Unfinished, unnamed

The last AIF theatre show in Changi, was the Bill Williams production, ‘Music Thru the Years’ which was stopped by the Japanese, allegedly because it caused them offense, but presumably because their time had come.  The last performance was in March 1945, when the pessimistic producers had lined up enough shows to last until the end of the year. So perhaps this flier was produced, not knowing when the war would come to an end. remembering that scripts had to be written and rehearsed, backdrops painted and props gained from who knows where.

‘With one review running, another would be in rehearsal, a third would be drying on the innumerable pieces of dirty paper on which it was written and a fourth would be under discussion. The circle was unending, exhausting and vicious in the extreme: but never let it be imagined that anything about these productions was either slap – dash or amateurish. …

The Concert Party became the instrument which relieved the camp of its boredom, provided it with its slang and  – in times of extreme crisis – saved it from despair.’

Source: Unknown Author, ‘On with the Motley: The Changi Concert Party’, in Lachlan Grant (ed.), The Changi Book, Published by New South in association with the Australian War Memorial, 2015, pg. 140