After a two year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was third time lucky for local theatre lovers with A

The play is based on the story of Sheila, played by Colette Douthie and Bridie, played by Brenda Spilva who were freed from a Japanese POW camp in 1945. With the cast ready to go for another weekend this Friday and Saturday, lovers of theatre and those interested in war history should make sure to see these local actors bring the story to life.

From the first sounds of the powerful resonant beating of the drums, to the final quick step fun waltz shared by down to earth Australian nurse Bridie Cartwright and most conservative’ Englishwoman Sheila Richards, the audience was kept enthralled and totally engaged in John Misto’s ‘ The Shoe-Horn Sonata’ as it came to life on stage at the Uniting Church Hall by the Allegro Theatre Company last weekend.

The welcoming, sincere and heartfelt comments from members of the audience after the show, reflected that everyone had been so emotionally affected and also amused in so many ways by the story of these two friends who originally met in the South China Sea, floating and desperately clinging onto pieces of wood from blown up ships on which they too had been passengers.

Their years in the P-O-W camps, their resilience, their care, personal sacrifices and unending love for one another and all the women, children and their last P-O-W Camp at Belalau as well as their life-time friendships, were all so beautifully and genuinely re-enacted by the cast.

It is after all a true story that needed to be told accurately.

Rick the Interviewer, whose show was going to be screened across Australia, certainly learnt a great deal when he opened up the dialogue delving into the horrific atrocities and memories from the ladies ‘live’ in the studio.

Nothing was hidden in the interview nor in the rekindling of Bridie’s and Sheila’s lives. Lest We Forget!

Allegro was so thrilled to have attracted audiences from local areas, as well as from Melbourne, Brisbane, Ballarat, Williamstown, Albury and Shepparton.

One local theatre supporter came because her sister had been a nurse during that time in a POW Camp. She said” ‘they definitely deserve and need to be honoured far more’.

Di Wiadrowski also arranged a beautiful tribute to the nurses and to the story of The ShoeHorn Sonata.

Di put so much time making the poppy and gum leaf tribute frames and also researched, printed off and represented the photos of all the scenes that had been captured from that time, 1942-45.

One of the featured nurses, Vivian Bullwinkel, was the only survivor of the Radji Beach massacre when the women, after having been violated, were dragged into the sea then were shot and killed in the water.

It is believed that Vivian survived but pretended she was dead, then crawled out of the sea.

She spent the rest of the war in prison camps and later appeared in the 1946 Tokyo War Crimes Trials. She confirmed that most of the nurses and women had been ‘violated’ by the Japanese soldiers before the massacre.

She was ordered by the Australian Government NOT to put this in her statement before the War Crimes Trials as was her main intention.

This story opens up so many issues and things we just need to speak about.

There is another two shows this weekend so make sure you do not miss out on being part of this most moving ‘real life’.

Tickets can be purchased at the door or through Trybooking.