Waterloo, at Theatre Works - 60 minutes

I am a firm believer that everyone has a story to tell if you dig deep enough.

Of course, some are arguably more compelling than others.

Creator and performer Bron Batten has quite a tale to relay.

It involves her ill-fated affair with a political polar opposite.

She is a Left-leaning, Greens voting, almost vegan, with an artistic bent.

He is a tall, blue eyed, Right-wing soldier in his mid 40s, who sweeps her off her feet.

For the purposes of protecting his privacy, she calls him Sergeant Troy, although his rank is far higher than that.

Photos by Lucy Parakhina

It is 21^st January, 2015.

Batten is in France for three months on an arts-funded residency.

He picks her up at a Parisian metro station and their connection is instant.

Unlike typical dates Batten is used to, he seems genuinely interested in her.

Even though their political allegiances don’t align and he is an Afghanistan veteran, he is considerate and not afraid to be silly, which she likes.

Then he starts talking about the war … and the people he has killed. It becomes clear that Batten finds loss of life in global conflicts deeply troubling.

Still, when she returns to Australia, they continue to communicate, until she can see him again.

And then, out of left field, comes a revelation she didn’t expect.

Batten mixes her personal experiences with crowd interplay. Audience involvement is a feature of Waterloo.

Props, including balloons and ping pong balls, help enliven the show.

So, too, a remotely controlled toy tank and a standing fan with a fixed knife, which kicks off proceedings.

And then there is a pop quiz involving all-comers that pits democracy against autocracy.

We are asked for our views, while during the course of proceedings Batten lays bare her strongly held beliefs.

She is not one to hold back. She tells it as she sees it. She is also engaging, entertaining and demonstrative.

Those in attendance readily warm to her and her antics.

It is also obvious that she is like a fish out of water when prevailed upon to participate in paintball, complete with full face mask and fatigues. Video snippets thereof are interspersed throughout the show.

As the saying goes, all may be fair in love and war.

So it is that there is no hiding from the fact that the outcome can be brutal.

Waterloo leaves one in no doubt that that applies both personally and professionally.