N.Z. heroes on stage, 67 years after

Press, 19 February 1983, Page 16

N.Z. heroes on stage, 67 years after

Once on Chunuk Bair. By Maurice Shadbolt. Hodder and Stoughton (N.Z.), 1982. 106 pp. $9.95 (paperback). (Reviewed by Michael Wicksteed) From all accounts Auckland’s Mercury Theatre production of Maurice Shadbolt's new play “Once on Chunuk Bair" last year was excellent. An impressive and realistic set. good acting, thorough historical research and a worth-while script (with a little historical poetic licence) all added up to a satisfying whole—so satisfying indeed that many theatre-goers in other New Zealand centres were left wondering when they were going to get a chance to see this bold effort at resurrecting one of New Zealand's most profound feats of military arms. “Resurrection" is hardly too strong- a word for it either. I doubt if one NewZealander in a hundred would have the faintest idea how to answer the question, “tell me what happened on Chunuk Bair?" Suffice it to say, that in two days in August. 1915, on the Gallipoli Peninsula, the New Zealand Infantry and Mounted Rifle Brigades lost 1871 men out of their fighting strength of 4549. That is what happened on Chunuk Bair. They failed to acheive their objective, too—the capture of the highest feature in the area which would have enabled the Allied forces to overlook their Turkish opponents and the waters of the Dardanelles. But they gave it everything they had in the way of sheer tenacity and courage. To be sure, the future was to bring New Zealanders equally grim tragedies on the battlefield; the Somme in September, 1916 (1560 dead and 5440 wounded in 23 days of futile fighting): Greece and Crete in April and May, 1941 (932 dead, 1354 wounded and evacuated, with 4036 being taken prisoner, of whom 760 had been wounded before capture). Other battlefield tragedies were to be equally grim—but to Chunuk Bair. For the first time Chunuk Bair produced homegrown heroes for a young nation which had had the heroism of Empire force-fed to it for 80 years. Maurice Shadbolt’s play is based on the exploits of the Wellington Battalion which led the assault on the slopes of Chunuk Bair at 4.30 a.m. on the morning of August 8, 1915. To place the event in perspective at human level, because this play is definitely about people, it is helpful to quote C. E. W. Bean, the official

Australian War Historian: "Of the 760 of the Wellington Battalion who had captured the height that morning, there came out only 70 unwounded or slightly wounded men. Throughout the day not one had dreamt of leaving his post. Their uniforms were torn, their knees broken. They had. had no water since morning; they could only talk in whispers; their eyes were sunken; their knees trembled; some broke down and cried like children." He was there to see them. Maurice Shadbolt’s play is an important event for New Zealand drama and literature: this publication of the play’s script is timely. We have become a worried nation in the last decade. But there is strength to be gained from an awareness of what our not-too-distant forefathers were capable of acheiving under conditions of extreme adversity, such as we are. we hope, never likely to experience. We tend to dismiss the concept of heroes in New Zealand. Maybe we should try to find a place for them in an historical context—not to glorify the horrors of war, but to gain an awareness of what New Zealanders are capable of. After all, the British still gain satisfaction

from the exploits of their forbears at Agincourt in 1415.

Plays are often hard to read. How many folk have been put off Shakespeare by having had to read him at school? But Mr Shadbolt has managed to catch an essense of what life was like on that grim and hostile penisnula 68 years ago. He offers us an awareness of history (and ourselves; that is often lacking in this country. Sometimes his extreme use of profane language seems slightly off-key. but there is no doubt that many New Zealanders of the early 1900 s were hard men and the dramatist has but a short time in which to establish character traits.

The book is well-produced and most ably complemented by a series of Brian Brake photos taken of the Mercury Theatre’s production. And what did the official New Zealand War Historian have to say about Chunuk Bair?—“August 8 was a day of tragedy for New Zealand, but no day in our calender shines with greater glory.” I think he was right.

(Major Wicksteed is public relations officer for the Army and compiler of the recent book “The New Zealand Army—A History from the 1840 s to the 1980 s.”)