Carla Moore’s group devised play and production, ‘Over the Moon and Far Away- The Woman Interned Project’ at NIDA’s Parade Theatre was a moving historical drama. The play was set in a one woman’s Prisoner of War camp in Java over a year from December 1943 to December 1944, and was based on researching the experiences of many woman interned during World War 2. The figures are quite phenemonal. There were over 70,000 Australian women and children interned in camps in what is now Indonesia during World War 2.
This was a large scale production in terms of cast- there were some 17 women and four children. Right from the start, when the whole cast came on and lined the back of the large Parade stage I knew this was going to be an emotional, committed night in the theatre.
The production worked, it conveyed what it must been like for the interned women. Scenes that have stayed in my mind were the constant rituals of camp life, the recurring images of the women, with their bamboo sticks, slaving away in the paddocks under the hot sun. The many scenes where they had to deal with death in the camps because of the conditions, the mother losing her baby, the young women who tried to talk to the Japanese guards on behalf of the group, and was speared to death. The women constantly bartering for food and drink with everything they’ve got, just to survive. The women constantly trying to comfort their unsettled children.
The cast which comprised a wide cross-section of ages and cultural backgrounds performed strongly. It was great to see elderly, teenage and child performers blending so well together for such a good project. The play included a few songs which worked well.
My lasting memory from the night was how basically normal and average these women were. They were trapped in terrible circumstances however all they really wanted to do was something very human. They just wanted to be somewhere over the moon and far away from where they were, somewhere just like home town, spending time with friends and family, meeting local blokes, going to dances…all the stuff they would be doing, if it wasn’t for the bloody war!
