Roll On Out

Speaking after Rolling Thunder Vietnam’s first preview performance in Toowoomba, Hallett says he is thrilled and honoured by the positive response to the show by both Vietnam veterans and soldiers who have recently returned from serving in Afghanistan.

“Hearing from some of the people just back from Afghanistan that the story is meaningful to their experiences is extremely heartening,” he says. “And it was very moving speaking with Vietnam vets who said they’ve never spoken about their wartime experiences but who thought that show not only rocked because of the music but [that it] was also therapeutic because of the stories it shared. That was my hope at the outset, that Rolling Thunder Vietnam could shed a little light on things and provide a human perspective by giving the audience not only some sense of what it was like to be there but also convey the ripple effect of what war does to everyone.”

While Hallett has shaped his research into “a distillation of the truth” for dramatic purposes, he says he was very conscious of ensuring that Rolling Thunder Vietnam was grounded in authenticity. “Anything other than that was out of the question,” he says. “The deeply personal stories have largely sprung from face-to-face interviews with Australian soldiers who lived in this era, and one of the great things about being part of this has been befriending these guys.”

And the stories are “the bedrock of the piece”, the music provides an vibrancy and emotional underpinning that enhances the whole production. From the soulfulness of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On to the brash energy of Steppenwolf’s Born To Be Wild, says Hallett, “most of the songs in the show are essentially anti-war protest songs that brilliantly convey the rhythm, spirit and mood of the times. Many are epic in nature and the directness of the storytelling serves to bring a raw intimacy to the music. The last thing I wanted this to be was a history lesson. I wanted it to be organic and raw. You could stray into making this sentimental or making it overtly anti-war... but more than anything else I wanted to understand. So I hope Rolling Thunder Vietnam reaches into people’s hearts and minds and perhaps prompts them to ask why history repeats itself.”
 

                        Brisbane: 12 – 15 Aug, QPAC, Concert Hall                  
Melbourne: 22 & 23 Aug, Arts Centre, Hamer Hall
Sydney:  29 Aug, State Theatre