It\u2019s an exciting time for Blackfriars\u2019 Drama Department, led by teacher Bob Becker, particularly after the school\u2019s 2022 Fringe show, also due to be performed in the James O\u2019Doherty Theatre, was cancelled due to covid restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to be able to present SAST<\/em> as part of the Adelaide Fringe,\u201d says Mr Becker, the play\u2019s writer and director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It is a fabulous show and, in particular, should interest those who want to learn more about the multicultural make up of that first group of Anzacs that landed in Gallipoli on April 25, 1915.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The play tells the story of Odesa-born Alexander 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. He was eventually captured, and tortured, by Turkish soldiers.<\/p>\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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blackfriars.sa.edu.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/DSC_1941-copy-1024x683-1.jpg\")
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