Things That Matter show programme by Auckland Theatre Company

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A fresh approach to ICT managed services

“Learn their names.

Remember them. And use them. That's my advice. People matter.” — Raf

Things That Matter

BY GARY HENDERSON | ADAPTED FROM THE MEMOIR BY DR DAVID GALLER PUBLISHED BY ALLEN & UNWIN

CAST Raf — Ian Hughes Leon — Greg Johnson Roza — Donogh Rees Carol — Nicola Kāwana Simon/Surgeon (Rowshan)/Minister/Matheson and Ensemble — David Aston Ana/Tiara — Gabrielle Solomona Edie — Jen Huang Dev — Shaan Kesha Judith/Stephanie & Ensemble — Margaret-Mary Hollins April and Ensemble — Vaiari Ivirangi Sol/Chris and Ensemble — Aleni Tufuga Seleni and Ensemble — Petmal Petelo Lam Tusi and Ensemble — Elsie Ropati

CREATIVE Director — Anapela Polata'ivao Assistant Director — Petmal Petelo Lam Production Designers — Rachel Marlow with Brad Gledhill Composer — Poulima Salima Sound Designer and Musical Director — Kingsley Spargo Costume Designer — Nic Smillie Dramaturg — Philippa Campbell Casting — Lynne Cardy

MUSIC ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Guitar — Chrismas Ropati Bass — Lealali Ieli Sale Leilua Salaam by Mosh Ben Ari (opening and closing) Arrangement — Kingsley Spargo 2

PRODUCTION Production Manager — Antonia Richardson Company Manager — Elaine Walsh Stage Manager — Michael Clark Assistant Stage Manager — Jazmin Whittall and Sofia Miernik Props Manager — Magdalena Hoult Costume Supervisor — Sheridan Miller Fly Technician — T.J. Haunui Technical Manager and Sound Operator — Paul Jeffery Lighting and Audio Visual Operator — Stephen Paul Teaching Artists — Matthew Kereama and Brit O’Rourke Production Photographer — Andi Crown Medical Advisor — Sally Geary Production Interns — Isabella Powell and Sofia Miernik Te Reo Māori Translation — Tweedie Waititi Cook Island Māori Translation (Te Reo Mangarongaro) — Vaiari Ivirangi Samoan Translation — Petmal Petelo Lam NZSL Interpreters — Taryn Banks and Kelly Hodgins, Platform Interpreting NZ Audio Description — Kevin Keys, Audio Described Aotearoa Ltd

Things That Matter was originally commissioned by Auckland Theatre Company. AUCKLAND THEATRE COMPANY WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING FOR THEIR HELP WITH THIS PRODUCTION: Jess Leslie, Lealali leli Sale Leilua, Chrismas Ropati, Jacob Unuia, Matt Hammond, Lesley Bott, Pete Davison, Roydon Christensen, Salima Music Ltd, Plyman, Window Solutions, TBL Ltd, Duraflex, Canvas Plus Ltd, Tin Dolphin Music Studio, Dr Marcus Bishop and Te Atatū Health, Elisabeth Easther, Colin and Christina Jeffery, Sacha Stejko, Gary Hofman, Nyssa Walsh and Allen & Unwin. The world premiere of Things That Matter is the fifth Auckland Theatre Company mainstage production of 2021 and opened on 19 August at ASB Waterfront Theatre. ADVISORY: Please note this production discusses topics related to and displays images from the Holocaust. The production is approximately 2 hours long without an interval. Please remember to switch off all mobile phones and noise-emitting devices. 3

Colin McColl Creative Director 2021 Season

Philippa Campbell, ATC’s Literary Manager, and I decided it was high time we had a new work from award-winning Auckland playwright Gary Henderson. Amongst the several projects in which Gary was interested was Things That Matter: Stories of Life & Death – Dr David Galler’s memoir of his work heading the ICU at New Zealand’s busiest hospital, Middlemore. While the subject matter was undoubtably timely and relevant, neither Philippa nor I (nor even David Galler himself) could conceive of how this was going to work! However, Gary was unfazed and keen to adapt this work for the stage. The result is an inspirational and life-affirming 4

work – an insight into the stark realities of working within New Zealand’s healthcare system, a cry for change and a plea for compassion in our professional and private lives. Huge thanks to our director Anapela Polata’ivao and her creative team, to our terrific cast (and all the actors who contributed to the development of the play through its various workshops), to Philippa Campbell for her dramaturgical insights, to Gary Henderson for taking up the challenge and, of course, to David Galler for opening our hearts and minds to the possibility of what a truly healthy New Zealand could look like. Enjoy.

Anapela Polata'ivao Director of Things That Matter

Kia Ora, Talofa Lava. E mihi ana ki a ATC i tēnei kaupapa nui whakaharahara. Nōku te waimarie kua tohua au hei ringatohu mō Things That Matter. E momoli le agaga fa’afetai ile ATC mo le avanoa fa’aauro ua ta’ialaina ai le gaosia o le Things That Matter.

When Colin first approached me about Things That Matter, I began listing excuses to not take it on. I was seized with the dreaded question, ‘what if…?’ My reluctance zeroed in on whether I had ‘enough’ to do justice to this new work. Having lived most of my life in South Auckland, and delivered my babies at Middlemore Hospital, there was an undeniable connection to the world of the play. So here we are months later and what a joyous experience it’s been. One of the highlights of the play is the space created for the marginalized voice. It’s not

“Miracles happen in hospitals. Untold stories of unsung heroes disappear too quickly from our newsfeeds. Here, we’re granted a bit of time to take a moment, reflect, acknowledge, and listen to these stories unfold.”

something I see or hear this side of town, so I relish it. Miracles happen in hospitals. Untold stories of unsung heroes disappear too quickly from our newsfeeds. Here, we’re granted a bit of time to take a moment, reflect, acknowledge, and listen to these stories unfold. Things That Matter pins on us the responsibility to take care of one another. It’s essential for our survival. I would like to thank my family for their unwavering support. To Philippa & Colin and the ATC aiga: fa’afetai for their guidance, support and alofa. To the source of all Things That Matter: Afioga

Dr David Galler, fa’afetai tele lava. To my incredible cast: I could not have asked for better company to hang with these past few weeks. It has been an absolute joy to serve and collaborate with you all. Ian Hughes: malo, malo lava. Thank you for your mahi. Rach and Brad: mad love and respect, fa’afetai. Poulima & Kingsley: #teamnosleep fa’afetai. Petmal and Michael: #teamdoingthemost. And finally, Gary Henderson: alofa atu, fa’afetai tele lava, malo le tauivi, malo le tau. L’chaim / Manuia Anapela 7

Gary Henderson Playwright

First of all, I’d like to raise a glass to Auckland Theatre Company who commissioned and developed this work. That means they paid me to write it, and they nurtured it, through conversations, meetings, and two intensely energising workshops, from an idea to a live performance. This process stretched over five years from the first tentative ‘are you interested?’ email to an opening night. That’s a lot of faith, and I’m very grateful for it.

Next, of course, a standing ovation for our ultimate benefactor in this project, David Galler, who generously entrusted us with his memoir and allowed us to make something new from it. David was also part of the development through a handful of meetings and many insightful and informative notes on the script as it progressed. When ATC first proposed the adaptation of a book, I spent a summer reading avidly and came up with several suggestions. They were all good, solid books

that would make great theatre – but kind of safe. Then I read Things That Matter: Stories of Life & Death. In all the time since, I’ve never asked David why he wrote this memoir. Maybe it was best I didn’t. It might have distracted me from what I found in it for myself. What I found was deep humanity and compassion. It really rang with me: particularly as a response to human frailty - emotional, spiritual, moral, physical. We’re resilient creatures, but we’re still so easily damaged. Compassion for people at their most vulnerable, or disadvantaged, or unlovable, is something New Zealand society seems to value less and less, and sometimes I despair. So, it was heartening and moving to be reminded that there are quiet heroes who go to work every day and face the best and worst of us, and to whom every life is equally valuable. From an artistic point of view, the other attraction of Things That Matter was its complete unsuitability for the stage! No story arc, hundreds of characters,

and a narrative that zigzags across time, politics, history, family and medicine with a torrent of anecdotes, loosely themed around the body’s vital organs. It meant there would be no possibility of simply transposing the book to the stage. We would have to immerse ourselves in its heart and, from there, build a new, truthful work of art. Looking back at the letter in which I first pitched the approach I would take, there’s the rash aspiration: “It will be nothing like the book, but everything like the book”. Returning to ATC, I’d like to acknowledge the staff - a diverse bunch of interesting individuals who work together and do their jobs extremely well. I want, particularly to thank Philippa Campbell and Colin McColl who provided constant support, insight and critique. And finally, director Anapela Polata’ivao, who turned up every day with her great, big, open heart and shepherded this story onto the stage. L’chaim Gary Image credit: The Court Theatre

Cast

IAN HUGHES

GREG JOHNSON

IAN HUGHES Raf Ian Hughes was born in Canada to English parents and emigrated to Aotearoa New Zealand when he was two. Hughes graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts in 1990 and, from there, moved into performance in film, TV and theatre. Credits include Topless Women Talk About Their Lives with Harry Sinclair, The Lord of the Rings, Bliss by Fiona Samuels, and Toa Fraser's Bare. In 2008, he wrote and performed his family history in Ship Songs with Auckland Theatre Company. Ten years ago, he stepped into directing and has directed over 500 episodes of Shortland Street, children’s show Kune’s Kitchen for TVNZ, music videos, episodes of Step Dave, and TV commercials for the last two Labour Party campaigns. Ian has several future projects bubbling away, from a modern retelling of the story of Lazarus, a sci-fi series to trying to get Ship Songs adapted to screen. “Like so many here, I sometimes feel unsure of my place to stand but then I do projects like Things That Matter and it washes those doubts away. Stepping back on stage has been a thrill. Thank you, Anapela!” 10

DONOGH REES

GREG JOHNSON Leon Greg Johnson is a hard-working and diligent professional who brings a wealth of nuance and idiosyncrasy to every role he wrestles with. His film credits include The World’s Fastest Indian and The Piano and he has appeared in television shows Outrageous Fortune, The Brokenwood Mysteries and Power Rangers Dino Fury. His stage credits include The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Much Ado About Nothing for Pop-Up Globe, and The Motor Camp and Calendar Girls for ATC. “It is an absolute privilege to be directed by Anapela, her sense of fun humour and generosity is heart-warming. Thank you, Anapela. Working alongside these actors is thrilling. Their skill level and enthusiasm are astonishing, not to mention they’re all such damn good company. A special tribute goes to our leading man, Ian Hughes, whom you’re about to see; has a marathon of a role. His selfassurance and professionalism are something to behold, eating this elephant one bite at a time. It is an honour and a revelation. Thank you, Ian. Michael Clark herds us cats with much aplomb.

NICOLA KĀWANA

DAVID ASTON

Lastly, it is beholden upon me to acknowledge David Galler and all his colleagues for their hard work and commitment to our communities. We are forever in your debt. Nurses are on strike for better conditions on the night Things That Matter opens.”

DONOGH REES Roza Donogh Rees graduated from Theatre Corporate Drama School in 1978. She has worked in the various disciplines of theatre and screen ever since. Her most recent work in theatre has been Julius Caesar at the Pop-Up Globe in Auckland and The Hall, which toured this year in Wanaka. Her most recent screen work was in The Gulf, directed by Rob Sarkies. NICOLA KĀWANA Carol Nicola Kāwana was born and raised in Hāwera, South Taranaki. She is of Ngāruahine, Ngāti Ruanui, Kahungunu and Rangitāne iwi. Nicola is a graduate of the Taranaki Youth Theatre and Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School. This year marks 32 years of her working in professional theatre. She has worked in theatre, film, and television. Recent credits include UPU (Silo Theatre), The Master Builder (ATC), Mauri Tau (Silo Theatre) White Rabbit Red Rabbit (Silo Theatre), Kūpapa (Te Pou Theatre), and The Tender Trap and My Life is Murder for television.

GABRIELLE SOLOMONA

DAVID ASTON Simon/Surgeon (Rowshan)/Minister/ Matheson and Ensemble David Aston is one of New Zealand's most experienced actors and has appeared in numerous national and international feature films, television programmes and theatre productions over the last 40 years. Film credits include The Matrix and Underworld 3 and television appearances include Shortland Street, Duggan Dog’s Breakfast, Street Legal and Gloss. Among his many stage credits are roles in Macbeth, Blood Brothers (Australia – New Zealand Tour), The Phantom of the Opera (Japan Tour), and A Shortcut to Happiness and Enlightenment for ATC. In 2017, he and fellow actor Paul Gittins co-founded Plumb Theatre, which, most recently, staged an acclaimed production of Brian Friels’ Faith Healer and is planning to present an adaptation of Albert Camus’ The Plague in 2022. GABRIELLE SOLOMONA Ana/Tiara Gabrielle Solomona is a Samoan-New Zealand actress who makes up one third of hilarious, sassy leading ladies in the new, hugely successful Pasifika Comedy Central show SIS. Gabrielle has appeared in films One Thousand Ropes and Loop Track, along with featuring as a core cast member on web series Housewives and Baby Mama’s Club. Gabrielle’s stage credits include Tales of a Princess and UPU (Silo Theatre), the latter was performed as a part of the Auckland Arts Festival in 2020. 11

JEN HUANG

SHAAN KESHA

JEN HUANG Edie Taiwanese-Kiwi Jen Huang is a graduate from The Actors’ Program class of 2018. Her recent work includes The Brokenwood Mysteries and The Wilds, a new Amazon Prime series for which she was flown to the Gold Coast to film season 2 in May this year. Luckily, they got sick of her and shipped her back home early and this freed her up to be part of this poignant play. Aside from being an actor, Jen also has a few years of experience working behind the scenes as a filmmaker, producer, assistant director, and director. Her passion as a creative is telling important and eye-opening stories. SHAAN KESHA Dev Shaan Kesha has worked across the country on both screen and stage since the age of 12. After graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Property (The University of Auckland) he pursued careers in both finance and real estate before returning to the performing arts industry in 2018. Since then, he has hit the ground running, performing on stage in Ideation (The Court Theatre), My Heart Goes Thadak Thadak (Silo Theatre), and as a number of independent productions at Basement Theatre. He completed The Actors’ Program last year and recently joined the cast of Snort, Auckland's cult-favourite improv comedy 12

MARGARET-MARY HOLLINS

troupe. Screen credits include The Factory (Jump Film and TV), Kura (Plus6Four) and Power Rangers. This will be Shaan’s first performance with ATC since Sleepover in Next Big Thing. MARGARET-MARY HOLLINS Judith/Stephanie and Ensemble Margaret-Mary Hollins is an experienced theatre director, actor, teaching artist, dramaturg and theatre arts manager. After graduating from The Sydney Acting School, she continued her training with Ecole Philippe Gaulier (London) and City & Guilds of London Advanced Drama. She has performed and directed for ATC, Massive Company, Mind Over Manner, Silo Theatre, The Court Theatre and will, later this year, continue touring Red Leap Theatre’s Owls Do Cry by Janet Frame. She is the Artistic Director of House of Hudson, creating new New Zealand works currently in development. Margaret-Mary is passionate about theatre from Aotearoa and has long admired the work of Gary Henderson and Anapela Polata’ivao. She feels privileged to be working with ATC and this exceptional artistic team of designers and performers. ALENI TUFUGA Sol/Chris and Ensemble Aleni Tufuga is a Samoan-New Zealand actor and writer, who works across film, television and theatre. A founding member of theatre company the Kila Kokonut Krew, Aleni has toured shows

ALENI TUFUGA

VAIARI IVIRANGI

around New Zealand, Australia and the UK. He has starred in a wide range of Kiwi television, including popular dramas Shortland Street and Outrageous Fortune, music-heavy webseries The Factory and comedy Nothing Trivial. Most recently, he appeared in The Panthers and Westside. His film credits include The Legend of Johnny Lingo, Sione’s Wedding and The Tattooist. VAIARI IVIRANGI April and Ensemble Vaiari Ivirangi is Cook Islands Māori from the island of Tongareva. She graduated from the Pacific Institute of Performing Arts (PIPA) in 2017 and in 2019, she graduated from The Actors’ Program. From there, she toured with ATC’s Mythmakers programme for productions of The Eel and Sina and Icarus and was a part of The Naked Samoans Do Magic show with The Conch. PETMAL PETELO LAM Seleni and Ensemble Petmal Petelo Lam is of Samoan descent, and her ancestral roots stem from the villages of Saleaula and Samatau. She is a proud graduate of the Pacific Institute of Performing Arts (2017), and deeply passionate about Pasifika contemporary dance and performance art. Petmal is an original member of the Wild Dogs Under My Skirt cast and crew which toured New York in 2019. She has been involved in numerous productions with different

PETMAL PETELO LAM

ELSIE ROPATI

independent companies both on and off stage since graduating, and was one of the recipients of the Outstanding Newcomer Award at the 2018 Auckland Theatre Awards. Petmal made her TV screen acting debut on Teine Sā: The Ancient Ones, which premiered on Prime TV this year. She has been given the opportunity in Things That Matter to work as Anapela’s assistant as well as part of the ensemble. ELSIE ROPATI Tusi and Ensemble Elsie Ropati was born and raised in Apia, Samoa, before migrating to New Zealand 42 years ago. She is married, with seven beautiful children, and is a nana to four grandchildren. Seven years ago, she was approached to audition for a role in a Samoan movie and has appeared in three films for South Seas Pictures Ltd: Naomi, Fa'amagalo (Forgiveness) and the popular film series with 14 episodes called Matai (The Chief). She is currently working on a new series called Mavaega (The Will). When she is not acting for the screen, Ropati helps run the family business, acts in TV ads and models for the popular Samoan label MENA. “I've always loved and enjoyed the performing arts from a young age; whether it was a school play, dancing or singing with a group of friends, the passion was always there. I'm so grateful and very honoured to be doing my first live play with an exceptional cast of professionals.” 13

Behind the Scenes

Image credit: Andi Crown

GARY HENDERSON

ANAPELA POLATA'IVAO

PETMAL PETELO LAM

Creative GARY HENDERSON Playwright Gary Henderson’s work is regularly staged throughout Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally. His most-travelled play is Skin Tight, whose original cast won a Fringe First Award in Edinburgh. A French translation by Xavier Mailleux, Te Tenir Contre Moi, was produced in Montréal in 2016. In 2017, Ruia Taitea Creative produced E Kore A Muri E Hokia, a te reo Māori version of Gary’s incendiary 1996 play Mo & Jess Kill Susie. Other work includes Sunset Café, Tigerplay, An Unseasonable Fall of Snow, Lines of Fire, Peninsula, Home Land, Shepherd and radio plays The Moehau and News Bomb. Gary teaches theatre writing at Unitec and Victoria University of Wellington, and often works as script advisor alongside other writers. He has held residencies at the Robert Lord Writers Cottage in Dunedin and the Michael King Writers Centre in Devonport. In 2013, Gary received the Playmarket Award acknowledging his significant artistic contribution to New Zealand theatre.

ANAPELA POLATA'IVAO Director Samoan born, Anapela Polata’ivao is from the villages of Vailoa and Vaiusu in Upolu and Fagae'e and Safune in Savai’i. Since graduating from Toi Whakaari in 2000, her and partner Vela Manusaute created the South Auckland theatre collective Kila Kokonut Krew which garnered them a New Generation Arts Laureate after producing the landmark Pasifika musical The Factory. Anapela gained international acclaim for her performance in the short film Night Shift (2012) and won Best Actress in the 2018 Wellington Theatre Awards for her role in Tusiata Avia’s Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, which she also directed. Anapela made history last year as the first Samoan woman to have directed a show off-Broadway when Wild Dogs Under My Skirt made its New York debut and was subsequently named the winner of the Fringe Encore Series at the SoHo Playhouse.

RACHEL MARLOW

BRAD GLEDHILL

POULIMA SALIMA

PETMAL PETELO LAM Assistant Director Petmal Petelo Lam is of Samoan descent, and her ancestral roots stem from the villages of Saleaula and Samatau. She is a proud graduate of the Pacific Institute of Performing Arts (2017), and is deeply passionate about Pasifika contemporary dance and performance art. Petmal is an original member of the Wild Dogs Under My Skirt cast and crew which toured New York in 2019. She has been involved in numerous productions with different independent companies both on and off stage since graduating, and was one of the recipients of the Outstanding Newcomer Award at the 2018 Auckland Theatre Awards. Petmal made her TV screen acting debut on Teine Sā: The Ancient Ones, which premiered on Prime TV this year. She has been given the opportunity in Things That Matter to work as Anapela’s assistant as well as part of the ensemble.

expands to video design, projection design, set design, system design and overall production design. Filament Eleven 11 is drawn to work that is pushing boundaries and is led by inspiring creatives. Rachel regularly works with ATC (Single Asian Female, Black Lover, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Red Speedo), Silo Theatre (Every Brilliant Thing, Boys Will Be Boys, Mr Burns, Here Lies Love, Peter and the Wolf), and Red Leap Theatre (Dakota of the White Flats, Owls Do Cry, Kororāreka, Dust Pilgrim) as well as a vast array of independent artists. Recent career highlights include: production design for Tropical Love Birds (Auckland Arts Festival 2021), an off-Broadway production at the SOHO Playhouse, New York, of FCC’s Wild Dogs Under My Skirt (also seen at NZ Festival of the Arts 2018 and Auckland Arts Festival 2019), and a 2019 Auckland Theatre Award for the design team of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (ATC).

RACHEL MARLOW WITH BRAD GLEDHILL Production Designers Rachel Marlow and Brad Gledhill are production designers and co-founders of design company Filament Eleven 11. Creating the lighting, set and projection design for Things That Matter has been a labour of love! Filament Eleven 11 works collaboratively, with designers, directors and companies, to create dynamic production designs and lighting environments for live experiences, and to produce work that puts design and technology at the centre of storytelling in an inventive and unique way. The company produces designs for theatre, dance, rock and roll, corporate events, televised live events and installation art experiences. With lighting at the core of every design, their work

POULIMA SALIMA Composer Poulima Salima hails from the villages of Safotu, Faletagaloa-Safune, Savai’i, and Faleasi’u, Upolu, Samoa. He has composed numerous scores for theatre, film, musicals, art exhibitions, choreographed dance, animated games and opera. In 2005, he graduated with a Bachelor of Music (Honours) specialising in Composition, and his dissertation was based on Wagner’s epic The Ring of Nibelung. In 2011, Poulima was music composer for New Zealand’s first professional Pacific musical The Factory. For the 2014 Australia tour, The Arts Centre Gold Coast was quoted thus: “a soundtrack written by Poulima Salima of the most heartfelt music to come from across the Tasman”. The Factory was a headlining show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

KINGSLEY SPARGO

NIC SMILLIE

in Scotland and 2019 saw the sold-out premiere of Alofagia: Le Opera which he composed and conducted including the music for string orchestra, and songs for Sol3 Mio. He is mentored by renowned maestro Gary Daverne ONZM. KINGSLEY SPARGO Sound Designer and Musical Director Kingsley Spargo mesmerises and transports audiences with powerful and evocative sound design and beautifully-crafted music. Kingsley's recent offerings include sound design and musical direction for The Haka Party Incident, Floating Islands co-directed with Kim Meredith, Only Ocean with poet Courtney Sina Meredith and dance company Black Grace (Guerrilla Collection), and his acclaimed album Chasing Spirits. Supporting the narrative of theatre and deepening the audiences' experience lie at the heart of his creative practice. NIC SMILLIE Costume Designer Nic Smillie has worked in theatre, film and television as a costume designer for 20 years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Textile Design from Victoria University of Wellington. Projects for ATC include Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Filthy Business, Peer Gynt [recycled], To Kill A Mockingbird, A Doll’s House, Midnight In Moscow, Awatea, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, August: Osage County, Romeo & Juliet, The Pohutukawa Tree, The Wife Who Spoke Japanese in Her Sleep, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Where We Once Belonged. Her costume design highlights for screen include the 2016 Samoan language feature One Thousand Ropes, written and directed by Tusi Tamasese and the Air New Zealand Screen Award for Contribution to Design

PHILIPPA CAMPBELL

LYNNE CARDY

for the television series The Insiders Guide to Love. Her operatic designs include The Italian Girl in Algiers, staged in Auckland and Glasgow. PHILIPPA CAMPBELL Dramaturg Philippa Campbell was one of the founders of Taki Rua / The Depot, a professional theatre collective in Wellington committed to presenting New Zealand work which brought vibrant new voices to the stage and generated a renaissance of writing for theatre. As a dramaturg for over three decades, she has worked with many new and established writers, librettists and composers and is proud to salute the beauty, wit, rage, compassion, and hope that Sherry Zhang, Nuanzhi Zheng, Katie Wolfe and Gary Henderson have summonsed to life in the powerful new plays in ATC’s 2021 programme. LYNNE CARDY Casting Lynne Cardy is the Associate Director – 2021 season at ATC, where she has produced over 30 original plays with young people and supported the career development of emerging artists for over a decade. An experienced creative producer, director and teaching artist, Lynne has worked alongside Colin McColl and guest directors on casting ATC productions since 2005. Highlights include casting Chekhov’s The Seagull, a new online version directed by Eleanor Bishop in 2020, casting the children in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2016, and working with Ian Mune to cast Once on Chunuk Bair in 2014. ATC directing credits include You First by Billie Staples (HERE & NOW Festival 2018), and the multi-performance pop-up community show Dominion Road Stories for the Auckland Arts Festival 2013. 17

A Way With Wards by Elisabeth Easther

For over 30 years, Dr David Galler has worked on the frontlines of New Zealand’s health system as an intensive care specialist at South Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital. He has also been an advisor to the Ministry of Health and is a forceful advocate for improved public health. His 2017 memoir, Things That Matter: Stories of Life & Death, is a tender and articulate account of his experiences, as he recalls some of the extraordinary patients he’s met throughout his career, as well as examining the struggles we face as a society when it comes to caring fairly for all.

Things That Matter is also a beautifully affectionate elegy to David’s Polish immigrant parents. Father Aron was a lawyer although, upon arrival in his adopted homeland in 1947, he entered the schmutter business – or the rag trade – while David’s mother Zosia had survived the indescribable horrors of Auschwitz. Aron and Zosia’s experiences during World War Two helped mould David and his brother Les, also a doctor, and taught them the importance of hard work, fair play and giving back. 19

Image credit: New Zealand Herald

In spite of being bright and having a social conscience, David didn’t make a beeline for the emergency room and, after graduating from Victoria University of Wellington with a BSc in 1975, he wasn’t sure what to do next, so took a job as a bus driver while he gave the matter some serious thought. After over a year at the wheel, reading voraciously in his downtime, David encountered a fork in the road when one of his fellow drivers announced he was applying for medical school and David secretly followed suit. Medical school was entirely the right fit for David, not only because of his intelligence, but because he had the skills to listen to people and what’s more, he liked them. With his studies completed, including additional training in the UK, David became a compassionate and gifted physician who practices what he preaches when it comes to public health. And, without wishing to cast aspersions, when other top physicians might take time off to play golf or ride e-bikes around European castles, David is just as likely to take his skills where they’re most needed. In 2015, when David’s partner, Judge Ema Aitken, was on secondment to Samoa’s Supreme Court, David

went too and spent 12 months as a visiting specialist at Samoa’s main hospital. The New Zealand Herald reported that, during his stint, “the mortality rate in the hospital’s intensive care unit reduced from about 80% to 18%”. Many of those patients were children. As for his way with words, David’s latent talent as a writer was discovered when Metro magazine asked him to review Stephanie de Montalk’s account of living with chronic pain, and he did such a fine job, he was asked to chair an Auckland Writers’ Festival session with Atul Gawande, the American surgeon who is also an acclaimed writer. With David revealed as a person with important things to say and articulate ways to express them, publishers Allen and Unwin enquired if the good doctor might like to write a book. The resulting memoir has now been adapted for the stage and, like the book, the play investigates some of the challenges public health practitioners face, doing their best with increasingly limited resources as they deal with matters of life and death. Telling stories of humanity, heroism and hope from the corridors of the ICU at Middlemore Hospital, Things That Matter

weaves David’s family story with his working life and is full of moving insights discovered while working in the country’s busiest hospital. Nor does it shy away from criticising a health system that regularly fails our most vulnerable.

become happy, healthy, self-reliant and productive." And as David expresses it so eloquently in his inspiring book: “I have had hundreds of meetings with individuals and families facing difficult decisions. They have taught me how to behave,

“What do we aspire to become as a nation...? Surely, it’s for life; to help individuals, families and communities help themselves to become happy, healthy, self-reliant and productive.”

When asked about his hopes for the future of healthcare in Aotearoa, instead of giving answers, David raises critical questions: “We’re in a health system but health for what? For what purpose are we pouring all this resource, defeating disease and trying to create some sense of wellness? What do we aspire to become as a nation and how does health contribute to that, to a higher purpose? Surely, it’s for life; to help individuals, families and communities help themselves to

how to listen and how to gently engage complete strangers in conversations about living and dying, about loss and grief, and most importantly about what matters to them at the end”. Things That Matter is inspired by Dr David Galler’s experiences at the coalface of public health, where fighting for lives and basic human rights is a daily battle. Yet, even in its darkest moments, this play is a celebration of humility, humanity and, ultimately, of life itself.

ORGA N IC A L LY G ROW N | V E GA N F R I E N DLY *

F L AVO U R A S NAT U R E I N T E N D E D Scan to discover how EarthGarden is grown in harmony with nature. * Excludes Pinot Noir

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The Haka Party Incident by Katie Wolfe

2 – 10 Oct

Returning by unprecedented popular demand, The Haka Party Incident resurrects the eventful day when a group of University of Auckland engineering students, rehearsing their annual tradition of a mock haka, are confronted by the activist group, He Taua. The incident sent ripples through the nation and changed race relations in New Zealand forever.

In a dislocated future, a young man struggles to come to terms with his loss. As he did during the rite-of-passage ritual he endured on his journey to manhood, he must, once again, leave this world behind and escape into the unknown to find his love. Blending rich storytelling traditions with the themes of Greek tragedy, (m)Orpheus tells a story of a man, willing to risk everything for love but unable to find love in himself.

Auckland Theatre Company presents the Dentons Kensington Swan season of

Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward

9 – 28 Nov

When writer Charles Condomine visits spiritualist Madame Arcati to research his new book, what could possibly go wrong? That is, other than the resulting seance bringing Charles’ dead wife Elvira back to Earth – a development that doesn’t sit well with his new partner, particularly as Elvira’s attempts to reunite with her husband escalate.

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HEARTFELT THANKS TO THE FRIEDLANDER FOUNDATION FOR ITS GENEROSITY. 24

ATC 2021 SUPPORTING ACTS Sandy & Alan Bulmer, Annmarie & Andrew Guest, Rob Nicoll, Jay & Robyn Stead STANDING OVATION:

Geoff Dalbeth, Guy & Nicole Domett, Anne Hargreaves, Rosemary Langham, Arend Merrie, Brian & Pam Stevenson CURTAIN CALL:

Nick Francis & Stephanie van Leuven, Klaus & Dagmar Girardet, Sandra Greenfield, Don & Lyn Jaine, Len & Heather Jury, Paul & Bev Le Grice, Murray & Sue Lee, John & Barbara Lindsay, Anonymous (3) TAKE A BOW:

Jennifer Austin, Dale Bailey, Simon Botherway, Tracy Brown, John Clark, Mike Cronin, Nicolene Du Toit, Jock & Jane Ferguson, Joséphine & Ross Green, Dianne Hatch, Anthony Howell, Linda Hutchings, Mark & Melinda Levene, Caroline List, Judy & Allen McDonald, Arend Merrie, Robert & Freda Narev, Shona & Barry Old, Maris O'Rourke, Ewan Price, Hon John Priestley, Sheryl Ratcliffe, Anthea & Peter Springford, Malcolm Walker, Mike & Debbie Whale, Sylvana Whyborn, Anonymous (3) APPLAUSE:

SUMMER SCHOOL SUPPORTERS For the 14th edition of the Auckland Theatre Company Summer School in January 2021 a collective of private supporters came together under the leadership of ATC Patrons Peter and Yuri to turbocharge the School for a new era. The generosity of the Supporters Group meant the School can be significantly expanded in 2021 with more students, a performance for families, and greater resources for tutors and teaching artists; most importantly, all students can now attend the school at no cost. Stephen Allen Family, the late Adrian Burr, Andy Eakin & Paul Boakes, Easy Cycling Tours Limited, Joséphine & Ross Green, Kaiserbahnhof Halbe Limited, Peter Macky & Yuri Opeshko, Rūrangi Cast and Crew, Richard & Angela Seton SPONSORS:

David Alison & Gerard Murphy, Stephen & Brenda Allen, Margaret Anderson, Patrick Bourke, David Bower, Jeanne Clayton, Nicholas & Sarah Cole, Anne Coney, John & Janet Cotching, Heather & Clive Elliott, Ron Elliott & Mark Tamagni, Sarah Fay, Martin & Sarah Gillman, Wayne Goodman, Pamela Grant, Alister Hartstonge & Roy Knill, Anne & Peter Hinton, André Hodgskin & John Lee, Greg Larsen & Mark Corrigal, Lisa McCarty, Judy Millar, William Peake, Robyn & Malcolm Reynolds, Angus & Jenny Rogers, Eric Spencer, Ian & Roberta Varcoe, Jo & Roger Wall, Ian Webster, K Woodruffe & S Dorner, Sarah Yates, Anonymous (5) SUPPORTERS:

You have seen the show, now read the book. AVAILABLE FROM ASB WATERFRONT THEATRE BOX OFFICE OR ONLINE: atc.co.nz

ASB WATERFRONT THEATRE EVACUATION PROCEDURE

Each theatre auditorium door at ASB Waterfront Theatre has its own separate emergency exit and route. In the event of an emergency, a staff member wearing a high-vis jacket would guide you to your closest emergency exit. These

routes are mainly through the back-of-house areas and are signposted all the way along with green emergency exit signs. To set your mind at ease, neither the spiral staircase nor the main staircase in the foyer is part of any

emergency evacuation route. Once you are clear of the building, a member of our staff will direct you to our assembly point. If you have any additional questions about this evacuation procedure, please contact us.

Production Suppliers

Preferred Supplier

At Regal Drycleaners, our goal is to help you feel good by looking good. You can book a pick-up online with Regal Direct or find us in Newmarket, Ponsonby, Eastridge and Takapuna. 27

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

ADMINISTRATION

Chair: Vivien Bridgwater Karen Fistonich Isaac Hikaka Katie Jacobs Derek McCormack Graeme Pinfold Alison Quigan QSM

Head of Strategy: Natasha Pearce

LEADERSHIP Artistic Director & CEO: Jonathan Bielski Executive Director: Anna Cameron CREATIVE Creative Director 2021 Season: Colin McColl ONZM Associate Director 2021 Season: Lynne Cardy Literary Manager: Philippa Campbell

Development Coordinator: Natalya Mandich-Dohnt Ticketing Project Manager: Gary Barker ASB WATERFRONT THEATRE Director, ASB Waterfront Theatre: Sharon Byrne Events & Sales Manager: Tracey Rowe Acting Events & Sales Manager: Lucy Gardner Front of House Manager: Ralph Corke Acting Ticketing Manager: Lexi Clare Ticketing Administrator: Bruce Brown Venue Technical Manager: Johnny Chen Front of House Supervisors: Caoimhe Fidgeon, Lucas Haugh, Gary Hofman, Sofi Issake-Sade, Rachael Yielder

Schools & Youth Coordinator: Billie Staples PRODUCTION

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Production Manager: Antonia Richardson Company Manager: Elaine Walsh

CONTACT ATC

Producer: Philippa Neels

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BY A K EM C D BA AR L PU

The last New Zealand war took place in Auckland in 1979. It lasted three minutes.

2–10 OCTOBER 30

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