1914 - OUR STORY ABOUT LOVE 

This is the first play in a suite of plays that tells the World War 1 story 1914-1918 and the impact and effect that singular event had on the small rural farming community of Kojonup, Western Australia.

On November 1st, 1914, thirty eight ships left King George’s sound in Albany for Europe. Twenty eight Australian vessels and ten New Zealand ships steamed out of the port as the first convoy to lead the Australian Imperial Forces defence contribution after the British declared war on August the 4th 1914 following Germany’s invasion of Belgium.

These plays combined the historical acts and characters based loosely around the stories that we do know. Some of it is completely fictional. The narrative is told both through character portrayal and through narrators that link the events on the stage to the real events in history. It is important in this style of drama to understand that the narrators are speaking directly to you, although still in costume they are the voice of today. The use of historical image and contemporary music are in place to help you, the audience understand the contexts, then and now. This first play is therefore, the exposition. We are introduced to the history of this town and meet some of the families as they come to understand the set of circumstances that surrounded their lives in 1914.

And so we experience different fragments, varying reactions to the war from more than 10 characters. Disclosing not only the general resonance of that time, but their own reactions. Combined, these give us a composite view of what history tells us it may have been like. The reaction to the news of the outbreak of war, and the impact it has on the community and the expectations that it brings are revealed. This play’s narrative is told through the various characters that will developer further as the story progresses. Some will become marginalised or silenced, some will be priviliged and others will be introduced.

The theme that underpins this first story is that of love. Why? Because I could not think of any other underlying or central theme that informs the sacrifice of so many other than love in the many and varied ways it appears in all our lives, certainly in the lives of these characters who depict this time and place. When faced with adversity, uncertainty and loss instigated by some external distant force the human spirit is demonstrable.

Jane Hille, Writer & Director