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Long Tan (Set (The traverse stage to show the slice of battle between the…
Long Tan 
Directorial Concept Article
Verbatim theatre:"Verbatim theatre is a form of documentary theatre which is based on the spoken words of real people."
Source
"verbatim material offers a guarantee of 'truth'. It does try to do that; but no created piece is a straightforward record of events" - Verity Laughton, Program
“The play tries to evoke that psychological impact [of being in the battle] throughout" (Source)"My piece is about the psychology of this event, and its aftermath" (STC, 2017)
“It’s not about pretending, but about creating an image that sustains just long enough to give the audience that insight and then it changes into something else."
“The Long Tan vets feel that although their story is known, it still has not been witnessed. We want, as best we can, to give the audience just some small taste of how confronting and horrific that experience was for them and for everybody.” (Source)
Lighting
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Created the landscape of Vietnam; green and yellow, shadow, fuzzy and humid
Frequent lighting shifts created scene changes and established a cinematic feel to the events. We were able to flit betwen locations and scenes with ease across the traverse stage
During scenes with Vietnamese families or soldiers, the lighting was soft and full of colour
The constant haze over the stage created a humidity and sense that the air was enveloping/hanging thickly
Sound
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Immersive to represent the sound of the jungle - bullets, chirping, water, leaves, ground, bombing, shouting
Also used emotionally to repeat phrases such as "step, step, step, stop, breathe" and provide tension building effects
The lack of sound int he closing moments of the play made the audience connect to the humans onstage. Coupled with warm and clear lighting, all theatrics pulled back.
Microphones allowed us to hear every little noise from the actor's mouth and provided an intimacy afforded only by those in the battalion
"the Sound Design was conceived to enhance various points of view, from extreme close up, to a distant wide shot and more in between." Luke Smiles, Program
Acting
An ensemble performance; the actors moved as a single organism: just like the drilled army unit but also a unit of mateship and comradery
The use of semi-verbatim theatre acts as a way of remembering the soldiers. They are brought back to life through words
There were several strong performances; discussing one actor's techniques is a valid review paragraph
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The actors successfully portrayed the various emotions of the young boys - innocence, fear, courage
Meme Thorne's anguish at the loss of the son is etched sonically into the brain and blends superbly with the sound design and a lighting shift.
Set
The shredded rubber on the floor not only evoked the glutinous mud of battle, but also the entrapment of veteran's memories/minds in the trauma
The glowing red under the rubber represented many things at different times: blood, fire, the phoenix, the mud
Shredded rubber evoked the end of the battle where bullets had shaved the trees. We see a link to a soldier describing the 'shredded' and 'minced' bodies too'
Scraping the rubber, revealing the earth and blood represented a death in battle
The traverse stage to show the slice of battle between the rubber trees; the audience is peering in to the battle
There is also a cinematic feel to the set, as if we are watching a widescreen film
Steam rose through the floor to not only physically show the steam from shelling but also acted as a canvas for coloured emotional lighting and to differentiate a character who has died
Themes
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Remembrance - of the battle itself and of the soldiers. Also the soldier's lives before and family left behind
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Psychological aspects of war, PTSD
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Moments
Initial battle scene - lights flitting across the darkened stage showing the bullets. Red flares of bombs. Smoke rising out of the stage for steam.
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The relief evident as the Vietnamese withdrew - golden light flood the stage, the actors stood fully upright for the first time in ages
"Death, like a great eagle, flew over Vietnam and picked out its prey. What a waste."
Costume
The costumes were all identical to make realistic army uniforms, however the uniformity creates a blank canvas onto which the audience could project emotion and the actors could animate through characterisation
The Vietnamese soldiers and people were the only ones out of uniform; we never see a uniformed Vietnamese person
"The uniforms of the soldiers are deliberately pared back to an 'essence of uniform' rather than the literal." - Wendy Todd, program.