The Lighthouse Girl Saga
A NOTE FROM BREC’S CREATIVE LEARNING COORDINATOR
Dianne Wolfer’s beloved ‘Lighthouse Girl’ is being brought to the stage and screen at BREC. The team that brought ‘A Fortunate Life’ to BREC for sold out shows in 2023, are back with their unique blend of archival and moving image film projection, live performance, soundscapes and original music.
Audiences travel with the first Australian Imperial Force convoy as it embarks from Albany and arrives in Gallipoli. We follow the characters’ journey from trenches at the Western Front to hospitals in rural England and eventual homecoming to Australia.
The teenage protagonist is based on Fay Howe who lived at the lighthouse on Breaksea Island. The island was the last point of Australia soldiers would see on their journey to war, and many felt the need to send a last message to loved ones left behind. Skilled in telegraphy, Fay became their messenger. Fay’s story embodies the strength, resilience, and resourcefulness of the women left behind by a generation of men. This production engages with key curriculum priorities of personal and community stories as well as addressing the English strands of language, literature and literacy.
FOR SCHOOL YEARS 3 – 12
TEACHER RESOURCES
An Education Kit will be provided including classroom ready Pre-Show and Post-Show activities.
A sweeping tale which takes place over three continents and across many lives, we focus on four characters as we travel with the first AIF convoy from Albany on their way to the battlefields of Europe and the Middle East, a hospital in England and then back home years later.
Fay Howe was a young girl living on Breaksea Island who communicated via semaphore to soldiers on the ships waiting to depart Albany, sending messages home and waving them off to war. Fay’s story embodies the strength, resilience, resourcefulness and courage of the women left behind by a generation of men, many of whom would never return, and for whom Breaksea was the last piece of Australia they would ever see.
English nurse Rose O’Reilly epitomises the strength, care and commitment of the many young women who served to nurse the broken men returning from the front. At Harefield Hospital, countless Australian servicemen were patched and bandaged, stitched back together and read to. In amongst the trauma, devastating injury, shellshock and the raging pandemic of the Spanish Flu, love blossomed, as it always will.
Major General Bridges’ horse Sandy represents the 136,000 Walers that left Australia to fight in a man’s war, exhibiting the same bravery, selfless action and strong resilience shown by their owners. Sandy was the only warhorse to return to Australia, the rest having been killed in action, destroyed or sold and left behind in Europe.
Outlining the youthful and blind enthusiasm of young men enlisting to fight; the cautious and prescient warnings of older men who have lived through turmoil and heartache; the innocent and strident conviction of young women wanting to do their bit and the steadfast love and loyalty of our equine friends, this play speaks to every generation and across the ages.
This production has had an enormous impact on audiences all around WA , enabling many remote communities to experience world-class theatre in their own towns. This award-winning genre of live actors on a theatre stage performing in front of a palette of archival and moving images, animation, soundscapes and musical composition results in an immersive theatre experience like no other; a unique and ground-breaking format, designed with agility to tour.
Credits
Based on the book series by: Dianne Wolfer
Writers: Jenny Davis and Hellie Turner
Director: Stuart Halusz
Cast: Sienna Cate, Isaac Diamond, Nick Maclaine
Sound Designer/Programmer: Ben Collins
Audio Visual Designer: Josephine Hayes, Gneiss Design
Audio Visual Production: Sunburnt Films
ENQUIRIES & BOOKINGS
To book your school group please book online or download the Creative Learning program and email it to the BREC Education Office.
BREC Education Office
T: 1300 661 272
E: education@bunburyentertainment.com
* Please note that BREC’s Creative Learning Program is subject to change.
Download the Creative Learning Program
BREC Creative Learning Online Booking Form
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“The surging narrative of Dianne Wolfer’s Lighthouse Series of books has found its way into the Australian psyche, from the desks of primary school students to teenagers and adults alike, the interconnected stories offer something for everyone. Embedded in the ANZAC legacy and juxtaposed against the brutality and futility of war is a deeply felt love story: love of country, love of family, love of horses and the Australian bush, and of course the young love that blossoms between two people who find themselves even amidst the chaos of a world at war,”
Director, Stuart Halusz
“Congratulations, the show was brilliant and the standing ovation was so deserving to all those involved…From the clever adaptation of four fantastic books, through to the cast, sets, costumes, puppetry, film and not to mention the soundtrack, encapsulated a very emotional and historical time.”
Louise Sawle
The standing ovation! What an incredible production, congrats to everyone involved! Can’t wait to see it again
Claire Metcalf
“This was amazing! 100% worth seeing. Get yourself some tix if you haven’t already! This is the beautiful Dianne Wolfer’s fantastic Lighthouse series illuminated on the big screen, and live performance that captured the heart of each story, cleverly combining all four stories int one epic masterpiece.
Dora Adeline