Passchendaele

"Passchendaele":http://sounz.org.nz/news_articles/show/172?category=current is a musical drama set in a bombed out Belgian trench on the 1th and 12th of October, 1917 just before the fatal 'big push' of that infamous battle...

Dramatix Theatre Development Trust and composer Tracey (TJ) Ramsay are one of the recipients of the 2008 "SOUNZ Community Commission":http://sounz.org.nz/content/Comm_Comm. Passchendaele is the result of this collaboration.

TJ writes: "To compose a work like Passchendaele and have the privilege to direct it has been an incredibly intense experience. I have veteran performers working with singers who have never acted before; 'opera' voice meets 'theatre' voice, yet this melding of trained and untrained is bringing a rawness and realness to Passchensdaele and adds dramatic realism to the story of ordinary men in the extraordinary situation and horror of war."

Passchendaele will have six performances, four of them over the weekend as part of Nelson's Lest We Forget ANZAC Commemoration Weekend at Founders Heritage Park. Other events planned for the weekend include a walk-through trench, battle re-enactments, local stories, Dad's Army and 'Allo 'Allo run amok and more.