Chapter 6b. Chungkai Showcase : Chungkai Hospital Camp | Part Two: Mid-May 1944 to July 1945

During the latter half of 1944 and the early part of 1945, entertainment continued to flourish in Chungkai even though the theatre was flooded out by monsoon rains and the number of audience members was severely depleted by away Parties. Challenging the thinking of what entertainment directed toward audiences recovering from trauma should contain, Leo Britt produced a series of straight plays that had them clamoring for more. But ever-tightening restrictions on what could be presented on stage, and a new policy assigning performers to maintenance parties, began to diminish what those who remained in camp could accomplish.https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/thdabooks/1009/thumbnail.jp

Chapter 3. “Jungle Shows Burma

In contrast to the Thailand side of the railway, POW workers on the Burma side had been sent to Burma from the Netherlands East Indies and Sumatra. Except for the Allied bombing raids, their construction experience was very similar to that on the Thailand side. But the “jungle shows” they produced to help them survive were unique. And the larrikin antics by the Australians to subvert the Japanese attempts to film a propaganda movie are unforgettable.https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/thdabooks/1005/thumbnail.jp

Chapter 5. The Tamarkan Players Present : Tamarkan Convalescent Camp

Tamarkan, Thailand, became a convalescent camp for the POWs who had worked on the Burma side of the railway. It was here that Aussie showman Norman Carter inspired a team of designers and stage technicians to mount a series of popular musical revues that were noteworthy for their elaborate sets, props, and costumes.https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/thdabooks/1007/thumbnail.jp

Chapter 2. Jungle Shows Thailand

The impromptu entertainment that took place during the early railway construction in Thailand soon developed into organized concert party troupes staging simple variety shows with rudimentary costumes and settings. But the widespread starvation, brutality, and death that occurred during “the Speedo Period” stymied any further activities.https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/thdabooks/1004/thumbnail.jp

Chapter 1. “In the Bag”: Changi POW Camp, Singapore

Changi POW Camp, Singapore, was where many of the entertainers on the Thailand-Burma railway were first imprisoned as POWs. The challenges involved in organizing entertainment among the chaotic conditions in Changi with its thousands of defeated and demoralized troops, were multitudinous. But for those musicians and theatrical producers who were later sent to the Thailand-Burma railway, it was an excellent proving ground for the more difficult task they would face Up Country.https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/thdabooks/1002/thumbnail.jp

Chapter 4. The Interval: Thailand and Burma

Following the joining of the Burma and Thailand sides of the railway in October 1943, there was an interval of four months before the workers were redeployed elsewhere that allowed the sick and exhausted entertainers to regroup. Encouragement of musical and theatrical performances in field hospitals and relocation camps as part of rehabilitation schemes to stimulate the healing process resulted in a sudden growth in the number and quality of entertainment.https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/thdabooks/1006/thumbnail.jp

Chapter 11. “Out of the Blue Came Freedom”: Victory Shows and Aftermath

The POWs initial response to the news of the end of the war was not what they had expected. Victory Shows gave them a chance to release and channel their exuberance into collective celebrations. But keeping the ex-POWs in check during the long wait that followed until their liberation—and later still, until their repatriation—taxed the abilities of the entertainers to the utmost.https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/thdabooks/1014/thumbnail.jp

“The FEPOW Songbook”

Lyrics to the original songs and song-parodies written by FEPOWs on the Thailand-Burma railway.https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/thdabooks/1020/thumbnail.jp

Chapter 9. “The Battle for Concerts”: Kanburi Officers’ Camp

The skirmishes in the battle for concerts that took place in Kanburi Officers Camp during 1945 pitted the Japanese authorities with their ever-tightening set of restrictions on the shows’ content against the POWs with their ever-increasing ingenuity in finding ways to keep entertainment going.https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/thdabooks/1012/thumbnail.jp

Chapter 10. Strike a New Note!”: Kachu Mountain and Ubon

During the final months of the war, the new airfield construction camps at Kachu Mountain and Ubon offer a study in contrasts in the POW entertainers’ ability to summon up their energy and creativity once again to form concert parties in two remote locations.https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/thdabooks/1013/thumbnail.jp