Artistic Director Mark Howett talks about ‘Good Little Soldier’, a physical theatre piece on war veterans that comes from a personal place.
Australian theatre-maker Mark Howett has a story to tell. With a long career as a lighting designer, he has helped bring to life productions such as Opera Australia’s ‘The Love Of Three Oranges’, Company B Belvoir’s ‘Cloudstreet’, and Sydney Theatre Company’s ‘Secret River’. “I’ve helped people realise their visions for years and been part of these great discussions on realising them, and it’s like now I should say something,” Mark explains. He’ll be realising his vision for his own show ‘Good Little Soldier’, which make its Australian debut at Perth’s Subiaco Arts Centre.
‘Good Little Soldier’ is a physical theatre piece about a returned soldier, bearing the mental scars of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dancers recreate the chaos inside of these veterans’ minds, and show the effects their suffering has on their family. The production is personal for Mark, with it being inspired by his own experiences. “I’m the son of a veteran. When soldiers get home, the family becomes like units of the army and soldier on. That’s why it’s called ‘Good Little Soldier’; we’re often told to be a good little soldier. It’s almost like you become part of the army.”
PTSD in returned servicemen has gained a lot of awareness in recent years, but one of the less-recognised effects of the disorder is its impact on families like Mark’s. The goal of ‘Good Little Soldier’ is to bring them to life by visualising them in dance.
Image © Stefan Gosatti“At the beginning it was an exploration of how PTSD can really affect the rest of the family and how you actually share that PTSD with the person suffering it, from the way they behave, even the way they interact with the family, especially compared with how they were before they started developing PTSD. We cut back between the two worlds of the veteran being at home, into their PTSD, and then back, so that we understand how much they suffer within their illness.”
The piece was developed with the help of Gavin Webber and Grayson Millwood, both form the dance theatre collective The Farm. The trio have often collaborated in the past, and it was their support that helped Mark move from lighting design to directing his own show, with it debuting in Berlin in 2013. Mark also sought the advice of American psychiatrist Dr Jonathan Shay, whose 30 years of experience studying PTSD proved to be an invaluable resource, and the wider community for their feedback.
“The Department Of Veterans’ Affairs are bringing in a group during the rehearsal process so that we can talk about whether we think things are going in the right way or whether they really affect people in the way that we’re presenting it.”
Mark has been able to better understand his father and other sufferers thanks to this piece. But, he still has another hope when he tours the show. “We’re hoping to tour it in 2018 during the 100 year anniversary of the Armistice for the First World War because we want to say, ‘Just think about it before you send people off. Think about it a little bit more'.”
