A dead soldier tastes the same to the flies regardless of its nationality or gender, an Arts Festival Dunedin production brings home.
Sister in Arms, an international collaboration involving Dunedin company Ake Ake Theatre and Serbian company Hleb Teatar, traces the story of two women during World War 1.
The project is one of only three international collaborations to receive funding from Creative New Zealand's First World War Centenary Co-commissioning Fund.
The production had its New Zealand premiere in Dunedin last night.
Actress Jessica Latton researched Dr Jessie Ann Scott, of Canterbury, who trained in Edinburgh and served in the Serbian army during World War 1, as neither the New Zealand army nor the British army accepted women doctors.
''It is so important that her story gets told,'' Latton said.
Director and actress Sanja Krsmanovic-Tasic, of Belgrade, said the Serbian woman in the play was based on her great-grandmother Sofija Jovanovic, a soldier in the Serbian army.
The Serbian army allowed women to fight in the war, unlike the New Zealand and British armies.
To fight, Jovanovic had to cut her hair short and dress in male military uniform, but she never stopped being feminine.
Krsmanovic-Tasic said her great-grandmother was beautiful and was often looked at amorously by the male soldiers.
''She would say `I am your co-fighter; don't look at me like that'.''
In photos of her after the war, the weight of her 11 war medals on her chest was so great her cleavage was revealed, Krsmanovic-Tasic said.
The play was designed as an art form to analyse the feminine and masculine aspects of the war, rather than being a history lesson.
However, the audience learnt much from its Serbian premiere at Belgrade International Theatre Festival on September 24, she said.
''Many people in Serbia had no idea so many young New Zealanders came to Europe and died. It was fascinating to them.''
The production was ''an essay in movement'' and included end notes.
At the end, the audience could ask the cast to explain themes and concepts to gain a greater understanding of the two countries.
''Our cultures are so different,'' Krsmanovic-Tasic said.
In Serbia, the acronym Anzac needed to be explained to the audience.
The ''essence'' of the production was to honour past ancestors and reveal the horrific and ''senseless'' consequences of war.
The production ends with a song with graphic content, for which Krsmanovic-Tasic wrote the lyrics.
The hook was ''in the end, all the bodies taste the same'', she said.
''Taste the same to the flies,'' said Krsmanovic-Tasic's daughter, actress and singer Anastasia Tasic.
Tasic plays her great-great-grandmother Jovanovic in the play.
Krsmanovic-Tasic said despite soldiers' differences, in the end, they were all the same.
''We all taste the same, whether it is a Turk, a Serb or a Kiwi fighter. We are humans.''
Many Serbian productions glorified World War 1 but Sisters in Arms aimed to do the opposite.
''We wanted to show the bones, the anatomy and truth of it - that it was really ugly and horrific.''
Composer and musician Jugoslav Hadzic said he was astounded by the New Zealand World War 1 effort.
''From New Zealand to Europe was the longest journey for any troop to go to war. It is amazing for me. To go so far away for some war that doesn't touch you.''
Hadzic lived through the ''severe'' Yugoslavian civil war from 1991 to 1993 and it was something he did not want to experience again, he said.
''It was really, really terrible and in the middle of Europe. We want to make sure it never happens again. Whatever dispute you have with your neighbour countries you can settle everything with talk, politics and many other tools but not by killing simple people, like us.''
• Sisters in Arms plays at the Fortune Theatre tonight, tomorrow and on Monday.
