For a country that has never started a war, we've certainly been in our fair share of scrapes over the years. The official history of war paints us a big simple picture; this battle, that country, this date. Unfortunately in this big picture version of our history there is never any time to hear about the smaller stories. Ironically it is the smaller stories that can tell us a great deal about that big picture. This show is about some of those small stories that make war more personal, more human.

War Stories is a compelling, informative and highly entertaining look at Australia at War. Through words, a volume of original songs and state of the art visual mediums, Darren Coggan presents a production with moments of reflection, tears and laughter.

Many of the songs and stories in this show present the war experiences of those sidelined by the bronzed male ANZAC mythology. Many of the songs were inspired simply by the emotional context. We meet the women who stayed at home to keep the economy working and those who married American servicemen and lost their Australian identities, salute Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who served despite harsh descrimination, learn of the struggle in finding the courage to go over the top of the Gallipoli trenches, discover stories of mateship and humour, and have compassion for those who died on both sides. It’s focus is to present both small and personal stories, footnote-like, that are outside the big, simple mainstream history of Australian’s at War and to make those chapters of our military history more personal and accessible.