But despite Murdoch\u2019s high praise, Sast\u2019s name and his World War I heroics were soon forgotten. <\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blackfriars.sa.edu.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/SAST-photo-from-newspaper-edited.jpg\")
Now, Sast\u2019s story will be brought to life on stage, as Blackfriars students present SAST<\/em>, written and directed by Drama teacher Bob Becker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The play tells the story of Odesa-born Sast, who arrived in Port Adelaide in 1912, and, just a few years later, enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe became one of the first Australian soldiers to land in Gallipoli April 25, 1915,\u201d Mr Becker says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sast was wounded on the second day of the Gallipoli campaign but, five weeks later, was sent back to the peninsula. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He was eventually captured, and tortured, by Turkish soldiers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor four days, Sast was put through this moral and physical torture. He suffered excruciatingly in every bone and muscle in his body. He cried for hours for death.\u201d <\/p>The Barrier Miner<\/em>, 1916<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n He ended up in the Rustchuk prisoner camp in northeastern Bulgaria, from which he escaped in 1916. That flight to freedom made him the only Australian soldier to escape a Turkish war prison in Bulgaria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The play also \u201ctakes the audience to the tumultuous times leading up to the collapse of the Russian Empire\u201d, Mr Becker says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo give the play a contextual backdrop, the story of the Ukrainian journalist Gregor Piddubny is introduced into the narrative,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLike Sast, Gregor also arrived in Australia in 1912, where he lived until 1916. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven though Alexander Sast and Gregor Piddubny both arrived in Australia in 1912, they most probably would never have met each other. So, this play is an imagining of what would have happened if they did meet during two crucial moments in their lives \u2013 World War I Brisbane and pre-revolution Kyiv.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr Becker says the play asks some big questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUltimately, this play is about identity,\u201d he says. \u201cIs Australia ready to call the Odesa-born Sast, the legendary Anzac who fought in Gallipoli and the Western Front, an Australian icon? <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n \u201cSimilarly, Gregor faces the challenge of his life when his identity is brought into question. After the Bolshevik invasion of the independent Ukrainian state, the one-time revolutionary Gregor is interrogated by a KGB officer \u2013 for his connection to Australia and love of Ukrainian culture and literature \u2013 and liquidated.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Year 12 student Ayrton Deutrom portrays Sast, Matthew Wright is Gregor and Joshua Miles takes on a range of interrogator roles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Students from Stage 1 Drama, Stage 1 Creative Arts and Years 8-10 Drama and Music have roles as dancers, musicians, singers and workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n South Australian Screen Award original movie soundtrack winner, and former Blackfriars music teacher, Charli Holoubek has created a soundscape that draws on Turkish, Bulgarian and Ukrainian influences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Songs written by Mr Becker and Holoubek are derivative of the cabaret style of The Tiger Lillies<\/a>, Jacques Brel<\/a> and Kurt Weill<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n