Rolling Thunder

Run it lean with 6, or build a full ensemble to 18+ 

JOHNNY- Australian Army soldier

John Robert Dawson, or Johnny, is from the small town and farming community of Stanthorpe in the Darling Downs, Queensland. He’s a larrikin at heart, full of life, loyal and a romantic at heart. He yearns for adventure and joins the Australian Army despite being torn about leaving his parents to run the property during a severe drought. Johnny’s ailing mum barely copes when her only son goes to Vietnam. His stoic, proud dad farewells him in Sydney at the Garden Island Naval Base. He is supportive yet warns his son, “… Just watch your back”.

Upbeat and bright-eyed, Johnny easily makes friends with his fellow cohorts and writes his school sweetheart Sarah every chance he can. She counts the days until he comes home. Johnny longs to hear from his mum and worries when she goes to hospital. In his darkest days, he keeps his spirits up by proposing to Linda and dreaming of their wedding day. During combat, John is killed in action when a mine explodes.

SARAH  - Johnny’s girlfriend

Sarah comes from a conservative close-knit family in Warwick, Queensland. At the outset, she’s the proverbial country girl – sweet, innocent, somewhat naïve yet bright and inquisitive. She adores Johnny, his skylarking humour, his passion and spirit of adventure.

When Linda goes to the Darling Downs campus of the Queensland Institute of Technology in Toowoomba, her eyes are opened to a whole new liberating world. Increasingly, Linda finds Johnny’s letters about his experiences in Vietnam confronting, so too the horrific satellite images and news reports on TV. Linda becomes politicised and joins the anti-war protest group on campus. When Robert Kennedy is killed in the kitchen of a hotel in Los Angeles, she laments, “Has the world gone crazy?” – akin to a universal sigh for the plight of humankind.

THOMAS- An American marine

In his early 20s, Thomas comes from a military family in Detroit. Somewhat vain and righteous, he is quick to join the US Marines, yet is burdened with the weight of family expectation and duty, not least living up to the high expectations of his conservative, God-fearing parents.

Thomas is a crusader-of-sorts. He misses his girlfriend Lauren and hopes to have a family – “a boy and a girl, that would be a blessing” – as soon as he returns from Vietnam. Named after American founding father Thomas Jefferson, the diligent marine is proud and conscientious but the escalating horrors of war, and his splintering relationship with Lauren, comes to test and shatter his faith.

After a mission goes haywire, Thomas questions his leadership capabilities, soon realising that the US Government – and God – have let him down. Ultimately, he descends into an abyss – an emblem of America’s shattering dream. In the denuded jungle, he laments, “You know you’re in hell when even the water is on fire. It was all around as I looked up to the ghostly trees …”.

ANDY - A conscripted Australian soldier

Smart, cynical and full of curiosity, Andy grew up on Sydney’s lower north shore. He is bitter and shocked when he’s conscripted to the army in the Birthday Ballot for National Service. He calls it “the lottery of death”. Andy is well-ediucated and keeps abreast of politics and is sceptical about Australia’s involvement in the intensifying conflict in Vietnam. He knows only too well that he’s not cut out to be a soldier but is quick to heed his friend Mike’s advice to “stay vigilant”.

Andy’s open outlook, enables him to establish a rapport with the South Vietnamese, especially the children. “They look as though they don’t have a care in the world. If only that were true,” he observes. After several months, Andy is adjusting to life in the army far better than he ever imagined. He falls back on his survival instincts to get by, all the while bemused by his doting mother’s becoming an anti-war protestor and pleading for him to get the next plane out.

During combat, Andy is wounded and loses an eye. He returns from the war scarred by the experience yet also resilient; secure in the bittersweet knowledge that he somehow survived.

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

(Performed by the male and female supporting artists/backing vocalists) 

MIKE- Andy’s family friend

Mike is a high school teacher who was called up for National Service two years before Andy. A long-time family friend, Mike is quick to offer Andy some useful advice in order for him to make the best of a bad situation, Mike urges him to stay vigilant, urging him to “take your rifle to the mess and to the latrine”. Mike is amiable yet streetwise, akin to an older brother who tries to keep Andy’s cynicism and hot-headed emotions in check.

NURSE KELLY - American nurse Steadfast and caring, Nurse Kelly joined the military in 1967 upon finishing her Masters in Nursing in Houston. She remarks, “My brothers had been deployed to ‘Nam, and if they were going, then so was I.” Nurse Kelly soon finds herself surrounded by the wounded and the dead at the Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh. Amid all the suffering, power shortages and overwhelming moments of dread, the nurse remains a picture of calm and grace

JIMI - Sarah’s university friend

From Omaha, Nebraska, Jimi is an exchange student at the university in Toowoomba where he meets Sarah. Jimi stands out in a crowd and comes to take an active role in the Queensland’s anti-war protests. With his braided hair, sunglasses and mohair vest he like to think he resembles the singer/guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Linda develops a soft spot for Jimi as they flirt and find solidarity in their growing anguish and rage about the war. Before long, they join the anti-war march in Canberra.

ANDY’S MUM 

Passionate and protective, Andy’s outspoken mother is a member of the grassroots, anti-war advocacy group Save Our Sons (SOS), founded on Sydney’s north shore in May, 1965. She feels betrayed by the Australian Government that her son has been drafted into a senseless war to become yet another “lamb to the slaughter”. She writes to the Prime Minister to voice her outrage. Deeply protective of Andy, she is prone to passionate outbursts, including one where she opines, “After the Battle of Long Tan we should have learnt to stay out of other people’s business”.      

Optional Chorus: The best songs to swell the chorus in Act One are Magic Carpet Ride, All Along the Watchtower, The Letter, Nowhere to Run (perfect for a big dance number) and Born to be Wild.

 The second act is especially ideal for adding chorus and expanding the cast in the protest scenes and such songs as War, Eve of Destruction, People Get Ready and the penultimate We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place.