EAGLEHAWK’S Geoffrey Graham wrote his Voices of War show to help commemorate the centenary of World War One.
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The one-man show focuses on the voices of family and friends that run through a soldier’s head.
Voices include mothers, fathers, sisters, nurses, soldiers and mates.
Graham said it was an emotional experience to get into the head of a soldier.
“I get emotional and so does the audience,” he said.
“The more emotional audiences get, the more emotional I get and vice versa.
“It's a really emotional topic but in a way incredibly presumptuous (of me) because I've never been to war. I’m taking a huge amount of material and putting it into a small show.”
The material for the show has come from Graham’s voices in letters to and from Anzacs.
“The show is a compilation of different people. It’s bits and pieces of letters.
“It’s me getting into the head of a soldier and trying to write all those things that go through a soldier's head.
”Australia became of age in World War One. We weren’t some insignificant country anymore, we came of age.
“We were a small man on a small horse but we were plucky.”
Graham worked in the Riverina during until 1980 when he moved to Melbourne to pursue acting.
“I was performing as a hobby and people said I should be doing it as a job, so I took the plunge,” he said.
“I waited for big parts to come along but I wasn't getting enough work so started putting own shows together. I’ve been doing it ever since.”
After completing a course at the Victoria College of the Arts in 1980, he began writing his own themed performances on the likes of Banjo Patterson, Henry Lawson and CJ Dennis.
In Voices of War, Graham tells the story through the character of Darcy and a narrator (both played by him).
He produced and directed the show himself and has performed it in Tamworth, Warracknabeal and Heathcote.
It is the first time he has performed the show in Bendigo.
“It’s a risk doing it in January but thought why not if there's not much (entertainment) on,” he said.
“World War One is a significant part of our history and most people of any age have a connection to it.”
Graham has recently spent time researching his own family’s connection to WWI.
“My dad was in WWII. I haven’t searched much but found 13 relatives who were in WWI,” he said.
Voices of War is on at the Engine Room in View Street, Bendigo, from Thursday, January 15 to Sunday, January 18. For tickets phone Capital Venues and Events box office on 5434 6100.
