Rolling Thunder Vietnam
Former Sydney Morning Herald theatre critic Bryce Hallett has penned a concert drama based on the poignant stories behind the Vietnam War. It features the rock’ n’ roll and video footage from the era, linked by ‘soliloquys’. Ahead of its national tour in August and September he spoke to David Spicer about the show and the challenges of developing new work.
There are no surprises as to what sort of songs appealed to Australian soldiers on duty in Vietnam. Most People I Know Think That I’m Crazy by Billy Thorpe and We Gotta Get Out of This Place by The Animals immediately struck a chord.
In the late 1960’s The Rolling Stones were also pretty hot and all sorts of anti-war songs sprung from rockers.
They form the backbone of what writer Bryce Hallett says will be a show that is a cut above the revival concerts that have been wheeled out in recent years.
“We call it a concert drama. Between the songs are monologues or storytelling, in a sense like a series of soliloquys. This captures and evokes the letter writing that was paramount in the Vietnam War, as it was in earlier wars,” he said.
The source material is real life stories.
“There are the I love you, I miss you, I want you to be here (letters), so there is a love story at the heart of this piece.
“But in forming this love story there is something I came upon. A number of mothers in that era, when their sons either chose to join up or were conscripted, would often not turn up at the farewells.
“The mothers would keep their heads in the sand. Fathers tended to be more stoic. It was interesting to read some of the exchanges between mothers and their sons. That became a motif in this show.
“I use that to tell one story about a character called Johnny who is a country boy from Stanthorpe in Queensland. In his case he wanted to have an adventure before the responsibility of taking over the farm one day.
“But locked into his story is that thing with his mum, who is totally against the possibility of something happening to him. She feels that he is deserting the family while they are struggling on the land.
“Hopefully what this show does, through this journey of the four central characters, is not just give a sense of what war does to people, but also give an insight into how war has a domino effect.
“Where it causes damage not just to the soldiers on the battle front, but also people struggling back at home.
“The show is largely set in 1968 and 69. It was a pivotal time. Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King had been shot in that year. The world had gone mad.
“The uncertainty played into what was the first televised war. If you grew up in the 60s, you were not out of it on drugs but watching the war on TV every third and fourth night. There was some horrific imagery that would startle people.”
To find the personal stories Bryce Hallett spent many an hour speaking to veterans.
“All of a sudden you find they are pouring their heart out for you.
“There was one vet I met at a hotel for a beer. Originally he was finding it a bit difficult then half way through the schooner of beer it was like I was his best mate.
“He started to tell me things about his experience in Vietnam. What it meant to his career and his family back home. His great affinity to this day to (helping people in) Vietnam.”
Bryce Hallett is still best known from his time as the chief theatre critic for the Sydney Morning Herald for a good part of a decade. But he bristles at being pigeon-holed as such and says crossing the line to becoming a writer has been liberating.
“Even when I was reviewer for many years at the Sydney Morning Herald I never separated my roles as a journalist who was championing artists, and art forms across opera and music theatre.”
His highest profile outing as a writer was a cabaret he penned with Tim Draxl called Freeway - The Chet Baker Journey.
How did the critics review his work? His former colleague at the Herald John Shand described Freeway as “as fine a piece of cabaret as has been hatched in Australia.”
Wouldn’t every writer like a review like that?
But if a bad one comes along Bryce Hallett says, “I will take it.”
“Both (Freeway and Rolling Thunder are) really an extension of journalism. It is not as through I am creating these fictional worlds which don’t bare any relationship to reality.”
He says the biggest advantage of being a former critic is the amount of theatre he has seen.
“You learn an awful lot. I have sat through a lot of theatre that was uninspiring. You are continually analysing things. I have watched different art forms become hybrids. I have been around long enough to see sub sets of art forms I did not even think possible.”
Bryce Hallett says the biggest pitfall to the development of new work is them not being ‘looked after’ and rushed to the stage too soon.
“The Book of Mormon was in development for eight years and had many re-writes.”
On the other hand he says Australia suffers because of the lack of out of town try-outs.
“When An Officer and a Gentleman opened it happened too quickly and shot itself in the foot. It needed so much work. Kind of like once the train has left the station there is nothing we can do. There is opening night and bang.”
He is also critical of on-line bloggers that snipe at shows during the previews.
“When I interviewed Julie Taymor she had just come through the whole debacle of Spiderman the musical.
“It seemed to have a curse which exposed it to public humiliation and (ultimately) very savage reviews.
“She had a very forceful view about the tyranny of on-line bloggers and their appetite to make pronouncements even before opening night.”
A similar episode happened with Strictly Ballroom the Musical with an on-line blogger attempting to slam dunk the show at the first preview.
“I don’t think this is a good thing to happen. There are reasons why things are given previews and out of town try outs.”
So what is Bryce doing to avoid those mistakes?
Well firstly he has one out of town try out in Toowoomba and, as he puts it, his baby is being well looked after.
“I have such a great collaborative team.”
The Director is David Berthold, who he describes as bright, intuitive with a wicked sense of humour.
And he says sitting in on sessions with his musical director Chong Lim is like being at a masterclass.
The cast however is young and fresh, many straight out of training academies.
“It kind of made sense using people at the very age the army conscripted them. The energy and vulnerability of them will be a strength of the show.
“We’ve seen a lot of these nostalgia shows. There is always some band which does a cover. You think is this the real deal or is it Neil Diamond playing Neil Diamond.
“There is a lot of virtue in creating that youthful aspect and giving that raw power to these songs.”
Rolling Thunder Vietnam plays Empire Theatre, Toowoomba, Aug 8 & 9; Concert Hall, QPAC, Brisbane, Aug 14 & 15; The Events Centre, Caloundra, Aug 16 & 17; Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall, Aug 22 & 23; State Theatre, Sydney, Aug 29 & 30; Newcastle Civic Theatre, Sept 3; Canberra Theatre, Sept 7; Crown Theatre, Burswood, Perth, Sept 12 & 13 and Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide, Sept 19 & 20.
Images: Dylan Evans RTV Productions.
Originally published in the July ./ August 2014 edition of Stage Whispers.
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