This is Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, August 1966. This is a rubber plantation called Long Tan.
This is blood and mud and sweat-sodden heat. It's gunfire, mortars and pounding rain. It's 108 Australians and New Zealanders and 2,500 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army soldiers locked in a ferocious battle. For the young men fighting through the raging monsoon, it's something like the end of the world.
After the battle, 17 Australians (plus another lost later from wounds) and more than 245 Vietnamese would lie dead. Many more would carry enduring physical and emotional scars of their experiences that day.
Verity Laughton's intense and moving semi-verbatim play is composed from interviews with the surviving Australian soldiers, Vietnamese contributors, and the family and friends of those who died. More than a recounting of one battle, it is an exploration of the trauma of war, the fractures in collective memory, and the need to forgive.
And tonight I will have another sleepless night. We always do. The worst time in our lives is August. We don't sleep in August.
VERITY LAUGHTON’s 30+ produced works have been seen in Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, the UK, and the USA. They include poetry, mainstage adult dramas, adaptations, plays for children and families, radio plays, a promenade community event, and a musical. Awards include the Griffin Prize; the Inscription Prize; AWGIES for Community and Radio Drama; and the Silver Tree Poetry Prize. Nominations include the NSW Premier’s Award; the STC Patrick White Award; the Griffin Prize; AWGIES, plus the Rodney Seaborn Prize (both twice); the Martin Lycistrates Award; runner up for the Blake Poetry Prize; the Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize; the Newcastle Poetry Prize; and the Text Unpublished YA Manuscript Award. Her most recent adaptation, The Dictionary of Lost Words won the South Australian Ruby Awards for Most Outstanding Work Outside a Festival; was Highly Commended in the Victorian Premier’s Awards 2023 and won the Stage Adpatation AWGIE Award in 2025. Recent productions include Long Tan, The Red Cross Letters and The Dictionary of Lost Words
| Cast Info | 1F, 40M, (doubling available) |
| Genres | Australian History, Drama, Verbatim / close work theatre |
| Themes | Multicultural themes, Large Cast |
| Audiences | Adult |
| Extent | 73 |
| Edition | First |
| Size | 137 x 210 mm |
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