St Patrick's School's costume-rich school production, The National Standard, contrasted the idyllic Kiwi and English life before the shocking realities of World War I.
The school performed its WWI-themed production on Wednesday and Thursday nights at the Masterton Town Hall. The show, based on the real National Standard Theatre in Shoreditch, London, portrayed the mood and music of the era leading up to the war.
Principal Steve Wheeler and pupil Jarden Parata-French weathered the heckles as they kept the puns flowing during scene changes.
The Kildare Syndicate switched the scene to New Zealand, with adventurous men stepping forward for king and country, farewelled by their families and loved ones. Training was portrayed as rigorous, but soldiers, with a ready eye for women who liked a man in uniform, found the time for dates at the cinema. The Charlie Chaplain film was shot with student actors and converted to black and white with storyboards added. The final act was the arrival at Gallipoli of Tinui soldier Jack Dunn, played by Max Cayless, who survives his court martial for dereliction of duty, only to die days later in the battle for Chunuk Bair. At the close, angels gather up Dunn and the other fallen, comforting them as they hold white crosses.
