AustLit

'Les Winspear’s play is based on interviews conducted with people who lived through the 1967 bushfires. The stories told in the play – despairing, surprising, funny, tragic, and hopeful – are all true, based on real events lived by the people who were there, and often told in their own words.'

Source: Blue Cow Theatre.

'It’s 1916, World War I is raging across Europe and thousands young men from the far-flung reaches the Empire are leaving home to join the fray. In Tasmania Bernard Bailey’s confidence is quickly eroding as three more of his travelling vaudeville troupe desert him for the Western Front.

'As the remnant band of entertainers straggle into a small east coast Tasmanian town Bernard is sure his days as an impresario are numbered and he’ll have to return to the grim life of selling haberdashery in the city. It’s not until he encounters the resilience, creativity and never-say-die attitude of the local community that his dark clouds are turned inside out and his visit to the sleepy town turns out to be the highlight of his theatrical year.

'More than a play, this is a night of true variety entertainment, designed to transport you back to the east coast of yesteryear.  A larger-than-life event where professional actors and talented locals roll up their sleeves and pitch in, to pack up your troubles and give you a vaudeville community event to remember.'

Source: Tasmanian Theatre Company.