Reviews

Audience feedback

Absolutely brilliant! Don’t miss it.

Congratulations to everyone involved. We laughed & cried (real tears) & were amazed at how well you adapted the play to such a small area. Thank you for an amazing and thought provoking experience.

Saw the play in Newcastle and it was sensational!! A couple of colleagues went after me and agreed. HIGHLY recommend anyone who can to go.

We were stunned by the performances … the cast and crew can be very proud of the show … a treasure in the 100th anniversary year of the War to End Wars.

Uplifting, terrifying and sad all at the same time, a reminder of what our service men and women (and nurses) endured. The cast was absolutely brilliant and swept the entire audience up in the history, struggles, happiness of love and crippling devastation of war. Get to see this show if you can, you won’t be sorry.

I have just come home from seeing the show at Fort Scratchley. Wow that was a powerful production. Now, I’m not sure that I had given it much thought before hand, but I was not prepared for it. The silent repeat of the shelling triage tent, silently repeating so much senseless suffering, was such a powerful moment. I am a fit, young and able bodied male, who knows ‘there but for … the Grace of God, The sacrifice of those portrayed tonight, … go I.’ Thankyou

Saw this last night at Fort Scratchley. Fantastic show, great stories.

Through the tears this was a Super duper show

The play is moving, emotional, authentic – and the male actors are very ‘easy on the eye’! I was so impressed I booked tickets to see it again the following night

The performance was wonderful: poignant, thought provoking and with a great balance of pathos, humour and insight. Congratulations and thank you!

Wonderful & historically true WW1 play, evocative with marvellous acting! Don’t miss

Brilliant play on WW1 nurses in a wonderful scene perfect at Fort Scratchley

What an amazing night we had in the grounds of the gaol Saturday. Thankyou for bringing the play to us here at South West Rocks. Our group of 9 were all amazed at the quality of the show and talent of the actors and haven’t stop talking about it since. Bravo!!!

Wonderful … Thank you so much to everyone involved. You are touching hearts and educating a new generation.

What an amazing ensemble of actors you are, I loved the performance. Impressed with the choreography and movement of the show. Superb writing with simple truthful connections. Loved it… Thank you!

Had the best night … thanks for creating such a delightful play

Wonderful play, I learnt a lot regarding the sacrifices made during the war.

Fantastic and important… Congrats to all involved!

Seriously excellent performance at the Maritime Museum tonight … Very impressive research, very important stories to remember

Great night… Beautifully captured the emotion & tumult of a nurse at war.

Reviews

Although inspired by documented letters and diaries from the front, Cheryl Ward’s text doesn’t get bogged down in a literal recitation of these works and instead gives itself space to create dramatically satisfying scenes.

The cast is impressive; skillful and charismatic, they command the space … It was a great pleasure to watch such a capable ensemble

Hats off to director, Mary-Anne Gifford … tightly directed with a fine eye for detail

The set and costumes were beautifully selected by Tom Bannerman and Ali Whiteford, respectively. The costumes were flawlessly authentic … the space turned into a claustrophobic trench and nurses’ quarters. Elliot Glass lights cleverly, littering the stage with hurricane lamps.. The entire set had a pleasing aesthetic and does wonders for the atmosphere and tension.

It is heartening to hear [the nurses’s] stories told without glitz or glamour … so sensitively presented that our emotions are engaged, seemingly by stealth … the ensemble are an experienced, energetic and talented team

This is a poignant piece of drama, with lashings of humour, romance, desperate sadness, heroics and frustration.

Cleverly directed by Mary-Anne Gifford and brilliantly performed by a superb cast, this docudrama had me in tears.

Kate Skinner as Sister Florence Whiting gives a particularly powerful performance; she’s the sober soul navigating the awful, and absurd, tension between wooing and warring.

Writer Cheryl Ward, director Mary-Anne Gifford and the actors bring out the hopes, dreams and realities faced by the characters … Fort Scratchley is an excellent venue for this story … Civic Theatre deserves applause for agreeing to its performance in such an appropriate place