From 1914 to 1918 many underage boys illegally enlisted in WWI for King and Country. Many never returned, their stories lost to history and those that returned were forever altered.
Free Agents Youth Theatre presents LAMBS – a brand new work written and directed by Sean Riley, showcasing an ensemble of Adelaide’s finest young actors and creatives.
LAMBS chronicles a previously unexamined period in Australian history; a theatrical exploration of underage boys who enlisted in WWI. Thousands of Australian boys lied about their ages, forged a parent’s signature and went off to fight in a war on the other side of the world. They found they could die as well as any man, but they would never grow old. Like Peter Pan’s lost boys, they have remained forever young. Over one hundred years later, they have all gone – but how well do we remember them?
LAMBS tells the stories of boys from the small fictional town of St. Jude, who sign up for the promise of ‘adventure’ , only to find themselves thrown into the horrors of trench warfare; their individual journeys theatricalised through a dazzling mix of dialogue, imagery, sound, and film projections.
From the safety of the classroom to the horrors of no man’s land, LAMBS is an emotional and heart-felt look at one of the darkest times in Australia’s history, and is the latest work from playwright/director Sean Riley, who is widely regarded as SA’s finest creator of theatre by & for young people. He is joined by sixteen year old emerging creatives Eadan McGuinness (film projections) and Doctor Oscillator (Music), along with Kim Liotta (Designer) and Nic Mollison (Lighting).
