22
A ZOOM WITH
TWO CITIES
Playwrights Benny Marama in Kirikiriroa and Abby Howells in Ōtepoti in conversation.
Abby: Benny, have you always lived in Hamilton? Benny: For a couple of years I lived in Wellington. I went to Vic, studied public policy for no good reason… But yeah I’ve lived here most of my life. It’s a city I love, it’s a city that seems to be ‘discovered’ by Auckland every couple of years – there’s an article that’s like “oh, did you know Hamilton exists? And it’s got a burgeoning arts community?” Burgeoning? Nah! I could have gone to Auckland, or stayed in Wellington. But here I have the opportunity to be seen and to show and be someone who can mentor and help to grow the community and myself. Which I suppose is a nice way of saying ‘big fish, little pond’ but that insults the pond, it doesn’t really give the pond much credit. I got this opportunity to work here at Meteor Theatre and I’m going into it with a full heart, a clear mind and with energy and purpose. Why did you come back to Dunedin?
Abby: Why did I do that? I guess I’d lost a lot of confidence. I’d had a big success with my first play and then I did a few shows after that and they didn’t go as well – in my own head they didn’t go as well. So, I decided that I wanted to prioritise being where my support network is, where my family and my friends are. Which, I think looking back has had a massive effect on my writing. I’ve grown in confidence. I feel like I have reconnected with my voice and I know what I want to say… and I put a lot of that growth on my being in Dunedin. I think as I’m getting older I’m realising that it’s worth prioritising feeling good, feeling happy and actually that is when I do my best stuff. The whole ‘tortured artist’ thing is pure lies. Benny: Yeah, totally. Can I roll back to writing one thing and then losing confidence? That’s exactly how I felt. Abby: Oh really? You too? Yes! You can’t live up to the first thing that you did!
