Austrian Alps’ Prisoners of War make own entertainment

ENTERTAINMENT was in short supply for Bill Cassidy and his fellow PoWs locked away in an Austrian Alps camp. So they created the fun themselves.

Denise Drysdale, Victoria Cross recipient Daniel Keighran and ABC presenter Barry Cassidy at the Theatres of War exhibition launch. Picture: Kylie Else

LOCKED away in a World War II prisoner of war camp in the Austrian Alps, entertainment was in short supply for Bill Cassidy and his fellow Allied soldiers.

So naturally, they created the fun themselves.

“He talked about how apart from sport, theatre was the principal form of entertainment, “ veteran ABC broadcaster Barrie Cassidy, the author of a book about his father’s wartime experiences, Private Bill: In Love and War, said.

“They were reasonably well looked after but boredom was an issue so they started their own makeshift theatre performances.

“The German soldiers attended the shows they’d put on. At times they were absolutely gobsmacked by the quality”

A new exhibition at Arts Centre Melbourne, Theatres of War: Wartime Entertainment and the Australian Experience, explores the historic links between our soldiers and the theatre, music and comedy that has helped raise morale both at home and abroad.

From Dame Nellie Melba’s organising of fundraising concerts during World War I, through to the entertainers who visited the troops in Vietnam — including Denise Drysdale and Patti Newton — and the stand-up comedians, Hamish and Andy among them, who have spent time in Afghanistan, it chronicles the often understated role of the performing arts in supporting Australia’s war effort.

Margaret Marshall, co-curator of the exhibition with Carolyn Laffan, said many entertainers had supported the soldiers over the past 100 years, generally with little fanfare.

“A theme throughout the exhibition is that while a lot of these people are very well known, their wartime contribution is barely recognised,” Ms Marshall said.

The exhibition draws upon the Arts Centre’s vast performing arts collection, as well as donations from entertainers including Drysdale, Newton and singer Normie Rowe, who was conscripted to fight in Vietnam shortly after being named 1967’s “King of Pop”.

One notable item is a piano smuggled in to the Changi prisoner of war camp in Singapore, as the Australian troops — like Mr Cassidy and his compatriots in Austria — sought to relieve the day-to-day monotony of life in captivity.

Ms Marshall said the exhibition was a valuable addition to the Anzac centenary.

“Quite rightly, so many people are commemorating the heartache of war.

“But it’s also important to look at the positive elements. How among so much tragedy, there was a sense of optimism as well.”

Theatres of War: Wartime Entertainment and the Australian Experience is at Gallery 1, Arts Centre Melbourne until September 20. Free.

Details at the arts centre’s website HERE.