. A thin strand of a mane - like hair extension was added to the back
of the actor's head, flowing to mid shoulder.
-LIGHTING
The challenge of lighting this play is to convey five very different places and times: the burning
sands of the Dardanelles; the cold wet misery of the western front, the long lonely night, a sea
voyage and the pleasant surrounds of suburban Melbourne circa 1920.
The lighting is designed to maximize the power of the black box, to allow the black to invade the
atmospheric space. The lighting involves dramatic silhouette backlighting, side lights and
selected spots. To facilitate dramatic lighting for the gas attack scene, some smoke machines are
used in conjunction with fans and descriptive colour. Underlighting the duckboards with blue
lights transforms the space to a marine environment.
-SOUND SCORE
Michael Havir describes how he developed the Sound Score:
"With the sound design and score I wanted to create an abstract atmosphere similar to a film
soundtrack to underline the dramatic elements of the play but also to occasionally come forward
as a feature. The difficulty with textbased theatre is that the sound has to sit under the words
and not intrude, so has to be at a different sonic range to the speaking voice, or at a very low
volume or both. I wanted the sound effects to have a visceral presence to simulate what the
men must have experienced themselves in the trenches, achieved with the use of sub woofers to
create sonic rumbles and thudding explosions that the audience can feel in their bodies as well
as hear. For the score I used natural sounds such as explosions, gunfire, hissing gas canisters,
bird song, frogs, an Egyptian flute and even the sound of a long wire fence recorded in South
Australia. These were then processed on computer so that they had some resemblance to the
original sound, but had an abstract quality as well. They were then mixed with musical pieces
created using a prepared piano, where objects are placed between the strings to create
percussive sounds, Tibetan bells, lap steel guitar and bowed piano, where the strings are played
with a long wire similar to a violin. The final score came out of a number of improvisations I did
during rehearsals where I worked all these different elements together. I hope you enjoy it."
AN EXPLORATION OF WORLD WAR 1- through Poetry, Painting, Music and Film- to
explore further the world of the play, and deepen the experience.
POETRY:
Poets responded to the horrors of 'the Great War', World War 1, with insightful writing and
poignant poetry to express their feelings, and let others back home know what it was like on the
battlefield.
The most famous of the World War 1 soldier poets were Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen, Robert
Graves and Siegfried Sassoon. There is much remarkable poetry which explores feelings about
the war, heroism and the longings for home and country by those soldiers who fought. There is a
very good site for Australian war poetry: World War One Poetry - ABC
www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/worldwarone/poetry/5521604
Banjo Patterson was at the Remount Depot in Egypt and later drove an ambulance in France. His
poem The Last Parade is about the thousands of Australian horses we left behind. Google
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzMls4tz50A
The Last Parade has been put to music by John Wallis and recorded by Wallis and Matilda. The
song is accompanied by photographs of horses and soldiers, courtesy of the Australian War
Memorial, Canberra .
Reference: The day Banjo Paterson sailed into Anzac history
www.smh.com.au/.../the-day-banjo-paterson-sailed-into-anzac-history-20141031-11e...
WORLD WAR 1 PAINTINGS :
Septimus Power (born New Zealand and migrated to Australia) was one of the most famous
Australian artists who painted the horse in war. Paintings include Cavalry Charge at Cambrai
(where tanks halted the horses) Compare this with Charge of Flowerdew's Squadron by Sir Alfred
Munnings 1918. He painted this in tribute to 'the last great cavalry charge'. In this attack against
German machine-gun positions at Moreuil Wood on 30 March 1918 most of the cavalry were
killed or wounded.
The charge at Beersheba was the last famous charge by soldiers with horses, where a key town
was taken, determining the final outcome of war in Palestine and the Middle East.
George Lambert’s A Sergeant of the Light Horse, 1920 was recognised as an image that captured
the spirit and character of the Australian soldier (on display at NGVA).
FILMS:
There are many films depicting stories from WW1. Among themGallipoli , directed by Peter Weir, celebrates the bond of friendship between two young men
and what happened to them at Gallipoli.
What is the difference between this bond of friendship and that between horse and soldier in
our play?
Ask your students if they would take the pilgrimage to Gallipoli today if they were able, and
why would they do this?
Oh What A Lovely War (based on the 1960’s theatre Workshop play)
All Quiet On the Western Front (told from the viewpoint of a German soldier)
There is film footage of the service held in Melbourne in 1915 for the only body repatriated from
the War, that of Major- General Sir William Throsby Bridges.
htttps://www.awm.gov.au/collection/F00134/
For many years it was thought Sandy was at that funeral. However Sandy had been placed with
the Veterinary Corps and was sent with them to France.
Sandy was meant to be taken to the grounds of Duntroon at the end of the war but he ended his
days at Maribyrnong Remount Depot, above the Maribyrnong Community Centre ( the 57 tram
still passes by the site, much taken for housing, the hill and old stables remain behind fencing)
However this misconception has remained that Sandy went to Duntroon.
Reference: Sandy The Waler - Army Museum of Western Australia
armymuseumwa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sandy_the_waler.pdf
- This is the story of a 'Waler' called Sandy and his larrikin horse-mate Bill.
SONGS AND MUSIC from WW1:
There are lots of songs and music from the WW1 era to be found on YouTube.
Listen to the words of some of these songs. What overall feelings are being expressed?
Much of the above raises interesting questions about what we choose to commemorate in
times of War and what we choose to forget. How a sense of nationhood was created during
WW1, particularly at Gallipoli.
SOME OTHER REFERENCES:
World War 1 marked the end of the use of the horse in war and the rise of heavy industrial war
machinery.
TROVE - newspaper archive, search for articles on Sandy and Major General William Throsby
Bridges and images.
The history of the Australian Light Horse.
www.lighthorse.org.au
This site has much interesting information about World War 1, including military stories of the
war, the history of the organization and also poetry and song. The Light Horse were also sent as
infantry reinforcement at Gallipoli and in France and Belgium, without their horses.
The Australian Army Veterinary Corps (AAVC) was established in 1909, and had a major role in the
war effort.
The veterinary corps, to which Sandy was assigned, also have a website, titled
Images for veterinary corps world war one. There is a short history at
Finding our veterinary heroes | Australian Veterinary Association
www.ava.com.au/13133
Holdings in the Australian War Memorial – the head of Sandy, the photographs of Sandy with
Major General Bridges.
Suggestion: Take students on a visit to the Shrine of Remembrance.
Discussion: Most of our soldiers were volunteers (the British had Conscription). Many young men
who signed up were similar ages to VCE students. Why did so many volunteer eagerly for that
War?
It was war and the dangers were high, but at that time for many it was first seen as a way to see
the world, a great big adventure. And it was thought it would all be over soon.
Glossary:
Anthropomorphism
-the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object.
Discuss with the students how animals are often given human characteristics in stories and
film, (please also see our Director’s Notes which discuss anthropomorphism). In our play
Sandy is mute. If he spoke, what would he say compared to those soldiers who tell his story?
Do you know what these terms mean?
- puttees
- a waler
- a tin of bully beef
- Conscription
- Fritz
- long johns
- approximately how much, in today's money, is "six bob a day"?
Please note: There are some Notes, and a complete Script, in our Currency publication of AS TOLD
BY THE BOYS WHO FED ME APPLES.
There will be discussion about Non-naturalism, Dramatic Elements, Expressive Skills,
Performance Skills and Performance Styles, as related to the VCE Drama syllabus, in the aftershow Forums at the conclusion of most performances. Please stay and add your thoughts to the
discussions.
There will also be Catch-up /Study Sessions in the September holidays as a refresher for students,
just before the final exams (dates to be decided).
www.lamama.com.au
La Mama Learning Program
presents
as told by
the boys who fed me apples
March 22nd –April 2nd, 2017
La Mama Courthouse