Set in an 'Australian League Canteen' during World War II in an Australian coastal city. The play deals with military life and social status in the context of the war. The characters (22 in total) include voluntary workers who man the canteen, nurses, military personnel from all of the armed forces, and munitions factory workers, from various social levels. One of the characters is an un-named Aboriginal AIF private.
Miss Clancy – Voluntary Helper at Canteen
Matt Payne – A.I.F. Sergeant
An Aboriginal – A.I.F Private
Sister Ruth Wynne – A.I.F. Nurse
Flying-Officer Don Preston – R.A.A.F.
Elmer Lee – Sergeant in U.S. Forces
Bill Stevens – A.I.F. Private
Mrs Fitzgerald – Voluntary Helper at Canteen
Young U.S. Airman
Mrs Stanwell-Rock – Voluntary Helper at Canteen
Mrs Gilden – Voluntary Helper at Canteen
Bettina Smythe – Voluntary Helper at Canteen
Mrs Mona Halliday – Munition Worker and Voluntary Helper at Canteen
'Kokoda' – Young A.I.F. Boy
Jake – Merchant Navy Newfoundlander
Erky – Merchant Navy Cockney
Scottish Naval Rating with R.N.
Laura – A.W.A.S.
Trixie – A.W.A.S.
Sergeant Julie Rutherford – A.A.M.C.
Mrs Shirley Watt – Voluntary Helper at Canteen
'Set in the staff room of an all-girl school, 'Morning Sacrifice' interrogates the stifling sexual morality of post-War Australia. The all female cast are divided by the conflict between a waning Victorian sensibility and the sexual freedom of the coming age.
'The play is a powerful critique of how women’s sexuality was controlled by law, and hostility between women formed a barrier to emancipation.'
(Source: publisher's blurb)
