Kōrero: Theatre companies and producers

Digger Pierrots, 1917

Digger Pierrots, 1917

The silver ferns on their costumes identify the Digger Pierrots as New Zealanders. This photo was taken in 1917, the year the company was formed by New Zealand troops on the Western Front. They entertained fellow soldiers in France for the next two years, then, as the 'Famous Diggers', toured Europe and North America before returning to New Zealand. Their shows included songs, ballet, comedy routines, marionettes and 'lightning sketches', often with military themes. The company toured throughout Australasia until 1928. 

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association Collection
Reference: 1/2-012913-G
Photograph by Henry Armytage Sanders

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Te tuhi tohutoro mō tēnei whārangi:

Mark Derby, 'Theatre companies and producers - Wartime and interwar theatre', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/photograph/43396/digger-pierrots-1917 (accessed 29 March 2024)

He kōrero nā Mark Derby, i tāngia i te 22 Oct 2014