Review by Sarah Skubala
As Told by the Boys Who Fed Me Apples is the Queensland independent premiere produced, directed and designed by Lachlan Driscoll, and performed as part of the 2024 Anywhere Festival. This little-known work tells the story of Sandy, the only horse to make it back to Australia after the First World War. 136,000 horses did not come home with those still alive at the end of the war, and Melbourne playwright Rosemary Johns was inspired to tell Sandy the horse’s story after seeing a performance of War Horse.
As Told by the Boys Who Fed Me Apples premiered in 2015 as part of the Big West Festival in Footscray. The script was nominated for an AWGIE Community and Youth Theatre Award in 2016 and was re-staged at the La Mama Courthouse in 2017.
Driscoll’s design was unique and powerful, the Holy Trinity Church Hall an ideal space for the story. The play was divided into three parts, and Driscoll created three separate spaces to tell each story. Audiences were advised to wear flat shoes, as all but the third part required standing, but with a running time of one hour ten, this wasn’t too much of an issue. The audience moved along wooden plank-like walkways that surrounded each performance space, evocative of the duckboard tracks laid across the muddy war fields. Within each space the scene occurred, and either sand or dirt lined the ground, with the year cleverly written among the muck to depict the passing of time.
Robert Wainwright played Sandy, the horse, and the story followed Sandy’s fate across the war years and beyond, with Riley Finn Anderson playing Sandy’s three different carers. In part one it was Major General William Throsby Bridges, Commander of the 1st Australian Division who chose Sandy for his gentle nature. Bridges was the first major to lose his life on the battlefield of Gallipoli, and the only soldier repatriated from the war, until the unknown soldier in the 1990s. In part two it was an unnamed veterinary officer who cared for Sandy on the Western Front before becoming a victim of a gas attack. In part three, it was Private Archibald Thomas Jordan, a soldier deemed medically unfit to serve, and the groom who escorted Sandy home when the government decided the horse had become a symbol of historic significance.
Johns’ writing was poetic and evocative, and together with Wainwright’s portrayal, succeeded in capturing the fear that the animals no doubt suffered. The play served as a heartbreaking story of love, bravery and mateship in dark times and was a reminder of the senseless tragedy and futility of war.
With commendable performances by its two leads, As Told by the Boys Who Fed Me Apples is a valuable inclusion in this year’s Anywhere Festival lineup. It is a must-see for war history enthusiasts who are keen to learn more about the silent heroes of the war. There are two chances to catch As Told by the Boys Who Fed Me Apples as opening night has already sold out.
Image Credit: Lucy Rayner-Toy