A ‘mockumentary’ piece making use of commentary, reportage, re-enactment and poetry. The central character is Rufus Dewar, a young New Zealander who is sent to Gallipoli, is wounded, deserts the army, returns to New Zealand and becomes, for a brief period, a figurehead and rallying point for the growing protest movement advocating New Zealand’s withdrawal from WWI.
Dewar is something of a war poet and the piece features some of this poetry. The fiction is made more believable by the inclusion of CK Stead, Marilyn Duckworth, Kim Hill and David Grant in the cast. Each of these notable New Zealanders plays himself or herself and comments on the political climate and events of the time as well as on the life, death, poetry and legacy of the fabled Rufus Dewar.
Cast: CK Stead, Kim Hill, Marilyn Duckworth, David Grant, Nathan Meister, Nikki McDonnell, Tim Spite, Nick Dunbar, Tanea Heke, Duncan Smith, Adam Macaulay
Produced by Adam Macaulay and engineered by Phil Benge for Radio New Zealand
