Boyhood adventures and tales of island baches

As a lad Geoffrey Clendon rowed to Rangitoto for fun. Now he has made the island that was the backdrop of his North Shore childhood the location of his first play.

Rangitoto is set in the Depression era and is one of a planned trilogy of works, all based around his beloved Hauraki Gulf.

In the five-plus decades since he left Westlake Boys High School, Clendon, now aged 69, has transitioned from professional actor to teacher to playwright. Also a keen sailor, he describes himself as “a wooden boat sort of fellow, out of the Milford Creek originally”.

Recently he turned his hand to being a producer as well, and is deep into rehearsals for Rangitoto’s premiere season, opening next week at the PumpHouse Theatre in Takapuna. The play is a snapshot of the time when the island had close to 100 baches and a thriving holiday community facing social upheaval.

“It was a dramatic time in our history, as is now,” says Clendon. “The only reason you do a historical play or book or film is it’s a reflection on the present.”

As island life became more managed, a clash of values flared. The comedic play tells of disparate family groups rubbing up against each other over a Christmas-New Year holiday. There’s working-class folk and returned servicemen who had built their own baches and believe in mateship and DIY. Along come “new chums with old money” – one with an architect in tow – plus rebellious teens and a resident eccentric misfit.

While fictional, the story is well founded in records of the time and Clendon’s own later stays.

“I had a dinghy that I used to row over to Rangitoto after school from Milford Beach,” he tells the Observer. Having been in a third form Westlake four that won at Karapiro, he had good form on the water. Later, he graduated to a small yacht, heading off on Friday nights with mates to camp.

Rangitoto

by Geoffrey Clendon

23rd FEB – 5th MAR

Comedy set in the Rangitoto bach community during the Great Depression.

Empire of Light

PumpHouse Movie Fundraiser

2nd MAR

Come enjoy drinks, nibbles and a movie to help us fundraise for new theatre seats at Bridgeway Cinema in Northcote.

Journey to Dreamland

8th MAR

Original songs, popular hits, and unique interpretations of Macedonian folk songs

John Hanlon: Now and Then

9th MAR

A relaxed evening lounging around with an iconic Kiwi songwriter

PH: 489 8360 PUMPHOUSE.CO.NZ

“We had a billy and we chipped oysters off the rocks and cooked them in butter – it was bloody nice.”

Westlake science teacher Chester Nealie, a noted potter who later taught at Takapuna Grammar School, told the boys about a cave on the island behind one of the beaches. “We used to go over and sleep in it – it was damp and uncomfortable,” recalls Clendon. He also recalls studying Shakespeare’s The Tempest, with its shipwreck scene, when Miranda shelters in a cave “I was literally looking at Rangitoto,” he says.

A few Tempest references have slipped into his play. Clendon says he owes English teacher Russell Aitken a debt of gratitude for inspiring his love of literature.

Growing up on Frater Ave, a few blocks back from the beach, he remembers the skinny legged schoolboy poet-to-be Sam Hunt wandering the neighbourhood in shorts while puffing on a pipe. Visits to Takapuna took him to his grandparents’ grandly named shop, Clendon’s Modern Fruit Store, which was a landmark at Halls Corner.

On school trips to the Mercury Theatre he saw the likes of Ian Mune, George Henare and Lee Grant on stage.

After doing some acting and classes in Auckland, a tutor encouraged him to try out for Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. He was one of 25 students chosen from 800 who auditioned. He spent his 20s in Sydney at drama school and then as a working actor, before love of place called him home. New Zealand’s burgeoning theatre scene