THEATRE ON THE SHORE: MATES DO MACBETH
Mates do Macbeth Shore identities team
By Christine Young
up for 'The Scottish Play'
You’d expect the managers of local arts/community centres to work together, collaborate on ideas, and share resources. Two of the Shore’s arts/venue managers have taken collaboration further over the last few months as they’ve worked together on a production of Macbeth, one as Macbeth and the other as the producer of the show. Christine Young met with them to find out how it happened – and about their work at Lake House Arts Centre in Takapuna and The Rose Centre in Belmont. It was evident before our interview began that Grae Burton, manager at Lake House Arts, and Geoff Allen, operations manager at The Rose Centre were good mates: the gentle and not-so-gentle ribbing and the easy laughter made it clear that this would be a relaxed interview. I hadn’t banked on the questions I’d prepared going as far off track as they appeared to be initially. But perhaps I should have known. Grae and Geoff are both experienced in the arts and theatre worlds, as actors, writers and directors – why would they relinquish a stage, however small, to a mere writer? They did, eventually, and a picture emerged of two passionate, committed and versatile arts professionals, who have juggled multiple roles for most of their careers. Let’s start with Geoff Allen. Geoff is well-known to North Shore locals for his work in theatre and with North Shore youth. He started his career at Elam, studying painting and photography. Fortuitously, there was a girl he “really liked” who he followed to Artspace in Ponsonby. There, he took art and later acting classes and was surrounded by a burgeoning theatre scene. Simon Prast was at the New Independent Theatre, an Auckland drama group formed in the early 1960s to encourage theatrical activities based on plays written by New Zealanders. Just a little further along K Road was the Mercury Theatre, and around the corner, newcomer Theatre Corporate. How could he not be seduced into theatre? To brutally summarise a career littered with writing and live theatre credits, with film acting thrown in to boot, Geoff went on to found Galatea Theatre (with Gina Timberlake) and Devonport Drama. He has written, directed, and produced a number of plays presented by Galatea, Devonport Drama and other theatre groups. Several of these have been at The Rose Centre, where, in early July this year, he stepped into (horrors!) an “office job”. What possessed him? We’ll get to that later… Similarly condensing an illustrious career in theatre and film, Grae Burton is an accomplished actor. His first love has always been theatre, and applied his management skills to theatre and his passion for art. He’s created his own shows, appeared in many well-regarded tv series and films and ran The Independent Theatre and Arts Centre in Nelson, with its 160-seat cinema, a theatre, wardrobe hire and its own theatre company, for three years. Four years ago, he returned to Auckland to take up the Lake House Arts role, and has juggled this with screen acting roles and commitment to his family. (He has an eight-year-old and four-year-old.) There’s been little time for acting as he’s worked with the Lake House board to streamline and develop programmes, processes and administration – as well as substantially building the numbers visiting the Lake House for classes,r exhibitions and events. Unsurprisingly, Geoff and Grae met in the theatre world – Grae auditioned for Speed Daters, a comedy written by Geoff Allen and presented by Galatea Theatre. Speed Daters premiered in 2011,
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Grae Burton and Geoff Allen - working together in North Shore venues and on Macbeth.
before doing several seasons around Auckland, including at The Rose Centre) over the next two years. (Grae also met his wife through this production, but that’s another story.) Like Geoff, Grae has presented his own work – most notably a single-hander called Coffee with Eelco, about Eelco Boswijk, who established the first real coffee house in New Zealand in Nelson in 1961, was also the first patron of World of Wearable Arts, and a great supporter of the arts. “We’ve collaborated a lot through theatre,” says Geoff. “For our penance we’ve ended up as administrators in the arts!” Not that either of them regrets that for a minute. Geoff says he was nearly tempted into management about eight years ago. But now felt the “right time’ to take the helm at The Rose Centre, as a new board reinvigorates the centre. He’s spent the last three years building (structurally and conceptually) Pitt Street Theatre, a theatre space in the old Pitt Street Methodist Church hall just off K Road. “I felt this would be a continuation, but I would be paid,” he jokes. “I still have the energy to do it, and I’ve worked with youth and children so I feel connected to that. And it’s a challenge; I’ve never worked in an office before.”
Issue 123 - September 2021 www.channelmag.co.nz
