The Long Way Home was created from first-hand accounts with part of the aim to speed up the recoveries of the soldiers taking part.
Lance Corporal Craig Hancock drew on real-life experiences in his role in the production.
A roadside bomb in Afghanistan left him with chronic lower back pain. He says removing the stigma of reporting some injuries motivated him to work in the production.
“Not wanting to let down your mates is the predominant reason I kept my mouth closed about my injury.”
Two years ago, Defence Force chief David Hurley saw a similar production in London and asked for an Australian version.
The servicemen and women spent weeks workshopping their experiences to arrive at the final script, laying bare the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Sometimes I’d have to film the clips five, six seven times before the soldiers could actually get through them, because it was so emotional talking about things they'd been through,” director Stephen Rayne said.
Playwright Daniel Keene says speeding up the participants' own recoveries was a priority.
“By being able to tell their stories, and get that self-esteem - and it think that's a change from the way Vietnam vets were treated when they came back,” he said.
Brigadier Alison Creagh says the theatre production also reveals the impact of war operations on Australia’s soldiers over the past decade.
“[It] gives the Australian public a sense of what the Australian Defence Force does on operations, and what we've been doing at war over the last 10 years.”
The Long Way Home will tour nationally.
