In Their Footsteps

Did you know that the Army set up libraries in Vietnam? Or that there were civilian women employed to try to cheer young soldiers by just talking to them? Or that a rising young African-American female military strategist had predicted that the Tet Offensive was imminent? Or that when she tried desperately to convince her superiors, they ignored her? These are stories full of confusion, horror, political awakening and also a surprising amount of warmth and humour—you can feel the heart poured into Theatre Travels’ In Their Footsteps. This is a passion project for director Carly Fisher and the cast, showing a side of The Vietnam War that has gone largely unnoticed—the voices of women working in and for the US Army.

In Their Footsteps is verbatim theatre, drawn from playwright Ashley Adelman’s interviews with the women. The approach lends itself to precise, realistic characterisation, which this play does for the most part. Rowena Robinson plays the celebrated military intelligence officer Doris “Lucki” Allen with verve, conveying Lucki’s wry, ironic humour and her frustration at being ignored. Overcoming the open sexism and racism of the 1960s, Lucki is a character both personable and heroic and Rowena Robinson has captured her essence. Sonya Kerr’s portrayal of Donut Dolly Jeanne “Sam” Christie is complex, with her buoyant and genial nature masking a deeply buried psychological hurt. Her role as a Donut Dolly was chat with shell-shocked soldiers to coax them to open up, a role that was traumatising in itself and you have to wonder whether in later life she used that robust cheerfulness as a coping mechanism. Nurse Lily Adams’ trauma in contrast is worn far closer to the surface. Susann James’s performance shows Lily’s humanity and growing anger as she learns the degree to Nixon had lied about the reasons for the war. As librarian Ann Kelsey, Linda Nicholls-Gidley is warm and accepting, pragmatically noting that a lot of her role involved dolling out Playboy magazines. Nola Bartolo brings out the fire in recreation manager Judy Jenkins Gaudino, especially in her defence of the importance of her role in providing a mental break from the misery of fighting. Each of these women has bizarre, terrifying and hilarious stories to tell.

The set, props, sound and lighting are all very simple and the design probably would have benefited from a bigger design budget, but they’ve done fairly well with what they have. When each woman is speaking, often others mime other characters to help illustrate the story. This device works, but it could use a bit more work to distinguish between the main characters and their mimed bit parts.

You can judge a lot about a culture from whose stories it tells. The prevailing narratives of the Vietnam War are overwhelmingly male—women have been either absent, invisible, playing supporting roles or victims. By giving these women a voice, In Their Footsteps shows up the threadbareness of the stereotypes.

Cathy Bannister