Playmarket Annual NO.48: 2013

Wellington Wonders Decaying not Dying?

Finding t큰rangawaewae

Relationship Dramas The playwright and the producer The arts and local authorities

Creating Futures Jo Randerson on being relevant The NZ play in the tertiary sector

New Zealand Theatre 2013 NO.48: 2013

Director’s word ISSUE 48 2013

Since Playmarket News was turned into the Playmarket Annual in 2010 we have focused some content each issue on a single city. Next year’s issue will concentrate on theatre landscapes in the regions. This year it is Wellington’s turn – apt during Playmarket’s fortieth birthday, because it’s the city in which Playmarket was born.

We are publishing three anniversary volumes later this year*, and will also hold a celebration to coincide with our annual Accolades event.

So, rather than celebrating the past, this issue as usual concentrates on the current theatre scene and the implications for the future.

However, it is worth noting the growth in number of our clients’ plays seeing production over those forty years. We celebrate the impact New Zealand playwriting has had on our stages: from the strong community theatre movement in the early part of the twentieth century, with its local One Act plays (largely driven by women playwrights), and the later paths that Bruce Mason and others bravely forged, the breakthrough experienced with Roger Hall’s popular plays and the shock of Foreskin’s Lament; to a mature scene where we can now see a NZ play on stage in our communities every week. We owe thanks to Playmarket’s founders: Robert Lord, Nonnita Rees and Judy Russell who, with the collusion of Ian Fraser, developed a model that is the envy of the world. Playmarket continues to promote and develop our local playwrights and their plays.

This edition perhaps contains more opinion pieces than usual; a measure of the passionate

conversations being held right now. These opinions are not those of Playmarket but of our contributors – they will hopefully provoke discourse and I welcome responses.

Auckland and Christchurch are currently the sites of a large part of the national conversation; places where government and local body activity is particularly lively. The Court Theatre has opened a fine building in Addington, built remarkably quickly after the major Christchurch earthquake, and plans are underway for the Court to return to the CBD as part of the reconstruction of the city. Auckland Theatre Company is very close to giving the go ahead on its new building on the Auckland waterfront. Pleasingly, Fortune Theatre in Dunedin and Centrepoint in Palmerston North have been growing their audiences.

Meanwhile Wellington practitioners are analysing the landscape and regrouping the troops. The entire ecology of Wellington theatre and funding for the sector is the subject of many discussions right now. Māori and independent sector practitioners are meeting and agitating for change.

What changes, if any, will be evident by next year?

In this issue’s key article Natasha Hay collates views of the current Wellington scene and lots of local practitioners have their say. An important factor in the health of the arts is the engagement of local bodies within their own communities. Renee Liang’s article explores the current situation. Lisa Warrington looks at the work being continued in our tertiary institutions to celebrate local playwriting. Nancy Brunning and Jo Randerson promote discussion

on the future of theatremaking and Vivienne Plumb looks at some aspects of development and commissioning in our larger theatres. Elsewhere there’s a round up of the major work presented since our last issue and heaps of information pertinent to the national scene. On Playmarket’s 40th birthday former directors John McDavitt and Mark Amery close off the issue with a quirky look back on the organisation they used to lead.

Mark Amery has once again impressively overseen the recording of another vibrant theatrical year.

Along with my thanks to the Playmarket staff, I offer my thanks to him.

There’s still a wee while before the year closes but it is worth celebrating the continued growth of opportunities for NZ playwrights. Long may it continue.

Murray Lynch Director, Playmarket

*The three volumes are: Playmarket 40, edited by Laurie Atkinson, which looks at New Zealand playwriting 1973-2013 with commissioned articles, reprints of previously published history and timelines of key events; a volume of plays by Robert Lord; and a volume of interviews – 20 New Zealand Playwrights – edited by Michelanne Forster and Vivienne Plumb.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Kali Kopae, Tina Cook, Kimo Houltham and Jarod Rawiri in Tu by Hone Kouka from the novel

by Patricia Grace, Tawata Productions, Circa Theatre. Image: Matt Grace; Dame Kate Harcourt in Flowers from my Mother’s Garden by Stuart McKenzie, Downstage. Image: Philip Merry; Simon Leary and Victoria Abbott in The Tinderbox by Eli Kent & The PlayGround Collective, PlayGround Collective, Downstage.

Image: Philip Merry.

Learn to work as an artist and as a scholar Read. Think. Write. Create. Act. Direct. Shoot. Edit. Perform.

Students in Theatre and Film Studies are encouraged to work as artists and scholars at all levels. We offer a major that integrates theory and practice, with performance work serving as grounds for scholarly writing and all research having the potential to provoke artistic experimentation.

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Earn a well-regarded degree that can springboard your career, or lead on to postgraduate study at the highest levels.

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www.tafs.canterbury.ac.nz or phone (03) 364 2580

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CONTENTS 4 Not in Auckland Hayley Sproull tries to get famous without leaving Wellington.

The Magazine of the New Zealand Play and Playwright Playmarket Annual Editor: Mark Amery Design: Sorelle Cansino Advertising: Annesley Kingston Editorial Assistants: Murray Lynch and Salesi Le’ota Published by Playmarket PO Box 9767, Wellington Aotearoa New Zealand Ph. 64-4-382 8462 Fax. 64-4-382 8461 www.playmarket.org.nz email: info@playmarket.org.nz ISSN 0113-97030703 The Playmarket Annual is published once a year.

The next issue will be September 2014. Advertising enquiries should be made to Annesley Kingston, ph. 04-475 9449. The views expressed in this magazine are not, unless stated, those of Playmarket staff or its executive.

Playmarket Executive: Andrew Caisley (President), Alister McDonald, Danielle Grant, Brent Thawley and Catherine Fitzgerald.

Playmarket Staff: Director Murray Lynch; Script Advisor Stuart Hoar; Client Promotion Salesi Le’ota; Licensing Administrator Aneta Ruth/ Nick Doherty.

Playmarket receives major funding from Creative New Zealand’s Arts Leadership Investment (Toi Totara Haemata) programme and funding towards the running of an Auckland office from ASB Community Trust.

5 BIG LIVE RELEVANT ART Playwright Jo Randerson asks questions about what theatre we’re making and why.

6 NOT DYING JUST DECAYING Journalist Natasha Hay surveys an anxious Wellington theatre scene.

10 A free feeling

Rachel Callinan in conversation with fellow playwright Sarah Delahunty.

12 FINDING TURANGAWAEWAE Nancy Brunning considers the importance of place, knowledge and history to Māori theatre.

14 WARM LOCAL BODIES Renee Liang on the support offered by local authorities to the arts, and current pressures on funding.

18 RELATIONSHIP DRAMA Playwright Vivienne Plumb looks at the relationship between playwrights and producers of their work.

23 ON THE PAGE An excerpt from Bruce Clyde Thomson’s play Ayn Rand Has Her Way, shortlisted for the 2013 Adam NZ Play Award.

24 CREATING THE FUTURE

Lisa Warrington surveys the state of the New Zealand play in New Zealand tertiary institutions: from teaching to performing.

27 UNDER CONSTRUCTION Script Advisor Stuart Hoar reports on Playmarket’s recent new work development programme in Auckland.

31 ANNUAL ROUND UP Writers’ reports on a year of theatre activity in the four main centres: James Wenley in Auckland, Heather O’Carroll in Wellington, Lin Clark in Christchurch, and Sharon Matthews in Dunedin.

39 THE LAST WORD Two former Playmarket directors look back on their part in this magazine and 40 years of NZ’s playwrights’ organisation.

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Beulah Koale and Iaheto Ah

Hi in rehearsal for Black Faggot by Victor Rodger, The Basement. Image: Karin Williams; Natano Keni and Jamie McCaskill in Manawa by Jamie McCaskill, Tikapa Productions, Circa Theatre. Image: Nic Fairbrother; Nicola Vinten and Emma Carter in Pass It On by Renée, Victoria University, Studio 77. Image: Victoria University Theatre Programme Archive; Jess Sayer, Michele Hine and Lauren Gibson in Elevator by Jess Sayer, Junket Productions, The Basement. Image: Adam Baines; Tom Trevella and Stephen Papps in The Motor Camp by Dave Armstrong, The Court Theatre. Image: Sabin Holloway.

On the cover: Wellington theatre practitioners who feature as writers in this issue, in front of BATS Theatre’s Kent Terrace home, under reconstruction: (L to R) Jo Randerson, Heather O’Carroll, Hayley Sproull, Rachel Callinan and Nancy Brunning. Photographed by Philip Merry.

3 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

Not in auckland

Hayley Sproull tries to get famous in Wellington without Chris Parker same narrow mindedness I am faced with when I proudly state I want to keep living in Wellington.

I will dictate the direction of my opportunities, not a postcode. I am Wellingtonian, hear me roar.

Chris: Weren’t you born in Christchurch?

Hayley: Not as much as you were.

Chris: Touché.

Hayley: And anyway, Wellington theatre is, as they say ‘thriving’. The Wellington theatre community is, if not a little incestuous, a boiling pot of passion and innovation that has cooked up some real doozeys this year. Game of Thrones/Things on stage? Are you kidding me?! Yes. Please. To that.

ABOVE: Yael Gezentsvey in Nuclear Family by Desirée Gezentsvey, Circa Theatre. Image: Storm Johnson.

And if you ever miss a show in Wellington, not to worry! Just see it a couple of months later when it plays again. I’m not sure what the thinking is behind this, but it seems to be a new initiative, to really make sure you see a show. That’s Wellington looking out for you.

Hayley: I decided the other day that I would like

Chris: We even got a bonus show this year for Outsiders’ Guide.

to be a little famous. I’d still like to leave my

Hayley: Yes. Yes we did.

house without the constant snaps of the paps,

of affairs in Wellington theatre.

Circa is getting new, more comfortable seating which is fantastic because nodding off in the current seats hurts my neck and I’m sick of it. Circa is the warmest theatre with the best paint job, but it has also given us some of the most dedicated and superb performances. Carmel McGlone? Hell yeah.

Paul Waggot? Yes please. I mean, where else would you be able to see the stage production of Frasier?

Chris: I’ll be piping in from Christchurch. I’m Chris

Chris: That was Tribes.

Parker and I make theatre. Sometimes with Hayley.

Hayley: Thanks Chris. Now while I’d like to be

Hayley: No, no, Silo did Tribes. Circa did the stage production of Frasier, Chris. I saw it.

famous, I’d also like to live in Wellington, which

Chris: It was definitely Tribes.

but maybe even just recognised on Cuba St with a “shit, that’s Hayley Sproull” would be nice.

I’m practically famous already – I’ve got 15,000 views on Youtube, for God’s sake. Comments on my work range from ‘lol’ to ‘ugh marry me’. And that’s why you’re reading my opinion on the state

apparently poses some kind of problem, as if Wellington is no place for a part-Māori (fund me) ambitious female comedian.

It really twists my knickers having to endure sitting with people sipping drinks with bits of leaf in them, laughing at me because they’re on TV and I still

Hayley: But, it had the Frasier skyline in the background the whole time…

Chris: That was just the AV for Tribes.

Hayley: …oh. Well, where else would be able to see the stage production of Tribes?

live in Newtown. Newtown can make leafy drinks

Chris: Auckland…Dunedin…

too. It’s my choice to live here. Living in Wellington

Hayley: Shut up, Chris.

isn’t an abortion of my career. It’s a choice. I’m not

Now, while Circa has done a great job this year of catering to their audience, I predict they’ll brush off their knees soon and we’ll be seeing some exciting and unfamiliar faces within their walls.

having the ‘cultural capital’ debate again.

I don’t mean to say that Wellington is better than Auckland, but allow me, for a moment, to use the

That’s not saying there will be a disgruntled youth revolution that will take over Circa with our ‘zany non-linear theatre’, but it’s nice to cross-pollinate.

We are all silently embarrassed that we think new BATS is better than old BATS, and are secretly concerned that new new BATS won’t live up to new BATS. I urge people with fresh works to apply to BATS for a season so that BATS too doesn’t get into the habit of recycling work. Return seasons can be warranted… when you sell out shows.

Chris: We do.

Hayley: Yeah. We do. Who the hell let Downstage paint the walls turquoise?

Chris: It’s just not on.

“ Circa is the warmest theatre with the best paint job” Hayley: Many passionate conversations are happening (wine involved) about the Wellington theatre scene, how it’s perceived and how we are going to change it. Tomorrow. Starting tomorrow because today, today doesn’t work…

So as I sit at home making ‘comedy ditties’ while John Key pays my rent, googling my own name to see if my fame level has risen (it has, by the way). I am filled with hope and faith; faith that this community will see what is fantastic about Wellington theatre and stick with it. Hope that the outdated segregation of Wellington theatre will blur.

Here we stand. Unbreakable, determined, strength in numbers…

Chris: I’ve already moved to Auckland.

Hayley: What? When?!

Chris: A couple of months ago. How didn’t you notice? I was sleeping on your couch…

Hayley: Oh. Shit.

“ The promised land! And all that is required is a Labour Government!”

Once We Built a Tower / Dean Parker

PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 4

Big Live Relevant Art Jo Randerson on what needs to change So our economy is in recession, the planet on which we depend is under threat, and there is a vast and alarming growth in social inequality. The main players on the stage, the businessmen and the bankers, have run out of ideas: capitalism is failing, and people are looking for alternatives. Here we are, in the middle of a show, and it’s not going very well.

We need to do something differently here: maybe change our lead actors, maybe get some clowns on stage. Maybe get rid of the seating block.

We are in the middle of a radical change, a great horizontalisation. Traditional hierarchies are being turned on their head and dismantled. Kings are being toppled. Communities are empowering themselves and taking action. This is happening worldwide.

So what does this mean for artists; those who have traditionally been at the bottom of the pyramid? It can go two ways. If we see theatre as a beautiful adornment, an optional extra to everyday life, then its days are numbered. Are we highly skilled geniuses who present our incredible talent to be consumed by audiences? Or are we creative instigators of social change, integral to our communities and in demand for our ability to think laterally?

Increasingly artists are opening their practice up, collaborating with communities and creating interactive works. New audiences are looking for experiences they can be part of – and looking to build societies they can be part of.

The artist can either be a stand-alone genius or can find ways to use their talent more generously in their community beyond a simple product exchange. “What can we offer in this society?

Where are our skills needed? How can we be of use here?” (Rather than: “How can we get more people to come to our shows?”) Artists are smart, resourceful, hard-working people who have much to offer. We are good with people, we excel at communication and group work.

We are subversive and we are lateral thinkers, we are entrepreneurs. These skills are in high demand.

This has got to be the time when people who make magic with little resources come to the fore.

In the Wellington arts sector, I currently hear two broad conversations going on, and one of them doesn’t interest me at all. It’s the one that sounds

“If the arts are going to be seen as essential, they have to be essential.”

ABOVE: Brides by Anya Tate-Manning and Jo Randerson – the public were invited to wear a wedding dress and give an interview about marriage, as the Marriage Equality Bill was going through parliament. Image: Mark Amery.

like “All the money’s going to Auckland and Christchurch!” It is fear-based, narrow-minded and ultimately self-destructive. I hear a tone of entitlement: “Poor me, under-funded, undervalued, misunderstood” (and I speak as someone who has spent a lot of my life fighting this voice inside me).

If the arts are going to be seen as essential, they have to be essential. No amount of marketing can convince broke people to buy tickets to shows that just aren’t ‘worth it’ to them. We have to address the work itself – where we make it, who we make it with, what the work is about. We have more than anything to think about our audience, and I think our audience has been ignored for a long time. I ask all the 18-22 year olds I teach if they go to theatre – very rarely. Why? “It’s boring”.

But it’s not all boring, and that’s the heart of the other conversation going on, the one that I get excited by. This conversation is lively and focused on direct action. It’s positive and empowered. It’s being had by a large number of Wellington theatre makers alongside community organisations, activist groups, social change makers, sustainability consultants: it’s not limited to the arts sector.

Out of this spirit has grown a new entity: the Big Live Arts Group. This collective of individuals and companies from dance, theatre, film and visual arts

backgrounds have come together in the spirit of direct action and to advocate for our needs, as the current structures will not suffice.

Performance, live art, whatever you are going to call it, is not limited to plays which have long seasons inside traditional venues. The interdisciplinary work which is breaking new ground (in Wellington and all over New Zealand) forges new kinds of practices: interviewing people on the streets, happenings on the waterfront, organising concerts in unused local halls. This work outreaches to new audiences and often draws them into the process. We are still theatre-makers, just in new ways. Above all we seek to make meaningful, rigorous work that can engage the communities of which we are part. We are certain that if we focus on this aspect – on the work itself being meaningful – then audiences, opportunities (and possibly funding) will follow.

Telling different and new stories is crucial here.

Most of all, we need to change the story we are telling to ourselves. We’re on stage, half way through a long monologue and we’ve noticed the audience has switched off – are they dumb or have we got a bit complacent? What should we do here – stick to the script? Or maybe jump off the stage and start improvising…

“ Each intersection is a crucial meeting of balloon and building, a meeting of balloon and man, of balloon and balloon. Did I say that?” The Blue Balloon / Angie Farrow 5 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

diverse community is served by niche-focused

Take the Creative Capital crown. Once placed on Wellington’s head in the 90s, signs of rust appeared.

Many emerging creative spaces, for example, were squeezed out by the property market.

“There are a lot of small independent companies.

PAGE 9: Veronica Brady, Julia Croft, Emmett Skilton, Alison Bruce, and Justin Haiu in Paper Sky by Red Leap Theatre, Downstage. Image: Philip Merry.

PAGE 8: Tim Carlsen in One Day Moko by Tim Carlsen, BATS Theatre. Image: Philip Merry.

organisations, but I don’t believe the city needs one organisation charged with the range of delivery outlined in the document coming in over the top of these.”

The future model doesn’t fit the diversity of practice, agrees director/lecturer David O’Donnell.

Wellington has two Māori theatre companies regularly producing and touring work – Taki Rua and Tawata. Both have a partnership with

Now, the decay in the theatre industry cannot be denied. Still ticking along, the sector is faced with dwindling audiences and resources and the steady flow north of actors seeking opportunities. There’s a need for a regroup.

mainstream companies (Taki Rua with Downstage

Uther Dean, who at 25 is part of the future of the industry, has his finger on the pulse. “As a playwright, living and working in Wellington has been a boon. I’ve never struggled to have work staged… (but) Wellington right now is in an odd position. We know stuff is going to change. Some of those changes are visible and tangible – BATS moving, Circa opening their doors more visibly to pitches. Some are much more vague – just the sense of something coming.”

along with its CNZ funding. However, Downstage

Central to the climate of unease is Creative New Zealand dangling its Wellington Toi Totara Haemata Arts Leadership Investment programme in front of a diverse community, all parading like beauty contestants before the funding body (decisions are due in August as we go to print).

In a cash-strapped industry and an economy in recession, with ominous signs like the demise of one of the city’s iconic fashion-labels Starfish, it’s a challenging moment in Wellington theatre’s history. After all, theatre’s in its blood.

RIGHT: Production week for Kings of the Gym by Dave Armstrong, Circa Theatre. Image: Paul McLaughlin.

Natasha Hay gathers views on the state of Wellington’s theatre sector

NOT DYING JUST DECAYING

Thanks to the Prime Minister’s ‘dying city’ crack, Wellington has taken a bad rap recently – absolutely unjustified of course, as it’s one of the coolest little capitals with the best coffee. But any branding treads dangerous territory. Once a catchphrase is metaphorically plastered on the hillside – ‘Wellywood’ anyone? – it sounds the death-knell.

The question of who should get the leadership mantle is ruffling feathers. CNZ sent out a survey to gauge responses, and the results showed fear and confusion. The bureaucratese description of the strategy “seems to be written by a third-year art-school student,” one thespian quipped.

Stephen Blackburn, director of Capital E: National Theatre for Children – which had to move out of its home due to earthquake strengthening and is being hosted at Downstage – thinks the role appears to be more an Auckland Theatre Company or The Court’s answer to delivery at a regional level.

“The Wellington ecology is more complex, with the national Māori theatre company Taki Rua, Young and Hungry, BATS, The National Theatre for Children in the city as well as Circa and Downstage, let alone the several project-based independent groups. The delivery across a wide

and Tawata with Circa). Wellington theatre is a lot about partnerships and collaboration.

“A lot of questions have been raised about Downstage because it seemed to lose its identity has done some really good work on the smell of an oily rag in promoting new NZ work, youth theatre and developing local productions to a level that they can tour further afield, e.g. Apollo 13.

Downstage takes risks with new writers, including Auckland writers such as Arthur Meek…

“Questions are also raised about Circa because of its co-op model, but time has proven that Circa’s co–op structure has created a sustainable way of running a theatre... Every year Circa produces a broad variety of challenging overseas and NZ plays, as well as some that are pure entertainment but do rake in the punters.

This programme is along the same lines as the Auckland Theatre Company programme, so I don’t think Wellington audiences are missing out.

“Circa bar is often full of theatre artists, so has a genuine sense of an artistic hub, which provides a focus for many in the theatre community.”

So, what does CNZ want? CEO Stephen Wainwright highlights two areas: “How can the theatre sector be more than the sum of its diverse parts?” “How can the sector collectively have a bigger impact on the community and on citizens who are interested in theatre, but seldom go to it?”

But theatre practitioner Miranda Harcourt thinks CNZ is really saying: “We want Wellington theatre to have fewer parts to its sum.”

“CNZ are the ones who distribute the funding, but I don’t think that automatically means it is CNZ’s mandate to mould and define the culture of a city.

That is an organic and evolving process.

“I think something we really suffer from as a community, is we don’t celebrate our past.

We don’t celebrate the great achievements of the people who went before us. We like to reinvent the wheel at every turn.”

“ Dear God, let this department be decentralised. Anywhere. Anywhere! Just get us out of Wellington. I’d even settle for Masterton.” Glide Time / Roger Hall PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 6

“...filled with different flavours and colours” Every theatre company is strapped for cash, says Taki Rua’s James Ashcroft. “If we were in the public sector we’d be getting promotions because of how fiscally tight and creative we are with every single bloody dollar.

of theatre work they want. So we have a city that is filled with different flavours and colours, often many of them based here and touring nationally.

But those parts remain orbiting the satellite, rather than hooked into something.”

“There’s always a struggle… But for Wellington to try to harness the energy that rose up in the 90s and in the mid-2000s in terms of the Culture Capital and audiences being very engaged in theatre – that happened by chance and quite naturally. What we’re seeing now is a need for some kind of infrastructure and focus to be reinstated for the region.

For over a decade, says writer/director Jo Randerson, “there’s been an awareness of the danger of operating in a ‘silo mentality’, and theatres who have been actively trying to connect with the community of theatre-makers as well as their audiences are at an advantage here.”

“We have companies that are focusing on very specific approaches and articulations of the kind

BATS – THE OXYGENATOR Rescued by Wellington’s favourite knight, the ex-Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes building in Kent Terrace is getting a spruce-up (see front cover) and BATS has temporarily relocated. Its survival is not under threat. Says Miranda Harcourt: “What’s going to happen in the next year when the revitalised BATS – supported by Sir Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh – opens with its cool new foyer bar, which is just down the road from the Embassy, which has also got a cool new foyer, is all the oxygen in the room is going to be sucked out by BATS.” BATS programme manager Cherie Jacobson says it will remain the hub for emerging practitioners and developmental work. Jacobson: “Circa, Downstage, Taki Rua and the National Theatre

The dialogue process hasn’t worked yet. “These conversations are also politically stacked and often hijacked by particularly dominant voices.

I think the sector needs to get a lot better at

listening and collaborating, internally (ourselves) as well as externally (our audiences).”

Wainwright believes the centrality of audiences in any discussion is the elephant in the room.

“Some facts aren’t encouraging. Paid attendance data from BATS, Circa, Downstage and Taki Rua points to over 20,000 fewer paid attendances in 2012 than in 1997. This is a stark bit of data and turning this around should be central to any discussion on the state of Wellington theatre.

This audience trajectory is not observable in NZ’s other major centres over the same period.

“Our conversation with the theatre community so far points to a range of views about the status quo, a lot of contributions about how others should

for Children are where local practitioners would ideally move on to when they have built up the skills to make a living from their work. Or practitioners form their own companies that would then be funded to present work in bigger spaces with bigger returns.

Some established practitioners return to BATS to try out new ideas in a low-risk environment. The annual STAB commission provides the main opportunity for this as many established artists find a return to BATS difficult as they need their work to sustain them.”

Playwright Gavin McGibbon: “There are aspects

“The tiny capacity of BATS is one of its strengths,” says co-founder Simon Bennett. “The risk taken by the theatre and practitioners is relatively low, which means a wide range of work can be programmed.” It’s possible to put a show on at BATS with little funding, but the low ticket prices and profit-share model make it very unlikely that an individual practitioner can make a living wage.

a younger and keener audience, but it also means

of writing and theatre that I never would have discovered if not for BATS. In fact I highly doubt I would still be writing if not for the opportunities that Bats has given me over the years. I just hope the place is never taken for granted.” Playwright Dean Parker, who’s had more shows produced in Wellington than in his hometown of Auckland: “The problem for the writer is that the seats are kept cheap at $15-$20. This does mean you get the writer’s cut of 10% of the box is a pittance.

This could be easily solved by CNZ announcing a playwright’s equivalent to the bookwriter’s library Public Lending Right. CNZ could pay the BATS playwright the difference between a standard Wellington seat price of $37 and the subsidised BATS price of $20.”

“ Now I’ve been to Wellington more than all of you and I’ve seen more episodes of Shortland Street than all of you so I know what’s cool.” Tuakana Tuahine / Hone Kouka 7 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

change or improve, but little or no consensus on

DOWNSTAGE – THE connector The longest running professional theatre venue in New Zealand (it turns 50 in 2014) is also now the natural stepping stone from

practical steps to take things forward. Audiences haven’t been a focus so far. That is a limitation.”

Independent producer/director Eleanor Bishop wonders if the Totara leadership role will actually

BATS, being dedicated to the growth of NZ

be granted.

theatre. Yet the theatre’s woes have meant

“I believe there is a big disconnect between

that independent companies are struggling

what CNZ is trying to achieve in Wellington, what

to find where to take that next step.

the current organisations are offering and what

Downstage Director/CEO Hilary Beaton says

Wellington needs…”

it is building a virtual community that supports

O’Donnell: “I’d love to see a fully-funded

the theatre and they have taken work into the

professional company with a dynamic, visionary

community such as working with Black Friars

artistic director and a real ensemble of actors

from South Auckland and Strike Percussion in

like we used to have in this country. However,

low-decile schools in the Hutt and Porirua…

this can only happen with a massive increase in

“Community projects require a great deal of

government funding and/or significant patronage

resourcing, planning, community liaison and

from the private sector, so remains a complete

funding but it makes an impact.”

fantasy. A theatre has to grow out of a real

As admirable as their performing-partnerships model is, it’s a beautiful dream that doesn’t seem to be manifesting into reality, says Uther Dean. “Which is an amazing pity because it would be fantastic for a theatre to operate under the terms they express… They seem to have ended up in a position where CNZ is dictating their programming.”

Beaton: “It is getting harder for us to defend the existence of our organisations on any level except economic, and what is getting left behind is the right of artists to challenge the status quo of their communities and to think outside the box. There is a direct correlation between declining funding and

community need – like Downstage, Circa and The Depot all did originally. It can’t be artificially created. A new theatre built by bureaucrats and accountants for Wellington could be a real disaster.

“The notion of a magic solution for Wellington’s theatre is also a bit of a fantasy. There remains a really strong core of theatre artists making work in Wellington… There are a lot of small independent companies in Wellington producing original work: SEEyD company, Young and Hungry, The Bacchanals, A Slightly Isolated Dog, Playground Collective, Barbarian Productions, Binge Culture, My Accomplice, Trick of the Light, and all find their audiences.”

Traditionally, Wellington is the place where theatre artists and playwrights get their start. There’s Victoria University, Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School, Long Cloud, Whitireia...

“Nowadays many more people are involved,” says Toi’s Jonathon Hendry. “Most train in a variety of ways toward pursuing a career in the performing arts. This is a good thing and should be celebrated. The ground is fertile, so the way we make theatre, the potential for work to be across different platforms and new technologies, is shifting things rapidly. Small-scale work travels to festivals around Aotearoa.”

We can build on this, Hendry says. “We’re lucky to have Te Whaea: National Dance and Drama Centre as a home as this means we’ve companies working in the building. In the coming month we’re hosting Barbarian Productions as a sort of resident company… I can see great opportunities to support practitioners and strengthen dialogue with our students and the local theatre sector.

The more aware our graduates are, the more they can contribute effectively to the challenges ahead.”

Supply is plentiful, says Wainwright, regarding new writing. “The range of theatremakers, and organisations like BATS Theatre helps to explain why Wellington is good at giving playwrights ‘first shots’. The track record of the National Theatre for Children, Taki Rua Productions, Downstage, Tawata and the users of the Studio space at Circa, combined with the number of playwrights all point to the range of opportunities available for emerging playwrights. Playmarket is another key factor in supporting the development of work.”

declining audiences. It’s a chicken-and-egg conundrum.”

Since 1997, Downstage’s core funding has been significantly reduced – this makes the task even more challenging. Gavin McGibbon: “Downstage years ago used to do Industry Previews, essentially it was a final rehearsal on the Friday afternoon before the show opened – giving free theatre to those who already support it is not the way to grow it. I think the idea of doing shows to schools and universities is the way to grow it”.

There’s a gap for a new space that caters to mid-level practitioners, those who want to experiment and take time, says Eleanor Bishop. “This new space should be artist-run and hold itself to high artistic standards, a priority of which is engaging with an audience in a purpose-led way. Is this Downstage?

It hasn’t shown itself to be yet.”

“ In 1973 Jerzy Grotowski arrived in Wellington for an all-day seminar. Early in the afternoon he declared “zee vibrations not good” Passing Through / Mervyn Thompson PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 8

But, says Uther Dean, “Wellington is also the place where a lot of those starts stop. In this city we’re spoiled with a wealth of theatre bedrock, all these places that build solid foundations, strong ways of making and thinking about theatre in young people. But we also have nowhere for them to go… We are seeing a bottlenecking of young, proven companies at the upper BATS level with few places for them to go. That’s why Auckland’s surging ahead. We’re training them and they’re reaping our harvest of talent.”

The Auckland Festival, too, is now in the ascendance and plans to go annual, which could impact hugely on Wellington’s festival. Hosting an annual festival is something the NZ Festival is not currently considering, but they don’t rule out giving thought to it in the future. NZ Festival artistic director Shelagh Magadza is aware there’s a need for audience development: “dynamic presenting organisations that are willing to work across the sector to create consistent quality environments for audiences.

“Something we’re seeing in Wellington now is the cross-pollination between opportunities in theatre and our thriving film industry – especially in technical areas and set building.” She says there needs to be pathways available to move people through the innovative phases to real opportunities that will grow their craft and professionalise their skills.

It’s easy, in all this hand-wringing over the future of theatre in this city, to ignore that there remain a lot of locals doing solid work in this city. Every year the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards have to consider a record number of Wellington shows.

“There are more productions on in Wellington every year, not less,” says playwright Ken Duncum. “So I’m a bit ‘crisis? What crisis?’

Wellington remains a hothouse of theatre writing and new NZ production. It doesn’t need rejuvenating – it’s jiving like crazy.

“A lot of the other discussion is about theatres and resources – and theatres have a life cycle, with one or two Wellington theatres reaching painful points in that life cycle – but that’s a question of buildings not creativity.”

It’s always been hard to get work on, Duncum says.

“It used to be harder. So maybe that’s the way it is – if you want to do theatre it’s going to involve a lot of self-sacrifice, some of it financial. That’s the tradeoff for living in a city full of theatre opportunities and people doing stuff – you can get your show on but no one is going to make any money.”

After all, the function of theatre is to provoke as well as entertain, and if the buzz around Sydney Bridge Upside Down is any indication, theatre as debate certainly isn’t dead in Wellington.

“theatre’s in its blood” CIRCA – THE STABILISER From its origins as a maverick company set up by a bunch of rebel actors, Circa has continued to be run by a devoted council of volunteers, with four of its original founders still onboard.

Responding to claims of being closed-shop, tired and staid, Circa recently injected itself with fresh blood with the addition of six new council members and has launched an open submissions and pitching process – with over 60 submissions from practitioners throughout Australasia. Having weathered many storms over its 30 years it believes that although its current model works, there is a need to investigate ways to improve the template.

When interviewed Circa preferred to speak collectively: “Perhaps its best to keep the tyre pumped, rather than re-invent the wheel,” they say. Circa acknowledges that theatre artists have never been paid well: “Hence our commitment to keeping the pay cheques going to the artists and not the administrative staff.” Non-Wellington actors, though, do not get accommodation paid, unless the co-op foots the bill.

Notably, Circa has broadened its programme – at least 35% of this year’s programme is NZ work: “In the last month Tawata have been in the building with the play Tu, with an all-Māori cast and crew; the Matariki Development Festival has its home here; and we have also just finished a production of After Juliet – made up entirely of under-25s.

The family experience of the pantomime and the shows provided by The Improvisers are often the first theatre experiences for a lot of young ones.”

One local actor: “What they need to do is develop Circa Two. At the moment they’ve got Circa Two at the same ticket prices that nobody can afford for fewer production values... The co-op system works well – I love the dividing-upof-money thing, but there ought to be a cutoff so that (when actors) do a Roger Hall they don’t get paid a surplus of an average theatre wage.

If there’s any surplus in one production and another production hasn’t done so well, then that surplus is already in the bank to pay people a living wage. The downside is the six-week wait to be paid – with no certainty. How do you make mortgage payments or rent on that basis?”

“ An old man just got blown into the fountain in Cuba Mall. It picked him off his feet and threw him in head first.

(Pause). Quite a southerly.” Flat Out Brown / Briar Grace-Smith 9 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

What led you to work with young people in the beginning?

That early experience has stayed with me. I hung around Downstage theatre for years after that, helping build and paint sets, serving the meals that used to be part of the theatre experience, and watching the second half of every show every night when the kitchen work had finished.

But in actual fact it was twenty years later when someone offered me a teaching job when I was a single parent. It was a good hourly rate and my children could join in… and I hated it. For the first three years I used to long for a natural disaster to prevent class going ahead. The stress of providing a creative experience was huge for me. Here I am, twenty-five years later still doing it – and finding it a bit easier.

What is it about working with and writing for young people that you prefer over working with adults?

Sarah Delahunty is arguably New Zealand’s most prolific voice in young people’s theatre. With over forty plays to her name, her work has won ‘Pick of the Fringe’ twice and a Chapman Tripp Mason Playwriting Award in 1987, and has taken out Playmarket’s Plays for the Young Competition twice – in 2010 she came both first and second.

Sarah is truly a force within our playwriting community – but don’t let her hear you say that. Humble, stoic, and ferociously grounded in her artform Sarah has flourished – not driven by success, awards, or money but by a commitment to creativity.

Sarah made me realise that sometimes we can lose sight of what the goal is with our writing.

It was refreshing and inspiring to learn so much from someone who, in my opinion, has got it right.

Let’s start at the beginning, tell me about your early experiences with theatre.

In my early teens I went to drama classes with Nola

RIGHT: Andrew Paterson in a scene from 2b or nt 2b by Sarah Delahunty in She’ll Be Write, Ensemble Impact, NZ Tour. Image: Paul McLauglin.

Millar in a little old house in Arthur St [Wellington]

ABOVE: Sarah Delahunty. Image: Mark Amery.

A Free Feeling

Playwright Rachel Callinan in conversation with Sarah Delahunty

nomination. She won the highly coveted Bruce

– long gone. We seemed to be always doing the Caucasian Chalk Circle, which we thought tedious and irrelevant to our self-absorbed adolescent selves. So a group of us got someone’s big sister [Jane Hewland] to write a play about us. It was called My Vote Belongs to Daddy, which had been the slogan of a National candidate in the recent election. We felt pretty pleased with ourselves and went to Dick Johnstone at Downstage Theatre and said we wanted to put it on there. For some reason he said okay and we did it as a late night show the week before Christmas. Fantastic time.

Downstage was three years old. I was fourteen.

Don’t know exactly – it’s where I feel most alive in my work. I like the rawness and the enthusiasm – they will try anything. A student said last year in class: “We can break all the laws here, even the law of gravity.” I liked that - a feeling of unknown possibilities. This seems to subside when you get older, into the known.

You have an unmistakable connection with young people in your work. Where do you think that connection stems from? And how do you think it manifests itself in your work?

Perhaps I have never really grown up. I have certainly messed up a lot in my life – especially in my teens, and I guess I can still empathise with how difficult it is. And they make me laugh.

It’s only because I spend so much time with them that I can write for them I think.

Theatre was a bit of a lifeline for me and there were people who made it possible for me to be part of that world. I suppose I would like to think I had offered that to some people myself. Seems a meaningful thing to do considering I appear not to be capable of some more worthwhile occupation, like nursing in a war zone.

When we first met you mentioned the waning presence of women in NZ theatre, what do you think has changed over time?

Actually I don’t think much has changed essentially. That is the problem. In the 1980s we had our moments when women’s lives and ideas made it onto the stage. But at that moment in history, it was a popular move. Theatre is such a money-oriented thing. With the further demise of women into becoming the successful males they

“ We all have despair and boredom and envy and low self esteem. It’s not Foxton, it’s being human.” 2b or not 2b / Sarah Delahunty PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 10

“a feeling of unknown possibilities”

are today – that is the educated and richer ones, as many still suffer the same oppression; rape, murder and general abuse, that has gone on for centuries – I feel we have lost our voice and no one is going to jump around and beg us to find it.

We see theatre which might be written by women, but it’s not about women. All the old stereotypes are still hanging about. It is disappointing that theatre is only reflecting our society, when it should be challenging it.

to worry about a career path. It’s great. I just do what seems necessary as a next step.

Your work seems to gravitate away from

Can you tell me a bit about I Spy Children’s theatre?

small room in Downstage, Falling Sparrows

I Spy was part of the Wellington Performing Arts Centre run by Jenny Stevenson – now part of Whitireia. I had a lot of freedom to do as I wanted.

I learned a lot and enjoyed the young audiences.

I had one, still-young child in those days and so was pretty focused on that world.

classic theatre spaces: Affinity was set in a Here or There was performed at Zeal youth venue above Bodega bar. How does the space affect your work?

The Downstage I remember in 1966 was a tiny ex-coffee bar space upstairs on the site of the present Hannah Playhouse. I was in a musical there when we had to climb out the dressing room

I adapted a lot of fairy stories in different ways and realised later, there were some very definite ideas in my work that I wanted to get across to kids: that it is good to live your own story, not someone else’s; that material wealth does not lead to happiness; and that kindness is the most important thing.

window, run along the roof and climb in another

Or perhaps I was telling myself the last one.

I have always been quite bossy, but these days I try to remind myself that it is better to be kind than to be right!

particularly ones with a proscenium arch. It feels

You also, direct, produce, act, look after a growing number of grandchildren… Have I missed anything off the list… and more to the point is there anything you can’t do??

We talked a lot about the importance of having

own way. I don’t want to do anything for money or

equal, ‘Best Theatre’ in this year’s Wellington Fringe.

There are a million other things I can’t and don’t do! I have never played sport, been to university, or learned another language. I have only been overseas once, can’t really cook, don’t have any hobbies or romantic relationships – the list is endless. From inside my life it feels like I don’t do that much and what I do is always put off as long as possible.

That was a complete surprise to me. I am far too old

My two grandchildren, however, work me hard!

will not bring fame or fortune.

First Gear Productions, your theatre company for young people, operating out of Toi Poneke, has gone from strength to strength. What do you think First Gear’s secret is when producing quality theatre?

First Gear is not really a theatre company in that it’s just me. It’s all pretty low-key and not that many people have ever been to our shows. I am hopeless at publicity and getting money and that stuff. I don’t have a plan or a secret; I just try to challenge the people I work with.

Recently someone spoke to me about expanding my business and offered help. On thinking it over I realised I don’t actually want to grow, that although there is an assumption that everyone wants more and higher status in the world, it wasn’t what I wanted out of my life.

Mostly I write plays for particular young actors or groups of actors that I know fairly well. I put it off until the last minute and then have to scrabble to come up with something. Out of this has come some great reviews and highlights like winning first

window to enter from the other side of the stage.

The stage was built over the fire exit steps with a trap door, and one night, in the middle of the show, a policeman popped his head through the trap door. Those were the days.

I struggle to feel excited in real theatre spaces and limiting and static to me in comparison to the corner of a big space, or other such places. The problems they bring seem to enhance the creativity. freedom to create. Can you expand on that?

Well it’s personal really, there is no theory behind it. I am way too used to doing what I want in my because someone else wants me to. I would do it badly. I just want to do what seems meaningful and important and helpful to the people I work with and hopefully it’s enjoyed by whoever gets to see it.

I have always felt fairly low status and unimportant by external measures and I find that a free feeling.

Which is just as well, as youth theatre as a career

“ I am cursed to have the same name as that silly little apple cruncher. My god, when princesses go bad!”

Eating the Wolf / Sarah Delahunty

11 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

re-enactment of the signing of the treaty, directed

by Don C Selwyn and Richard Campion. Apart from a few jeers from the crowd and a wet t-shirt thrown at the Queen it was a relatively peaceful occasion – that being because the majority of so-called radicals had been prevented access and were miles away from the famous marae ātea.

The marae ātea, the place of Tūmatauenga, the space of pure thought where Māori can debate Māori issues on Māori terms.

As it turned out, a devout Anglican and bishop took on the role of the radical that day. In the scorching northern heat in front of a massive crowd, the Queen and the media, Bishop Whakahuihui Vercoe stood on the marae ātea and spoke eloquently and articulately: “I want to remind our partners that you have marginalised us. You have not honoured the treaty... Since 1840 the partner that has been marginalised is me – the language of the land is we tell the world who we are, are yours”.

eye in a Listener theatre review. It was of a Māori

The marae ātea provided Bishop Vercoe, the

girl wrapped in a sheet sitting on boxes representing a bed. The title of the play: Te Hokinga written by Riwia Brown, produced by Te Ohu Whakaari and presented at The Depot Theatre in Wellington.

This little space in the Listener dedicated to theatre opened up a whole new world for me. Somewhere else in Aotearoa, people like me, acted, wrote and produced plays about people like me. I read that article a few times feeling so proud of them; feeling like the review was talking about me too.

1990 was the year I was introduced to Wellington’s

RIGHT: Puriri Koria, Amanda Noblett and Raiha Moetara in a development showing for Te Rau O Te Rangi

by Teina Moetara, Taki Rua Productions. Image: Philip Merry.

theatre scene. It was also the year that had been LEFT: Moana Ete and Joe Dekkers-Reihana in The Prospect by Maraea Rakuraku, Tawata Productions, Gryphon. Image: Dawn Cheong.

FINDING TURANGAWAEWAE

Nancy Brunning marks the changes for a theatre for Maori in Wellington

yours, the custom is yours, the media, by which When I was still a teenager, an image caught my

given the label ‘the year of the Māori’. No lie, I brought a pillow with the slogan emblazoned across it. A national TV campaign, fronted by the late Sir Paul Reeves, layered with uplifting music, beautiful landscapes and a Māori and Pākehā boy hanging out together on the beach was meant to represent a New Zealand of the future. But really, it was an attempt by government to make Māori citizens believe that we were important to our nation so they could prepare us for what was really important: Her Majesty the Queen’s royal visit to Waitangi Day Celebrations.

If they could convince themselves that Māori believed their campaign, hopefully Māori would behave like well-mannered loyal subjects, and politicians could smile at the royals, the cameras and pretend Māori and Pākehā all hung out on the beach together.

right to speak of his experience, living as a Māori in New Zealand.

That year, 1990, a space had been made for me to attend Te Kura Toi Whakaari o Aotearoa: New Zealand Drama School in Wellington.

My family and I were subjected to the whines of Pākehā parents, who believed I shouldn’t have got in because I’d never done speech and drama lessons or belonged to the amateur dramatics society (I had never been invited into their society). My speech and drama training came from competing in Pei Te Hurinui Jones secondary school speech competitions and being a member of the school kapa haka team.

When I moved to Wellington, I was introduced to the Depot Theatre by Sunny Amey [former Director of Downstage and New Zealand Drama School].

The Depot later became Taki Rua Theatre. It was there that I met Riwia Brown and watched the restaging of Te Hokinga. Once I’d graduated from drama school I performed in a production under the umbrella of Te Ohu Whakaari.

That was 23 years ago, I was fortunate to have arrived to the scene on the coat tails of great change, I met wonderful people who were pioneers of this Māori theatre industry. I learned that the best way to learn was by turning up and listening and watching what was going on. Any chance I could, I’d go to the Depot Theatre space and I’d hang around until everyone got used to

I was in Waitangi that year. I was 17 years old. I was

seeing me. The more they got used to me, the

with a group of college mates participating in the

easier it was for them to pass on information.

“ Equal is like a sightseeing trip to Mars; a long way off.”

Rewena / Whiti Hereaka

PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 12

As an emerging Māori practitioner I was given access to kaumātua knowledge. They educated me on who was who, who did what and why.

I was told about the beginnings of Māori theatre, the struggles, the inequality, the humiliation and humility they had felt for daring to desire an experience in the world of New Zealand theatre.

I heard about Porgy and Bess, the creation of the Māori Theatre Trust, Te Ika a Māui Players, Te Ohu Whakaari.

They championed a philosophy that our writers be treated with respect. They fought for the image of Māori to be portrayed truthfully and from a Māori perspective. They fought for fair funding, the inclusion of Te Reo Māori in productions,

“...the need for a theatre space has become more urgent.”

to perform in mainstream theatres, to produce and direct Māori stories, employ Māori actors, employ Māori artists to design sets, lighting and costume, and to create fair infrastructures that could support Māori theatre, art and artists long term. They fought for all Māori to have a space,

that Māori issues were voiced and debated.

Our theatre kaumātua took this philosophy and brought it into the theatre realm. These kaumātua have talked about various media as being a waha to communicate to Māori throughout the motu.

Had Māori not fought to be heard within these spaces – on the airwaves, in TV broadcasting, in newspaper media and on New Zealand stages – understanding of the Māori experience may not be what is today.

Pākeha driven. Pākeha should have theatres that

advocate for a space to house our theatre

embraced everyone. They were/are the eyes and

Yet here we are 23 years later, Downstage, Circa, BATS, ATC, Fortune, Court Theatre and Centrepoint Theatre to name a few; are Pākehā institutions, which function on a Pākehā philosophy; providing their message for a predominantly Pākehā audience. Māori practitioners over that period have shared more resources and knowledge with these institutions as well as with our main funder Creative New Zealand. We have created more successes nationally and internationally with half the resource funding, up-skilled practitioners, toured, worked with communities, created new, New Zealand works. We have to collaborate in order for our industry to survive – yet applications for a space continue to be rejected.

the mouths for their leaders who had passed on.

Personally, to be without a theatre space that

a tūrangawaewae where we could make Māori decisions about Māori issues and tell Māori stories our way. Once upon a time, Māori theatre once was about guardianship, not ownership. A theatre process was created to put the treatment of Māori, Māori culture and Māori ideas at the forefront of the work. It protected us, freed us and challenged us.

Such a powerful history yet many of our new practitioners, who have recently worked with our CNZ Totara funded Production Company Taki Rua, haven’t heard it. Why when their mission statement claims to connect our heritage – past, present and future? Surely if you’re going to represent an organisation with over 25 years of Māori Theatre history – you would share your whakapapa, or talk to those who know it?

Because of this the need for a theatre space has become more urgent.

Over the last 10 years our Māori community suffered the loss of Bob Wiki, Rona Bailey, Tungia Baker, Wi Kuki Kaa and Don Selwyn. These intelligent, generous, courageous visionaries, including Keri Kaa, Sunny Amey and Rangimoana Taylor used what little space they had and

So who are the seeing eyes and the speaking mouths for them? Recently I stumbled across this whakataukī: “Ko tātou ngā kanohi me ngā waha kōrero ō rātou mā kua ngaro ki te pō. We are but the seeing eyes and speaking mouths of those who have passed on” In the past the marae ātea was the main arena for Māori communicating with Māori – it is there

champions the Māori world view I will continue to experience the following: I will always be warmly welcomed into Pākehā theatres as a visitor; Māori rituals of encounter will be shared with me by my Pākeha contemporaries; I will give my all and will leave without certainty of ever working there again.

My worth and values will have no permanent place in these spaces because of one thing: they are

champion the Pākeha world view, but not at the expense of Māori not having one at all.

This year under the name of Te Pūtahitanga ā te Rēhia – a collective of independent Māori practitioners (who can speak to over 45 years of contribution to Māori theatre history and experience) joined together. The kaupapa for our roopu is to pass on whakapapa, to create more opportunities for work in Wellington and community. Despite the current climate, independent Māori practitioners have found strength in working together but believe the time has come to secure a space for our community.

Despite these issues, Māori contribution to the Wellington theatre scene can be celebrated and practitioners should feel proud. We have achieved so much with very little. Last year the Chapman Tripp theatre awards, awarded accolades in 20 categories; in 12 of which Māori or Māori productions were nominated, 9 of which Māori took away and one of which connected us all together. Toroihi rāua ko Kāhira (the Māori Troilus and Cressida) Māori theatre’s greatest achievement with us all celebrating – “Te Reo was the true winner of the night.”

Nō reira, ka huri aku mihi ki ngā kuia me ngā koroua, kua wehe atu ki te pō, moe mai i raro i te rangimārie ō tō tātou tūpuna. Ki te hunga ora, Māori Theatre is what it is today because of what our kaumātua contributed yesterday. What it becomes tomorrow is what we contribute today.

Nō reira, haumi e, hui e, tāiki e.

“ Usually I would do this in Maori but because my sister took Japanese at school instead of Maori and I really want her to understand I thought I’d do it in Pakeha.” Patua / Renae Maihi 13 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

Councils are also interested in building ongoing relationships, rather than just one-off requests for money. The word ‘investment’ is one you’ll hear often. It may be anathema to some, but it’s councilspeak for artists being viewed as valuable ‘assets’ for the communities in which they live – worth supporting and engaging with over the long term.

Each region in New Zealand differs in how they view and fund theatre. Some have dedicated funds, others roll it together with investment in community resources, tourism, CBD business and so on.

This makes it difficult to compare across regions, or even define exactly how much is being spent on the arts in any given region. Naturally, each differs in population, geography and politics, but there are also a number of things that are consistent.

PAGE 17: David Fane in A Frigate Bird Sings by Oscar Kightley, David Fane and Nathaniel Lees, Auckland Theatre Company. Image: Michael Smith.

PAGE 16: Tola Newbery, Stephen Butterworth, Xavier Horan, Maaka Pepene and Vinnie Bennett in Hui

by Mitch Tawhi Thomas, Silo Theatre, Auckland Arts Festival. Image: Gate Photography.

RIGHT: Luke Agnew in box/role/dream by Lynda Chanwai-Earle, Counterpoint Productions, Allen Hall Theatre. Image: Abby Smith.

Local bodies such as councils, local boards and CCOs (Council Controlled Organisations) are, on the whole, active in supporting the arts in their region. For many theatremakers however, understanding of their role is murky. This is not surprising – it’s a complex and constantly shifting landscape. Yet many of these organisations are willing – keen even – to be approached.

ABOVE: Lynda Milligan and George Henare in You Can Always Hand Them Back by Roger Hall. Music and lyrics by Peter Skellern, Circa Theatre. Image: Stephen A’Court.

Warm Local Bodies

Renee Liang on the shifting landscape of local body support for theatre

Let’s start with a centre by centre summary. In Dunedin, both professional (Fortune), commercial/ community (Regent) and community (Mayfair) theatre venues are supported directly by council.

Practitioners can access venues from the the Town Hall and the Glenroy Auditorium through to halls through subsidised community rates.

Firstly, councils like to see their support as being about both financial and non-financial transactions. While in the bigger centres there are small pots of contestable funding, as well as ’one-off’ commissions or contracts, councils also play a big role in other aspects of infrastructure such as venue support (they may own or pay for the maintenance and running costs of theatre).

They are also interested in partnerships which are local and community focussed – festivals and workshops are often heavily funded by local bodies. Just recently for example Hamilton City Council produced a Hamilton Arts Agenda, to give the sector leadership and assist in growth.

There is also a major shift in Auckland, and now Wellington region with the introduction of sizeable regional amenities funds to support entities of regional significance (Auckland Theatre Company a case in point).

Cara Paterson, Community Advisor in Arts at Dunedin City Council, sees council’s role in supporting theatre and venues as crucial to the mix of the city’s well-being. “Theatre contributes directly to the city’s cultural life… Support for theatre is one component of a rich creative and cultural environment.”

But there are pressures on the existing systems.

Paterson says that in Dunedin, there is “an issue with aging theatre infrastructure and places for performance and rehearsals (especially sites that are freezing or are a health and safety hazard).

“The positive with this is the improvisation that occurs, the nature of people performing in nontraditional venues. People are looking at creating spaces in car parks, in flats, in shopping malls, a creative interpretation of the theatre experience.”

Public-private partnerships are also happening.

Paterson cites The Athenaeum as a good example of the private sector taking over a former public space and partnering with the creative community to drive the development.

And what of funding? Is there any truth to the perception that fiscal restraint has reduced funding for arts projects in all centres? “So far funding has not reduced for theatre in Dunedin,” says Paterson.

“We are working toward a new city Arts and Culture Strategy which we hope will set in place some priorities for investment into the future.”

Christchurch is moving from emergency response to planning for more permanent infrastructure.

George Parker, of Free Theatre Christchurch sees great opportunity. “We are in the unique situation of having a rethink, a recharging of the arts in the city post-quake.” He cites a recent report by Arts Voice Christchurch, a coalition of various community and professional groups, which advocates a more integrated, community-inclusive approach (as opposed to sole funding of a few institutions).

“The arts have been too separated from everyday life,” the report states, “too exclusive and removed… rebuilding the city goes hand in hand

“ Corporal, I am from the same iwi as you: Ngati Walkabout. In this battalion we are one people.”Goodbye My Feleni / David Mamea PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 14

“The distance between working artists and funders is created by existing policy structures.” with the arts re-examining its role in a shaken society, so it can re-engage with a city that has to re-invent itself.”

Arts Voice sees itself as an advocate to both Christchurch City Council and to national bodies such as Creative New Zealand and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The report doesn’t mince words when it says that: “A common criticism of the Christchurch arts scene pre-earthquake was that it was conservative and lacking in diversity and innovation.” It goes on to state that a thorough rethink of the council arts policy is required so that grassroots arts initiatives are supported and grown, not stifled.

Festivals and events are taking the idea of transition even further. FESTA, where performance artists and architects collaborate to create large-scale ‘temporary structures’ for performance and spectacle, is an example of an artist-led collaboration between different disciplines and groups. “The event”, says Parker, an organiser, “cannot just happen in any city – it’s grown out of being engaged with this place, in this time.”

The metaphor of old thought-structures being demolished along with the city is a compelling one. Parker sees the rebuild as a chance not only for new infrastructure, but for new ideas and organisations to emerge. He sees engagement with new and diverse arts practices as being the key to stemming the flow of artists away from the city, and attracting back the young to the city.

Meanwhile in Wellington wide consultation with the arts sector has led to a recent revision of the Arts and Culture strategy for the ‘Creative Capital’.

The policy, introduced in December 2011, signals a major change in how the cultural pool of funding is allocated. Arts development comes under the umbrella of economic development. While main theatres are still supported through contract funding and community groups are supported via the Creative Communities fund, specific projects are supported through a cultural pool, which has recently increased by $150,000 per annum.

Parker says that the squeeze on venues – artists can’t compete with commercial demands, rental prices are “through the roof” and most landlords demand five-plus year leases, which community groups can’t commit to – is providing a considerable challenge. However, groups have responded by collaborating on space and resources. “Most of us are just getting on and doing stuff. It’s good to crack people’s minds out of solidity, dealing with uncertainty is just part of being an artist.” An example of this fluidity and use of transitional spaces is Gap Filler, where empty lots in the CBD are revitalised through performance and installation.

However the system is still feeling the strain.

Kirsten Kelly, Arts Programme Advisor at Wellington City Council sees “pressure on the sector as an employer and creator of opportunities for graduates.” Here again there is pressure on venues. Unlike Dunedin and Auckland, civic spaces are run by a separate council controlled organisation in Wellington which means that no programme exists to help emerging artists access public spaces. Kelly does note however that there is a venue subsidy that groups can apply to Council for: “It’s a limited funding pool though and focuses on community groups providing low cost or free performances with a wide community benefit.”

The council aims to support local talent, recognising the strength of tertiary institutions such as Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School and Victoria University and “facilitating opportunites for experimentation and creative risk taking.” Kelly says that Council is realistic in that it understands that theatre graduates are mobile and will be drawn to creative industries in bigger cities, but that council can foster an innovative and independent arts culture locally by cutting down on regulation. It is also focussing on providing diverse experiences by diverse communities.

Like Christchurch and Dunedin, Kelly sees value in breaking down silos and encouraging artists to collaborate across groups and disciplines.

Auckland has the most complex picture. The now three-year-old supercity has resulted in a series of restructures at Auckland Council with advisors now working in ‘functional teams’ – for example, programming events or managing funding pools.

A new arts and culture policy is in development, guided by the Auckland Plan, a 30-year blueprint for the city which prophesies that “Our arts and culture will thrive, unite, delight, challenge and entertain, and also drive wealth and prosperity for individuals and for Auckland.” While the Plan then goes into small print, it’s fair to say that it’s strong on aspirational language (“value and foster our artists”) but stays clear of specifics.

Like Arts Voice Christchurch, the Creative Coalition in Auckland is an open alliance of groups and individuals in the creative sector looking to actively feed into policy. As well as submissions to local bodies, the group works on policy development and research within the sector, most notably a study into Auckland’s creative

“ The good Lord knows that the government is presently run by men who simply recite their views, in squeezed voices, all from minds the size of their monocles.” Native Affairs / Alice Miller 15 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

programme. For example, CNZ’s 2013 request for proposals to fill Tōtara programme key roles for theatre in Christchurch and Wellington said that CNZ would expect to provide between 17% and 22% of the organisation’s total revenue.

Other stakeholders and supporters, such as local government would be expected to be providing a similar level of public subsidy to the theatre organisation.

ecology – an attempt to see how all the different sectors and groups relate and interlink, and how best to foster growth. Elisabeth Vaneveld, an arts manager with over 35 years experience who leads the team delivering The Big Idea website sees local government as a key player in this creative ecology, a kind of local gardener if you will. As enabler, connector, partner and provider, local councils and boards play an active part in either fostering or suppressing the arts sector.

Barbara Procter, Sector Investment Leader – Arts and Culture at Auckland Council, says that council wants to build arts and culture into the everyday life of the city. The Auckland Plan is a “high level vision” that influences policy for the whole of Auckland, not just Auckland Council. Local boards interpret it with local knowledge.

LINKS Auckland Plan (arts and culture): http://bit.ly/15hEIg4 Wellington Council arts and culture strategy: http://bit.ly/16yLhhj Creative Coalition: http://creativecoalition.org.nz/ Transforming Dunedin: http://transformingdunedin.co.nz A community-based movement aimed at promoting the interests and opportunities of creative, arts and cultural communities.

The feeling I get is that Auckland is a big beast and the connections between all the local government bodies are not easy to unravel, not least because there is constant reorganisation of the political landscape. There is also what Procter calls a “pull towards the centre and away from the centre” – with regional and local theatres based in the CBD and in the suburban centres.

So how do local bodies work with the central funding agencies, particularly in a time of fiscal restraint? Although the traditional divide has been that councils look after infrastructure (venues and so on) while CNZ support projects and artists directly, there’s a fair amount of overlap. John McDavitt, Senior Arts Policy Adviser at CNZ, points out that the support from local bodies differs according to artform – libraries and art galleries have traditionally been heavily funded, but as many of us know, it’s harder to persuade councils to invest in theatre infrastructure.

McDavitt says that CNZ’s advocacy remit includes “making submissions to territorial authorities developing arts strategies” and that there are many informal communications alongside more formal meetings. There is recognition that “no one size fits all” when it comes to arts policies. With currently 67 local autonomous authorities (and the picture changing all the time), just keeping track is a big job for the CNZ advisors spread through the country.

CNZ expects arts organisations seeking funding to make their own links with potential funders, including local government. This expectation is reflected in the CNZ “funding formulae” that are part of the Toi Tōtara Haemata investment

CNZ can also work with local bodies in specific areas of need – for example the Christchurch City Council’s Creative Industries Support Fund which was developed to support arts practice and its establishment in the recovery and revitalisation of Christchurch’s central city.

The fund encourages the engagement of the general public in progressive arts experiences that are relevant to Christchurch and that encourage collaboration, innovation and strategic partnerships. It is managed by the Christchurch City Council and a CNZ local representative works with the assessment panel to prioritise applications for support.

The Creative Communities Scheme (CCS) is another way that local bodies interlink with central agencies. This is contestable funding with very specific guidelines, provided by CNZ and distributed through local government. CNZ general funding guidelines include that a given project cannot receive funding from multiple CNZ funding programmes at the same time (for example a CCS grant and an Arts Grant).

CNZ recently increased its CCS funding allocation to 67c per head of population annually. Paterson in Dunedin sees a very clear benefit from this money: “The interlink with Creative Communities and DCC contestable arts funding helps to generate more variation of works and more opportunities for other independent projects to prosper.” Success stories include Stage South’s Read Out Loud rehearsed readings, and now Homegrown, a new script development process.

The Young, Wild and Unfortunate Festival and Counterpoint, both producing theatre for young people by young people, have benefited. More professional companies such as Talking House and Wow Productions access community funding at some point, often intermixed with support from CNZ. “There are challenges with what is available and who and when to apply,” says Paterson, “but theatre practitioners are resourceful folk.

They make things happen, there is a generosity within the sector to support one another.”

Is funding from local bodies really decreasing?

It’s hard to tell, because of the complexity of how

“ A politician saying he won’t lie is like me saying I’ll never put my left foot in front of my right foot.”

The Lie / Joseph Musaphia

PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 16

funding is allocated and measured. Vaneveld says that we don’t know in real terms, but what we do know is that the way arts funding is allocated probably changes from year to year.

As panels and boards change, says Vaneveld, so too does the way the loaf is cut. The reality is that the small size of our community means that it’s often impossible to eliminate preferences or personal perceptions of a community’s need.

All we can do, she says, is be as careful about panel selection as possible, select from a broad range of experiences, and engage local champions with a clear understanding of need.

has put pressure on the idea that professional

Local bodies tend to place a big emphasis on community engagement and access. Paterson says that “Dunedin City Council has a role in ensuring that access to theatre experiences are for all.” While Auckland Council has a fund, Arts Alive, dedicated to supporting professional theatre in the CBD, the move to the Supercity

funded (new vs remounts of classic works,

theatre should be concentrated in the CBD. Arts Alive has only two more funding rounds to run in its present form. After that, Procter says it’s likely that funding pools may be refocussed to allow support of theatre in different Auckland regions, and may include support for community groups as well as strictly ‘professional’ groups. Procter acknowledges that not everyone who deserves to gets funded (currently three-times as much is requested as is allocated through Arts Alive funding). There’s perennial debate around which works get New Zealand versus international scripts.)

There’s also debate around what venues count

“a beautiful partnership”

as professional venues. Increasingly, venues such as TAPAC are programming professional works at the same time as reaching out to the local community.

WORKING SMARTER WITH COUNCIL What are some of the ways that theatre practitioners could work better with local authorities? Vaneveld feels that a ground-up approach works best. In other words, identifying a good project, then creating relationships with key leaders, for example members of local boards. A project is most likely to succeed if it is community focussed, draws on local support and skills, and is specific to the locality.

Although devised work is more likely to fit this model, text-based work will too – but work must be done to strengthen community engagement with it.

Vaneveld says that work is often funded by local bodies through two pathways: directly with an artist contracted to deliver a service, and through local organisations who curate and produce work for festivals, with venue and funding supported by council. In both cases, says Vaneveld the more you are known by the decision makers the more likely you are to be considered. This comes down to “good planning, a fair bit of luck and good networks.”

Showing that you are engaged with the community in question and have done some work towards audience development doesn’t hurt either. Vaneveld says that this is now a recognised part of the skillset for an arts professional in New Zealand. What if pressing the flesh isn’t one of your skills? No matter, says Vaneveld – the most important thing is

the quality and passion of the work, and your reputation. You can always partner with a more confident person (connecting with funders and audience is one of the core skills of a producer).

Joining an organisation with more political clout is another way to get your views heard and to influence the environment in which you work.

Parker echoes this advice. “Artists need to be entrepreneurs. They need to work together with funding bodies to develop audiences, to demonstrate that an audience exists for new and innovative cross-platform events. The distance between working artists and funders is created by existing policy structures. Councils need to find new structures, ones where work is developed and commissioned by creative panels made up of artists, rather than the old curator model.”

Many councils have easily accessible vision documents or arts strategies available on their websites. Finding and reading these will give you a heads-up on what local bodies are currently focussed on, and give you valuable hints for honing your pitch (or inform you when you’re wasting your time).

Finally, let’s get back to that word ‘investment’.

A more palatable term may be ‘relationships.’

Intermediaries – otherwise known as arts advisors, council staff or policy analysts – play an important role, connecting artists with the local bodies that need them. The unequivocal message is to make friends with your local arts advisor.

Kelly: “Find your friendly arts advisor – have a coffee! Pick their brains. They can help navigate you through the system. They aim to be as approachable as possible. One-on-one meetings are recommended, but there are also regular information evenings and funding seminars where you could make initial contact.

Find out who’s who on the panels. Getting your name known and out there doesn’t hurt either – it means that when your project comes up for funding, the panel will know who you are. Council funding meetings are open to the public, as they aim to be as transparent as possible. If you attend in person you’ll understand the process, and may even be invited to present to the panel.”

Procter: “There’s no road map, but building a relationship with your local arts advisor is important. It’s a two-way thing – the advisor can act as your guide through council processes and tell you of opportunities, but they also want to understand your views and needs so that this can be fed back into policy.“ So the take-home message? Don’t underestimate the potential of your local government body for supporting your work.

Like most relationships, it takes time to understand and build. Use your intermediaries.

Treating it as an exchange of skills for support and being open to what they are looking for might just be the start of a beautiful partnership.

“ They have a word for people like you. Inadequate. It’s not that you are bad or evil Rita, it’s just that you are inadequate.” A Moment or Two / Arun Subramaniam 17 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

I’ve been attempting to make appointments with the various directors of our local theatres to speak about the process new New Zealand scripts go through, but half the directors are crazy busy.

I guess it’s terrific they are all so busy – a sign of the good health of NZ theatre.

PAGE 22: Eli Matthewson in And I Was Like by Sam Brooks, Smoke Labours Productions, The Basement. Image: Richard Symons.

PAGE 21: Helene Wong and Stan Chan in Man in a Suitcase by Lynda Chanwai-Earle, The Court Theatre and Peking University World Institute of Theatre and Film, China. Image: Sabin Holloway.

RIGHT: Director Colin McColl working, with Dean Parker’s Midnight in Moscow script in hand with actor Robyn Malcolm at Auckland Theatre Company. Image: Claire Flynn.

I’ve also recently finished working on the text, 20 New Zealand Playwrights, with the playwright Michelanne Forster – interviews with twenty playwrights – so I know that the playwriting scene is truly alive and kicking. We could have easily made it 40 New Zealand Playwrights but we only had the money to do twenty (it always comes down to money). Still, we hope our new book will fill an existing gap in the canon of NZ literature (published at the end of 2013 by Playmarket).

ABOVE: Director Roy Ward and Victor Rodger in rehearsal for Black Faggot by Victor Rodger, Multinesia, The Basement. Image: Karin Williams.

Relationship Drama

Vivienne Plumb considers the relationship between playwrights and theatres

“ …understand and respect where each other is coming from”

The process of getting a play on was one of the subjects all of the writers discussed. Alternatively, it has been interesting looking at this through the eyes of the theatres for this article.

When I couldn’t talk to the directors I could talk to the script advisors. First up, Philippa Campbell, literary manager for Auckland Theatre Company (and a well-known Auckland film producer).

Philippa reminds me that it’s important to understand that the process with each play can be very different. It always depends on the playwright and the play. Different playwrights respond differently to the rigours of production. Some like to hang around the rehearsal room every day watching rehearsals, and others hate to do this.

Before a new play is programmed at ATC the script needs to ‘click’ or connect with the Artistic Director, Colin McColl. He must feel that an ATC

audience would react well to the work. The Next Stage at ATC delivers readings and workshops of new NZ works and is used to test the waters in front of an audience. The selected writers receive a two-week period of workshop, discussion and development before a presentation reading in front of an audience, which can also include audience comment. It’s an examination of their script and a script advisor or dramaturge will be used to help with the process. But everyone who is involved contributes to the process to an extent – the director and the actors. Rewrites can be part of that procedure. (ATC also holds in-house readings that have no audience.) Looking through a list of plays that have been workshopped and presented through The Next Stage, I notice that there have been more scripts that have not been produced than those that have, which could be an indication of how tough this process is.

With a new NZ play, Philippa stresses that it’s very important there is a good workable relationship between director and playwright. They need to understand and respect where each other is coming from regarding the play and what they want it to achieve. Also, a director can reveal insights into a script that a playwright hadn’t realised. It’s an exciting process where the layers of information and trust are slowly built up.

Philippa says she is always looking for new works that could “fill 600 seats” as eventually, when ATC are in their own theatre there will be a venue that will seat this number.

But what is it that attracts directors to programme and direct a work? Lara Macgregor, artistic director of the Fortune Theatre suggests there is

“ He doesn’t allow intermissions either, he once wrote that intermissions only serve to reduce our discomfort.” Reading Lamouch / Finn Teppett PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 18

a bigger risk in producing new NZ work because it is more of an unknown quantity with an audience – although that fact can also be a selling point.

She loves the act of creating something with a writer and working towards their vision. You serve the playwright to produce stories that are for everyone, because they are about us, our culture.

Lara has no script advisor and therefore must read all the work herself. I mention that when I worked at Downstage Theatre many years ago, someone sent a script inside a Kellogg’s Cornflakes packet tied up with string. We agree that isn’t such a good look. Twice a year the Fortune holds one two-day in-house development workshop for a NZ piece with no public presentation involved.

Lara tries to keep a programme with no less than fifty percent NZ work (which includes one children’s play). What she seeks in a script is a spark that will let off an emotional response within herself, as she believes that an audience wishes to be taken on an emotional journey when they go to the theatre. Patrick Evans’ new play Gifted (adapted from Evans’ novel) is one such work and it will have several ‘lives’ as it will open at the Christchurch Arts Festival, will go on to the Taranaki International Arts Festival and then back down to Dunedin in September. After that it will tour some more. More often, new NZ plays have one season at one theatre and are lucky when they manage any ‘afterlives’.

Anna Marbrook, a freelance Auckland theatre director and script editor, points out that to work on a new NZ script generally means a great opportunity to have the writer right there, working beside you, to help develop the work.

The birth of a new playscript is an exciting ‘coalface’ creation, she says, and it makes a director feel as if they have more at stake in the production. Fundamentally, you are making work that speaks out in the voice of our own culture.

At the same time, Anna feels that as a country, we do not support our playwrights enough and we do not protect their process enough. She sees the playwright’s situation as being very vulnerable: there are very few forms of theatre attachments or residencies. I point out that generally, all processes of playwriting in NZ require the writer to produce a percentage of the script on an unpaid basis before they finally manage to procure funding. Writers are subsidising NZ theatre for all audience members.

Anna also felt that the script development period in NZ differed from European theatres where they work on the piece over a longer period of time. I suggested that in NZ we may be a bit

more ‘cowboy’ (get it rehearsed, get it on, get it off). Lara Macgregor felt a new NZ script can quite often go on without receiving enough development time prior to its season: another reason we can see the result of only one season in the life of a new play.

Anna Marbrook thinks there could be a conversation regarding different theatre genres.

A director who understands different genres can strengthen a piece of work (she gives Raymond Hawthorne’s work on the Auckland production of Dave Armstrong’s play Le Sud, as an example).

She feels that NZ playwrights have difficulty getting their work into an international market.

Elizabeth O’Connor has a long-running relationship with The Court Theatre in Christchurch primarily as a script advisor.

She tells me that trust is the most important ingredient in the production of a new NZ work.

Their programme for the development and presentation of new work is made up of three aspects: rehearsed readings, workshops, and commissions.

Rehearsed readings in front of an audience can be a stepping-stone leading towards the script being programmed. As at ATC and Circa, the rehearsed reading can be used to gauge audience response for a new script or for a play that has received a season elsewhere.

Pip Hall’s Ache received a recent reading as did Greg Cooper and Luke Di Somma’s That Bloody Woman, and Carl Nixon’s The War Artist.

A reading can give the complete feel of a piece and how it might go. “But it’s not an exam!” says Elizabeth.

There is no formula for programming. It’s always a “maelstrom of ideas” although she and Ross Gumbley (Artistic Director of The Court) are very interested in NZ scripts. They hold developmental workshops for these. If a playwright is commissioned to write a work for The Court that commission will usually include one or even two workshops. Lynda Chanwai-Earle’s Man in a Suitcase received two four-day workshops.

It’s to do with what the writer feels they need, says Elizabeth – what will help them. Kathleen Gallagher had several three-to-four hour workshops programmed closely together for her piece, Awakening Ruaumoko, as she felt this was what would be the most useful for her.

A workshop is all about putting the play on its feet and watching it walk, but within the confines of a supportive cast and director.

Classified as a Totara organisation by Creative New Zealand, The Court funds the majority of its own commissions but does receive funds from CNZ for special projects. The Court has also co-commissioned scripts. ATC and The Court jointly commissioned Fiona Samuel’s Ghost Train, and Victor Rodger’s Protection was a joint commissioning with Silo in Auckland.

The commissioned playwright receives payment in instalments according to drafts supplied to agreed deadlines. If a play is not programmed there is no penalty for the theatres involved.

It is my suggestion that rather, it could be that the ‘penalty’ exists for the author, as nonprogramming means all their work has been for nought (apart from their commission fee), although they are free after a certain period to attempt to

“ The dialogue must pass cleanly from player to player with mounting tensions until, at the moment of climax, it is clapped down between the goal posts.” Mary Scott: Queen of the Backblocks / Hannah McKie 19 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

“ Writers are subsidising theatre for all audience members.”

have the play programmed elsewhere. To be a playwright in NZ you need to be fairly motivated.

a larger cast – Circa works on a cooperative basis,

sustain. She would prefer to have writers working

so a larger cast effects the cut everyone involved

Elizabeth says that once a play has run its season there are few cases of that work having an afterlife, although the company is trying to change this situation. Chanwai-Earle’s Man in a Suitcase is one such instance, playing a short season in Beijing. The Court also runs a programme for younger writers. In groups of four or six they work intensively for ten weeks and then have their work presented in rehearsed readings to the public.

receives at the end.

on commissions. This is the most satisfactory from a directorial/ theatre administration view, yet it provides only small pockets of security for a writer.

Circa Theatre is made up of two stages: Circa One, the larger venue, and Circa Two, the smaller, more intimate space. Circa One is programmed with plays that have ‘wide appeal’ while Circa Two is for more ‘edgy’ pieces. In recent years Tawata Productions have been using Circa Two for some of its plays and this year shifted up to Circa One with Hone Kouka’s Tu. Playwrights can ‘pitch’ a play to the Circa Council.

The basic criteria with considering any work is that at least three council members must have read the script. They read up to 130 plays a year from all over in order to make up their annual programme. Director and actor Sue Wilson, a Circa Council member, tells me that a new NZ script could receive a public reading at Circa and this would help to gauge how the audience liked it, and create a buzz about the play. The process could then involve a workshop although the overall theatre funding has recently been cut for Circa which could effect funding for workshops. Plays with a smaller cast of one to three actors are ‘better’ because of the finances involved in

Playwright, director and actor Alison Quigan, has just taken up the position of Performing Arts Manager of the Mangere Arts Centre and is full of enthusiasm and ideas.

Mangere Arts Centre is a venue in South Auckland administered by the Auckland Council. Alison hopes to encourage writers to produce stories about this unique area, which has a predominantly Pasifika population.

What would a South Auckland story be? Alison found one that interested her a lot: in 1915, 150 men from Niue trained as soldiers in NZ and were then sent to Egypt and France. Many of their graves lie overseas. This is a story that Alison would like to investigate further with local writers possibly, resulting in a production for 2014.

In her past position as director of Centrepoint Theatre, Palmerston North, she began a 100% NZ programme (from 1993) and also began a programme of Māori works at that theatre.

I asked her if she’d ever had any experience of a writer receiving a commission and the play never materialising. Once, she says, and she’d had to re-programme quickly.

I asked her how she would feel about having a resident writer at Mangere. There had been instances of writer residencies in a theatre, in the past – Theatre Corporate, Downstage and Mercury Theatres many moons ago. Alison feels such a situation can no longer exist as holding a company of full-time actors has become too expensive to

Shane Bosher is the director of Silo Theatre, Auckland. The Silo has garnered a reputation among playwrights for presenting few new NZ works over the last five years: in 2009 Back Story, an ensemble work written by Oliver Driver, no new NZ works in 2010, in 2011 another collaboration with Jodie Molloy and Oliver Driver Did I Believe It, and in 2012 they established their new development programme, but as yet neither of those pieces are ready. This year Silo collaborated with Auckland Arts Festival on the production of Hui by Mitch Tawhi Thomas.

Their new development process for NZ works, dubbed Working Titles, has featured two pieces, both by male writers: a play by Victor Rodger (Protection) and the other a long-term collaboration between Arthur Meek and the Silo resulting in a piece written for particular actors.

The Australian play When the Rain Stops Falling

by Andrew Bovell, which Silo produced in 2010 was the inspiration for this idea. So far there have been two development workshops for Meek’s piece of work, and for this the Silo received specific CNZ funding plus some private philanthropic support. Shane lamented the shorter seasons these NZ works are often given now, as a three-week season can result in little money for the playwright.

Like all directors, he has some particular ideas about what interests him in a script. He would like to see a “bigger picture” in a script, something

“ It’s got your saliva on it, don’t it, and you put it into the jar. Everyone’s using that jar. It’s a communal jar.

It’s MY jar.” Stroika / Olga Nikora 21 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

bold and robust. He feels that many NZ scripts are not strong enough in this way. Shane prefers a provocative script that presents a good argument, something that “speaks in a big way with the world”. He wants to hear about issues that trouble the authors and “piss them off”. He feels a lot of NZ scripts have been written “to get produced” at a theatre, and are aimed at a middle-class audience.

I may not agree with everything Shane says, but is he onto something regarding the type of play writers are encouraged to produce? NZ theatre audiences appear to shy away from the darker cerebral works, mainly preferring to be pleasantly entertained when they go for a night out.

Why do they go home and watch a programme such as The Wire on television, Shane asks, and enjoy that? Surely they would like to come and watch something similar at the theatre?

I may not have managed to interview everyone but I would like to make special mention of Tawata Productions, not a theatre but a production company created specifically by the playwrights Hone Kouka and Miria George to produce new NZ work, with a focus on scripts by Māori and Pasifika writers, and writers of other ethnicities within NZ. Tawata is a ‘writer’s theatre’ (though it has no theatre venue) and they develop new works using their own specially created Matariki

Development Festival every midwinter to showcase these scripts to the public and to other theatre practitioners. Jamie McCaskill’s Manawa is one such piece that came out of the Matariki Festival to receive programming in Circa Two. There has been occasional talk among playwrights promoting the idea of a writer’s theatre, an actual base that writers could use completely to support the writer. Tawata Productions have achieved this and are succeeding in keeping the Māori voice in NZ theatre.

Because Michelanne Forster and I have been talking to playwrights a lot (for the material in 20 New Zealand Playwrights), I feel I know how motivated they are regarding script development.

Quite a few hold their own (private) readings using a few actor friends, and often use a director friend as a dramaturg. Playwrights will also act as producers to get their script in front of an audience, they might direct their own play or act in their own work. They fund-raise, they might work the lights, or even sew costumes. This sort of thing may be fun in the beginning (and you can learn from it) but the fun can pall after a while, and any playwright will tell you that they would rather just be writing the work. This can be viewed as another kind of vulnerability that exists in NZ theatre – underneath the determination to present the work there is also a kind of crazed desperation, frustration, and exhaustion.

All the directors I spoke to mentioned ‘trust’ as a component they felt was integral in the relationship between a theatre and a playwright.

But maybe we need to keep examining what this work means to the theatre and to the playwright: for a theatre, a commission is an investment nd therefore it holds a commercial value.

For a playwright, the commission fee means monetary security but how many playwrights view their script as an investment? Although of course, it is a kind of investment in their own future.

ON THE PAGE Ayn Rand Has Her Way

An extract from Bruce Clyde Thomson’s play, shortlisted for the 2013 Adam NZ Play Award.

AYN: To reality! To reason!

AYN: Then you admit. We are in love.

Nathan kisses Ayn again.

NATHAN: Yes… I mean… what?

AYN: Good. Very good. But we will have lines we draw.

AYN: There is no way we can escape it. We are in love. I know it. This is a fact. There is no rational escape from a fact.

NATHAN: Good.

AYN: And as I said, no-one needs to know but us.

NATHAN: Yes. Reality. Reason. They’re… some of my favourite things. After you.

NATHAN: No.

NATHAN: No-one but us.

AYN: So you noticed too.

AYN: Anyone who loves reality and reason…

AYN: And of course, Frank and Barbara.

NATHAN: I… yes.

NATHAN: I love them.

NATHAN: Excuse me?

Nathan stops and thinks, as if in a moment of reverie.

AYN: We are not sordid people.

AYN: You know that reason is man’s only means of knowledge, Nathan.

NATHAN: Yes, I know that. I’m always saying that… as a matter of fact, last night when Barbara and I couldn’t… well… you know…

I said something similar… I think.

AYN: You also know that it is our absolute and solemn duty as rational beings to recognise reality.

To perceive it as it is, because we cannot create what is not there.

AYN: Nathan? Nathan?

NATHAN: Yes. It’s true. I’m in love with you.

Ayn lunges toward Nathan and grabs him, then looks as though she is about to kiss him. Then, suddenly, she disengages.

AYN: No. This is wrong.

NATHAN: Yes. AYN: No… I mean… THIS is not wrong.

NATHAN: No. AYN: We are not degenerates who skulk around the seamy fringes of life, are we?

NATHAN: No. We are…

AYN: Heroic beings.

NATHAN: Yes. Heroic beings.

AYN: Who cherish the pursuit of their own happiness. Who are ends in themselves.

Who do not live their lives in the pursuit of the happiness of others.

NATHAN: I absolutely know that.

NATHAN: It’s not?

AYN: Of course you know it. You know it because you are a hero in a world of non-entities. You are a man who recognises the metaphysically given.

AYN: You. You are a man. I am a woman. We know these are facts. We know rationally that our feelings are based on the higher logic of our own evolved consciousness. And in turn, the connection of our minds. This is simply an unavoidable consequence of reason. So. You. You. Must kiss me!

NATHAN: No. We do not.

NATHAN: Yes… that’s the rational thing…

Nathan realises he is supposed to grab Ayn and kiss her again, so he jumps into action.

NATHAN: I’m a very…very big fan of the metaphysically given.

AYN: You know what exists because it exists. You know because the beacon which illuminates your mind is reason. And reason is man’s only means of knowledge.

NATHAN: You know, I was just saying this the other…

AYN: Then Nathan. You must know what I know.

NATHAN: I must. What is it?

AYN: Tell me. If you know. Tell me what it was that happened in the car on the way home.

NATHAN: That. Well… I know it was… very nice… the drive home.

AYN: Nice? Merely nice? Would you trivialise those moments as a pallid shade of existence with the word nice? Would you demean me with such an insipid adjective?

NATHAN: No. No, I wouldn’t do that. They were beyond nice… were they… meta-nice? Is there such a word as meta-nice?

AYN: No. But if need be, we make up any word which serves our philosophy. I will think about it… but Nathan. You must. You must perceive the great reality which is apparent to me.

NATHAN: Yes. I do. I know I do. What you perceive.

I perceive it.

23 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

Nathan lunges for Ayn and grabs her. They kiss passionately.

AYN: We must act with integrity.

NATHAN: Indeed.

PAUSE AYN: Nathan

AYN: I knew it.

AYN: Go get Barbara. I will call Frank. We will explain reality to them.

NATHAN: I did too.

NATHAN: If you…think this is the best thing.

AYN: Can this really be?

AYN: Is there any doubt that our love is the produce of rational thinking and logical reasoning?

NATHAN: Did you not… we not… decide it was a metaphysically given absolute?

NATHAN: Absolutely not.

AYN: Indeed. Indeed it is.

AYN: So then how could there be any problem?

NATHAN: So… Ayn… we are… in love… what exactly…

NATHAN: None… none that I can think of…

AYN: Do we do?

Nathan obliges.

NATHAN: Yes.

AYN: Tighter.

AYN: No-one needs to know. This is between us.

This is our affair.

Nathan obliges again.

NATHAN: So… we have an affair?

AYN: Not of some lurid sexual kind.

Nathan strains to squeeze even tighter. Ayn starts to grasp for air.

NATHAN: Oh. What kind…

AYN: Let me go now.

AYN: We have the closest meeting possible… of our minds.

NATHAN: I see. A… mind affair.

AYN: Of course, we will be intimate physically.

AYN: Hold me.

AYN: Tighter still! Never let me go!

IMAGE: Carrie Green and Paul Waggot in The Island Bay Loners’ Doomsday Christmas Sing-Along by Alex Lodge, Cherie Jacobson and Ed Watson, full.stop.theatre, BATS Theatre. Image: Theo Taylor.

If we’re going to teach a text at university or training institution, publication is always a key consideration. VUP, Huia Press, Tawata Press, The Play Press and The Women’s Play Press are performing an important job. Playmarket now produces a series of volumes that are teaching godsends, such as No 8 Wire: 8 Plays, 8 Decades and Urbanesia: Four Pasifika Plays.

Of course, it’s possible to license reading copies of unpublished scripts for student use, but published scripts tend to take precedence.

Publication also gives deserved presence and gravitas to our playwrights.

RIGHT: Toaiva Hitila, Atina Patau and Maggie Tulisi in Mele Kanikau: A Pageant by John Kneubuhl, Fale Pasifika, University of Auckland. Image: Joanna Forsberg.

Creating the Future

Lisa Warrington on the state of the play in the tertiary sector

My own arrival in New Zealand in 1981 coincided with the newly-revitalised sense of theatrical national identity provided by plays such as Greg McGee’s Foreskin’s Lament. Celebrating that identity is a key consideration. My colleagues around the country hold similar views. As Angie Farrow from Massey University expresses it: “Students need to see how their own arts culture contributes to the global scene, how interpretations of NZ culture can be translated through theatre, and how theatre can contribute to a sense of national identity. Theatre is not something that happens ‘elsewhere’ but is alive and thriving in our own communities. It can inform and enhance the way we see ourselves, and the way others see us.”

Back in the ‘old days’ – and I am delighted to be able to use that phrase in terms of how far NZ theatre has come – there was a slightly evangelical feeling about supporting our young industry.

If I planned to teach naturalism, and only had room for one representative text, Renée’s Wednesday To Come would always win out over A Doll’s House. As Hilary Halba at Otago University (where I also teach) notes: “What’s more important – the classic European work, or the play that speaks directly to our culture and history?” In some ways, this is an unanswerable question, and compromise is often required. John Davies at Unitec suggests: “It is important that students understand our playwriting history and the current state of playwriting in NZ.” NZ drama also proves an attraction to international students. David O’Donnell at Victoria University: “It’s part of their cultural experience of NZ. German or English students don’t come all the way to study in NZ to read Brecht or Shakespeare – they’re anticipating the cultural differences.”

He also notes, “increased cultural diversity in our courses. Many Māori, Pacific and Asian students have a particular passion for NZ and Pacific work, because it seems the most relevant and accessible to them.”

Nowadays, there seems less imperative to provide all-NZ drama courses. This can be viewed in a positive light. It no longer has to be ‘championed’ but can hold its own alongside the best work the world has to offer. “NZ drama takes its place alongside work from England, America, Spain and Australia,” notes Murray Edmond at Auckland University, “not put into any special section or box.”

Sometimes student demand dictates what is taught. Canterbury University has a paper on NZ theatre and performance that Sharon Mazer notes with regret “sits on the books without being offered the past few years, because students seem not to be as interested as we are. I wish it were not so.” That reflects trends at Auckland, Massey and Otago where NZ and Pasifika papers are rotated, and may only be taught every second or third year. Of course, NZ drama, as suggested above, often finds a place within more general drama papers. Canterbury, for example, promotes it with Mazer’s forthcoming publication of The Intricate Art of Actually Caring… And Other New Zealand Plays (Seagull Books).

Meanwhile, according to David O’Donnell, Victoria University’s Theatre Programme has increased the presence of NZ drama in recent years, “with two courses specifically devoted to it and a NZ script presence in all dramaturgy and theatre history courses. NZ theatre history is one of the first topics taught in our introductory 101 course, from the principle that theatre is by its very nature local and immediate. It’s an essential part of the whakapapa for future NZ theatre practitioners and audiences. It’s about respecting the past, the pioneers who created a theatre profession from scratch.”

While we all agree with that sentiment, it needs to be balanced against the need to open students to the world. As Cameron Mattox at Christchurch’s Hagley Theatre Company says, “I want the students of the company to experience a rich and eclectic range of plays.”

New and devised work is strongly supported at the tertiary level. Angie Farrow comments: “I think our greatest contribution is through encouraging students to originate their own NZ theatre works as writers and devisers.” That translates at Massey into at least four papers involving new writing, as well as a biennial Festival of New Arts in Palmerston North that is a showcase for original works by staff and students.

Sharon Mazer points to Christchurch’s Free Theatre, which “develops new work that often takes European models and texts as a point of departure, but what they make is provoked by

“ Shakespeare? He sounds familiar? Does he write for Paramount Pictures?” Luncheon / Aroha Awarau PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 24

Otago and now teaching at a college in Ohio has taught and staged plays like Gary Henderson’s An Unseasonable Fall of Snow, while Bronwyn Tweddle (Victoria) and Hilary Halba (Otago) headed a group that took Henderson’s Skin Tight and Mo and Jess Kill Susie to Romania, Belgium and Germany. There’s a significant trickle of MAs and PhDs on NZ/Aotearoa and Pasifika-related topics at Universities around the country, and academics continue to research and publish in these areas,

“ theatre is by its very nature local and immediate” what’s going on around us, and what we see is always directly, intimately connected to Christchurch.”

Bicultural and documentary theatre papers at Otago also create work from the world around us. Hilary Halba notes that a bicultural theatre paper, taught biennially, “Explores how culture and identity are articulated through theatre performance.” It has led to student-devised performances that reflect on land and whenua, such as Leave Only Footprints. At Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School, there is a long-standing tradition of students creating their own solo performances, which often have a life well after they graduate, such as Jacob Rajan’s Krishnan’s Dairy, and annually devised site-specific work.

There are playwriting courses at undergraduate and higher degree level all taught by professional writers all over the country. It’s important that practitioners also teach. It brings validity to the subject, along with a strong practical understanding of the craft, which engages a new generation of potential playwrights. Otago has two undergrad playwriting papers, where Roger Hall has been followed by writers such as Stuart Hoar, Simon O’Connor, Gary Henderson and (currently) Philip Braithwaite. Our first two MFA graduates have been playwrights. At Victoria, as well as two undergraduate papers, Ken Duncum offers a masters and PhD in playwriting through the International Institute of Modern Letters.

His MA scriptwriting graduates include Eli Kent, Miria George and Leilani Unasa. There are plenty of other playwrights working at Massey, Auckland, Unitec and beyond.

At Otago, weekly Lunchtime Theatre has been going strong since 1977. 65% of plays performed in the three years 2010 to 2012 (for example) were scripted, devised, or improvised NZ material, much of it generated by students. There are script commissions – most recently from Arthur Meek – alongside new short plays written, directed and performed by students eager to test themselves as writers without necessarily being part of any formal playwriting paper. And there are regular performance installations like the Voyager series (we’re currently up to part 12), instituted by Martyn Roberts as the culminating event of the 100 level Theatre Technology paper.

Directing students in institutions have a free choice of plays from any country. In any given year, this usually results in a strong representation of NZ work, often 50% or more. O’Donnell observes: “A lot of students are passionate about NZ plays.

They tend to choose more contemporary work, but in the last few years we’ve also had student productions of plays by some classic playwrights including Violet Targuse and Robert Lord.”

Recent student projects at Auckland include longforgotten 1950s drama The Tree by Stella Jones, and Mele Kanikau: A Pageant by John Kneubuhl.

At Otago, as elsewhere, if students ask for help in choosing a play to direct, my own ‘default position’ is to offer them first a batch of NZ scripts to read. Recent choices include Thomas Sainsbury, Michelanne Forster, Duncan Sarkies, Fiona Samuel and Paul Rothwell.

Alongside our theatre practitioners, students and academics also disseminate NZ work to the world. For example, Jerry Jaffe, formerly at

arguably bringing prominence and academic ‘respectability’ in their wake.

There is a very strong performance element across most tertiary theatre institutions. John Davies says, “At Unitec, we feel it is vital that at some stage in the training the students tangle head on with NZ text.” But increasingly, choice is dictated by finding a work that not only speaks to the students, but which suits the casting (and learning) needs of relatively large groups. According to Ross McKellar at NASDA: “It’s always difficult in a drama school situation to choose plays for students that allow good acting outcomes for all students. We do actively look for NZ plays, because students easily relate to them, and we also want them to concentrate on acting and not accents.” That position is strongly echoed by Cameron Mattox at Hagley, and Christian Penny at Toi Whakaari. Penny notes: “We try to do NZ work as much as possible.

Our 40th anniversary productions were two iconic Kiwi plays – The Pohutukawa Tree and James Beaumont’s Wild Cabbage.”

A common problem is that there are too few plays that accommodate the number and range of roles required to stretch the students. Penny acknowledges this as “hard work as a creative process and of course not really a commercial enterprise – though Dean Parker is having a crack at it. We keep looking at his work. And bless Stuart Hoar.”

It’s easy to be drawn towards the post-dramatic work of English writers like Sarah Kane, Martin Crimp or Simon Stephens, who create open texts with completely flexible casting, or towards Shakespeare, who can be adapted to fit almost any needs. Indeed, Jean Betts and others have adapted Shakespeare, while a recent production at Whitireia was a revival of Kightley and Ifopo’s Romeo and Tusi.

But despite everything, tertiary institutions all seem to agree that it remains vital to expose our students to the best NZ scripts, both in the classroom and on the stage, to celebrate the history and help create the future which lies in the hands of our students.

“ I’ve refused to read Shakespeare on principle. In fact I refuse to read a lot of literature because I refuse to fall into the hands of power elites.” The Meeting / Patrick Evans 25 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

Under Construction

Script Advisor Stuart Hoar on the 2013 Playmarket event Under Construction took place in Auckland 18 to 20 July 2013. Three plays had two-day clinics and in-house readings, and two plays including one from Australia had public readings, all of which took place in Loft at Q Theatre.

Jess Sayer’s Speak, Vela Manusaute’s Beef, and Michael Galvin’s Give Up were worked on intensively over Thursday and Friday. 8 Gigabytes of Hardcore Pornography by exchange playwright, Australian Declan Greene, and Genesis Falls by Jean Betts were read on the last afternoon. Jane Bodie (playwright, screenwriter, former head of the postgraduate playwriting course at NIDA in Sydney and current Artistic Associate at Griffin Theatre in Sydney) ran a one-day masterclass in playwriting for ten playwrights.

As well, Playmarket hosted a two-hour industry session devoted to script development and the various ways that companies and organisations deal with the subject. This was extremely well attended with representatives from Auckland Theatre Company, Banana Boat, Basement, Capital E, Centrepoint, Circa, Court, Creative

New Zealand, Downstage, Fortune, Indian Ink, Kila Kokonut Krew, Playmarket, Playwriting Australia, Silo and Tawata taking part; a total of twenty three people in all.

Ideas that came out of the discussions included: • Creating residencies, embedding playwrights’ in as creative and useful roles as possible within producing organisations.

• Developing dramaturgical skills – possible mechanisms for doing this included internships.

• Ensuring playwrights are informed as to how theatres worked, the people who run them, how they are funded, how seasons are programmed, the processes that go into putting a play on stage.

ABOVE: Paul Waggott in A Play About Space by Uther Dean, my accomplice, BATS Theatre. Image: William O’Neill.

• Holding national playwrights’ forums / conferences.

• Developing long term collaborations – not just with playwrights but also between companies.

• Spending greater resources, financial and time, on script development.

• Mentoring young and new writers.

• Exploring the idea of rolling world premieres for developing and producing new plays.

Encouragingly, many of these ideas have already been floated within Playmarket; it was exciting to hear that the wider theatrical community wants to actively embrace them.

NO. 46 : SPRING 2011 :27 27 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

PLAYMARKET INFORMATION School / Tertiary performance licences issued: 158 Scripts circulated: 1339 Scripts / drafts received: 387 Script assessments: 11 Publishing NZ Play Series: Three Plays Three plays by Robert Lord, edited by Philip Mann.

It Isn’t Cricket The Travelling Squirrel Well Hung Playmarket 40 A celebration of 40 years of Playmarket edited by Laurie Atkinson.

Series Editor: David O’Donnell | Design: Sorelle Cansino | Editing and production: Whitireia Polytechnic ABOVE: Goodbye My Feleni by David Mamea, Hekema Creative and Chocolate Stigmata, The Basement.

Image: Sian Parker.

20 New Zealand Playwrights Michelanne Forster and Vivienne Plumb in conversation with 20 NZ playwrights.

COMPETITIONS AND PROJECTS Playmarket Award (inaugural) 2012 Winner: Dean Parker Bruce Mason Award 2012 Winner: Whiti Hereaka Playmarket Plays For The Young Competition 2012 Winner: The Beanstalkers by Sarah Delahunty Adam New Zealand Play Award 2013 Winner: The Mercy Clause by Philip Braithwaite Runner-up: The Night Visitors by Paul Baker Best Play by a Woman Playwright and The Play Press submission to The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize: Mary Scott: Queen of the Backblocks

by Hannah McKie Best Play by a Māori Playwright: Patua by Renae Maihi Best Play by a Pasifika Playwright:

eBook: New Zealand Monologues 223 male and female monologues from NZ plays, edited by Anna Mowat and Christina Stachurski.

Goodbye My Feleni by David Mamea

Playmarket Annual

Speak by Jess Sayer Brown Ink 2013:

an archive of playwrights’ work and materials

Documenting and discussing the major developments for NZ drama on our stages for NZ and international readers.

related to it and circulates their plays to producers

Editor: Mark Amery | Design: Sorelle Cansino

Asian Ink 2013:

and theatres in New Zealand and internationally.

eBulletin

Flesh Off The Boat by Nathan Joe

Advisor

Te Tira Ta Mai Te Upoko

discourse, partnerships and networks.

Published monthly and distributed via email, the eBulletin is full of news and opportunities for playwrights and those interested in NZ plays.

Published the first Friday of each month February – December.

Bookshop

Editor: Salesi Le’ota

Rebecca Mason Executive Coaching:

NZ plays available to everyone, everywhere.

edBulletin

Hannah McKie; Gavin McGibbon

A comprehensive store of NZ plays (published

A bulletin sent out to schools bi-annually encouraging the continued growth of the NZ play in education, and offering resources and opportunities to teachers.

Young And Hungry Playwrights’ Initiative 2013:

1 July 2012 – 30 June 2013

Editor: Salesi Le’ota

Robert Lord Cottage Residency 2013:

Professional performance licences issued: 88 Community performance licences issued: 79 International licences issued: 18

Website

Anne Henderson and Rosemary Wildblood

PLAYMARKET SERVICES Agent On behalf of clients the Playmarket agency issues and manages performance licences, advises on and negotiates commission and collaboration agreements, manages royalty payments, maintains

Playmarket offers advice to playwrights and producers, a raft of development resources, such as clinics, readings, and events; and industry

and unpublished).

Facts and Figures

Playwrights b4 25 2013 Winners: Queen by Sam Brooks

The Way of the Queen by Paul Fagamalo No Man’s Land by Suli Moa

A writer’s group for Maori and Pasifika playwrights in the Wellington region which meets monthly at Playmarket’s Wellington office.

Convener: Whiti Hereaka

Atlas/mountains/dead butterflies by Joseph Harper Dragonlore by Nic Sampson Trashbag by Georgina Titheridge

www.playmarket.org.nz

“ ...a whole set of messy, ugly problems and conflicts and intentions, and that’s what I’m dealing with, not a whole load of standard ethical questions.” The Mercy Clause / Philip Braithwaite PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 28

clockwise FRom Left: Peter Wilson and Shona McNeil (Duck) in Duck, Death and the Tulip adapted by Peter Wilson, from the book by Wolf Erlbuch, Little Dog Barking, Capital E National Arts Festival. Image: Stephen A’Court; Richard Dey, Stuart Devenie, Conrad Newport, Darlene Mohekey, Jon Pheloung and Karl Burnett on the set of Well Hung by Robert Lord, Centrepoint Theatre.

Image: Brendon Lodge Photography; Jessica Robinson, Victoria Abbott, Heather O’Carroll, Bryony Skillington, Hayley Sproull in West End Girls by Ken Duncum, Circa Theatre. Image: Stephen A’Court.

Clinics, Readings and Workshops

Contact us

1 July 2012 – 30 June 2013

Wellington office Level 2/16 Cambridge Terrace PO Box 9767, Wellington 6141

At The Wake by Victor Rodger, clinic, Palmerston North Patua by Renae Maihi, clinic, Auckland Fourth World by Jo Randerson, clinic, Wellington C – A Musical book and lyrics by Paul Jenden, music by Gareth Farr, clinic, Wellington Rewena by Whiti Hereaka, clinic, Palmerston North Con by Gavin McGibbon, clinic, Wellington A Moment Or Two by Arun Subramaniam, clinic, Auckland Mother Goose – The Pantomime by Michele Amas, lyrics by Paul Jenden, music by Gareth Farr, clinic, Wellington Hikoi by Nancy Brunning, clinic and reading, Wellington Gifted by Patrick Evans, clinic, Dunedin Radio Workshop with Jason Te Kare, Radio NZ, Auckland Season Of Play Readings 2012, Circa

Director: Murray Lynch director@playmarket.org.nz +64 4 382 8464 Licensing Administrator: Aneta Ruth (until 4 June), Nick Doherty (until 1 July 2014) info@playmarket.org.nz +64 4 382 8462 ext 1 Client Promotion: Salesi Le’ota clientpromotion@playmarket.org.nz +64 4 382 8462 ext 2 Auckland office Level 11/44 – 52 Wellesley Street PO Box 5034, Wellesley Street, Auckland

Playmarket thanks our partners for their support: Creative New Zealand; ASB Community Trust; Adam Foundation; Australian Writers’ Guild; The Basement; Bruce Mason Estate; Capital E: National Theatre For Children; Chapman Tripp; Circa Theatre; Downstage Theatre; Downstage Theatre Society; THE EDGE; FAME Trust; Fortune Theatre; International Institute of Modern Letters; Massive Company; Matariki Development Festival; Museum Art Hotel; NZ Players Theatre Trust; NZ Theatre Federation; NZ Writers Guild; Playwriting Australia; Q Theatre; Rebecca Mason; Robert Lord Cottage Trust; Stage South; TAPAC; Tawata Productions; Te Whaea: National Dance & Drama Centre; Whitireia Publishing; Young and Hungry Arts Trust.

Script Advisor: Stuart Hoar scripts@playmarket.org.nz +64 9 365 2648

The Train Set by Joe Musaphia Honest To God by Philip Braithwaite Rogues and Vagabonds by Elspeth Sandys Janet & John by Ken Duncum Mike and Virginia by Kathryn Burnett & Nick Ward

“ You banned me from watching My Little Pony for a month for lying about not brushing my fucking teeth!

Elevator / Jess Sayer

29 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE Left: Katie Burson, Nastassia Wolfgramm and Jonny Moffat in The Story of Flavio and Isabella, Polynesia Dell’arte, LAB Theatre, THE EDGE. Image: Peter Jennings.

Yvette Parsons and Thomas Sainsbury in Dolly Mixture by Yvette Parsons and Thomas Sainsbury, Pandora Productions, The Basement. Image: DM Photography.

Michelle Ang in Chop/Stick by Jo Holsted and Michelle Ang, Chairman Meow Productions, The Basement Theatre.

Image: Jeffrey Sim. Nora Aati and Vela Manusaute in Taro King by Vela Manusaute, Kila Kokonut Krew, Mangere Arts Centre. Image: Nikki Siulepa.

Hayley Brown and Adrian Hooke in The Likes of a Loveless Dogwasher by Adrian Hooke and Hayley Brown, Talking Mute Theatre, The Basement. Image: Michael Forkert.

Gina Timberlake in Mrs van Gogh by Geoff Allen, Galatea Theatre, Maidment Theatre. Image: Adam Baines.

The cast of Tongan Morris Men by Arnette Arapai, Tongan Creatives Collective, The Maidment Theatre. Image: Aroha Awarau.

Alisha Lawrie Paul and Jason Hodzelmans in Free Load by Grae Burton, Theatre of Love, The Basement. Image: Grae Burton.

PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 30

Auckland James Wenley

As debate continues over the future of the

smoke. The Maidment was on fire. With both

supercity’s soul – via the unitary plan – Auckland’s

the Maidment and Musgrove out of action in the

theatre community has just got on with it. So

short-term, and other venue usual suspects fully

varied and packed is Auckland’s current theatrical

booked, Auckland theatre was momentarily in a

fare you might think that those million extra people

state of turmoil. Longing for a waterfront theatre,

have already arrived, sardine-like, overnight.

ATC conceived plan B. There was the cerebral if

The 2013 Auckland Arts Festival, resplendent in

neutered production of Dean Parker’s Midnight in

hot pink, and the Auckland Fringe, its precocious red-haired step-sibling, provided a glimpse of the possibilities of the Brownian utopia of the world’s most live-able city.

Fringe has bedded in for its third spin, and artists and audiences were feeling adventurous: from the flights of puppetry fancy that took us Just Above the Clouds (Ben Anderson), cheeky mime and physical theatre in One by One (Pedro Ilgenfritz) and La Vie Dans Un Marionette (White Face Crew), or active audience repulsion in Dolly Mixture (Tom Sainsbury and Yvette Parsons) and Gorge (Frankovich & Mason). Outside, Celery Stories was a fairy-tale jaunt through Myers Park, Wet Hot Beauties water ballet Swan Song made a splash, and Victor Rodger’s hilarious and provocative Black Faggot romped it at the Fringe awards.

Moscow in the bowels of the Aotea Centre and an elegant revival of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie which suited the Selwyn College’s theatre (handily in the heart of subscriber territory).

The incident brought out the best in the theatre community as staff from ATC, Maidment and Silo worked long nights to transfer tickets to the new venues. Business resumed as planned for ATC’s sumptuous 21st treat Anne Boleyn by Howard Brenton at Q, featuring the pick of NZ’s royal acting crop.

At the end of 2012 it seemed like you couldn’t move without bumping into a musical. Mary

ABOVE: Trygve Wakenshaw in Theatre Beating’s Squidboy, The Basement, Auckland.

Poppins heaped sugar and spectacle onto a rather large spoon, ATC’s vulvic plant devoured its cast in Little Shop of Horrors, and Silo’s dark Brel was the place for the cultural elite to be seen. Kudos to the genius who thought of bringing together acting

The Arts Festival put the Pacific at the centre with

goddess Jennifer Ward-Lealand, all-rounder Tama

the radical reworking of Kila Kokonut Krew’s The

and Sam Brooks (Queen, And I Was Like,

Waipara, songbird Julia Deans and Jon Toogood’s

Factory, Niu Sila’s first Pasifika Musical, and Hui

Goddess, Mab’s Room) are playwrights making

rock swagger.

themselves heard with self-produced productions.

The Basement had a strong run from the

Unitec grads and Benjamin Henson teamed up

independents – The Laramie Project: 10 Years

for the professional debut of their twisted take

Later, Eigengrau, Cloud 9, Sally Stockwell’s

on Shakespeare’s Titus as part of Q Presents,

Gravity Hotel – and gained an awful lot of free

conceived in drama school the year prior. There

publicity by uploading Kim Dotcom into the cast

is however a danger amongst this of ‘making

of their Mega Christmas show (even if he wasn’t

work for the sake of making work’.

there live each night). The venue had a cosmetic

University of Auckland celebrated 50 years of

foyer-lift (thanks crowd-funding), but their most

Shakespeare under the stars with a grand King

radical development was the risk-share model

Lear, the video-game generation was enticed

being finally introduced to Auckland. Fringe was

with quasi-interactive zombie horror Apocalypse

The international offerings in the Festival left many

a good early try out, but we are yet to see the

Z in Aotea Square, and Okareka Dance Company

images: the CBD taking on new meanings in En

fruits of riskier projects being emboldened by

dedicated a dirty love letter to the city’s most

Route, pratfalls in overhyped comedy-blockbuster

this initiative.

notorious street, finding depth in frivolity in K Rd

One Man, Two Guvnors, the structural playground

The conditions are right. With the new Actors

Strip – A Place to Stand.

of Festival coup Babel, and the flooding of the

Program, Unitec, PIPA, and Auckland Uni all

Maidment Theatre in China’s Rhinoceros in Love.

The high-profile cancellation of National Theatre’s

producing new theatre makers (and the continued

War Horse is a warning shot about the sustainably

That particular image was a month too early.

migration of Toi Whakaari grads), there’s a new

of productions local and touring in attracting

On April 3 the Maidment tweeted the understated

generation coalescing who are hungry to make

continuing audience dollars here. But the vitality

macabre comment that “We do not have a new

work (and generally hungry). Jess Sayer (Elevator),

and resilience of the theatre community is a good

pope”, accompanied by an alarming image of

Joseph Harper (Tiny Spectacle/ShittyLyricism)

omen for the future. Bring on those extra million.

by Mitch Tawhi Thomas. Both deceptively political works, and fascinating for both their flaws and beautiful triumphs (Losa’s ballad to Samoa, the ghost of Bob Wahie walking amongst his family), they were a firm programming statement by new artistic director Carla Van Zon. Alongside Hui, Taki Rua’s revival of Michael James Manaia, Jamie McCaskill’s sucker punch Manawa, and Renae Maihi’s Patua have formed a recent cluster of strong socially challenging Māori voices on stage.

“ One day I’ll be able to sing Beyonce and vacuum my flat and be caught by my flatmate and not have him think: ‘Weirdo’.” Queen / Sam Brooks 31 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE Left: David Lawrence, Hilary Penwarden, Ellie Stewart, Brianne Kerr and Charlotte Pleasants in The Clouds by David Lawrence, The Bacchanals, BATS Theatre. Image: Charlotte Simmonds.

Tim Carlsen and Claire Van Beek in Sydney Bridge Upside Down adapted by Taki Rua Productions from the book by David Ballantyne, Taki Rua Productions, Theatre Royal, New Plymouth. Image: Mark Bellringer.

Anita Ross and Liz Kirkman in Life. After.

by Anita Ross, Pembury Productions, BATS Theatre. Image: Random Films.

The audience in Residence by Everybody Cool Lives Here, Inverlochy Art School. Image: Richard Larsen.

Emma Draper and John Landreth in Holding On by Gavin McGibbon, Words On Trees, BATS Theatre. Image: Hannah Banks.

Fern Wallingford, Sam Hallahan, Josh McDonald, Helen Mackenzie, Rosie Alldridge, Kattral Lee in Madam X and Mister Q by Megan Evans, Hard Sleeper Company, Studio 77. Image: Lori Leigh.

Will Hall in Mike and Virginia by Kathryn Burnett and Nick Ward, Circa Theatre.

Image: Stephen A’Court.

Julien Nehemia and Judy Iva in Dog And Bone

by Helen Pearse-Otene, Te Rakau Hua O Te Wao Tapu Trust, Whitireia Performance Centre.

Image: Sasha Gibb.

PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 32

Wellington Heather O’Carroll

I’m a theatre addict. Admitting it is the first step.

I’ve just got back from a seven week international theatre ‘vacay’ that saw me rack up a total of 25 shows, and, proving that I am not a purist in my drug of choice I even included Viva Forever, the Spice Girls musical. Returning to Wellington makes me realise that while it’s wonderful to get a fix from further afield I can still feed those cravings here any day of the week.

The MVP (Most Valuable Player) Award must go this year (as it does every year in my opinion) to BATS Theatre. Taking on the Goliath that was rehousing this iconic institution was a very cool and capable Cherie Jacobsen. Not only did she handle a number of hurdles with spectacular aplomb she also did a brilliant turn as a divorce troubled Anne Frank-wannabe teen in one of the most side splittingly funny shows of the year so far, Corner Diary.

Martyn Wood set off for pastures new (please bring the brilliantly reviewed Pitchfork Disney down here!) and the old BATS had a suitable send off: drunken revelries and rumours of a time capsule said to be buried during the building of The Pit Bar. Sadly it was never found leaving the legacy for a new generation of BATS theatregoers.

For the stalwarts it’s only fitting that the new BATS occupies a building that has hosted some memorable past Wellington party spots: Barney’s, the Big Kumara and Bojangles. It was a nailbiting race to the finish before the grand unveiling but everyone has embraced the new digs and the spacious new bar is aptly named the Understudy.

Christening the new venue was an imaginatively designed and very successful Fringe Festival.

Across the Festival, Binge Culture, clearly the cool kids of the Wellington Theatre playground, dominated with their clever triumvirate of For Your Future Guidance, Beep Test and Whales, the latter deservedly winning Best of the Fringe and moving me to tears. Other Fringe highlights included Sarah Delahunty’s Affinity, Emily Taylor’s superb performance in Cannonball and the beautiful and daring Madam X and Mister Q. Outside of the Fringe I was mesmerised by White Cloud, a collaboration between Ken Duncum and Tim Finn and wowed by Renee Lyons in Nick: An Accidental Hero.

One of the best things about the Fringe is the emergence of fresh talent, energy and ideas and the same can be said for the work of two of the Capital’s most prized training grounds: Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School and Long Cloud Youth Theatre. I was mightily impressed with the second year productions of Assassins and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, two difficult productions but both delivered to a very high standard, and it was also a standout year of graduating students performing in the Go Solo Season at the end of 2012. Long Cloud hooked me in with the brilliant Yo Future in 2011 and made me a convert to their particular brand of quirkiness and delight with the beautifully realised Tom Keeper Passes last year.

Capital E: National Theatre for Children had another stellar year with highly enjoyable productions of Around the World and Buck Again, Ivy – Saviour of the Dinosaurs and Magnolia Street not to mention some true delights in their National Arts Festival at the start of the year. Faced with housing problems of their own they were taken under the wing of Downstage nestling themselves amongst the many return seasons the theatre had to offer. I happily caught up with old favourites Live at Six, The Intricate Art of Actually Caring (a show that even after four viewings leaves me generally in awe and usually blubbering), Flowers From My Mother’s Garden and the ever-charming Krishnan’s Dairy. Good timing also meant that I got back in time to see Sydney Bridge Upside Down which I really enjoyed.

Circa Theatre blended its steady mix of off-offoffshore Broadway and local fare, premiering a diverse array of New Zealand works from the likes of Dave Armstrong (Kings of the Gym), Ken Duncum (West End Girls) and Miria George (Sunset Road). The award for ‘most talked about and passionately endorsed show of the year which hardly anybody went to’ surely would go to the brilliantly written and performed Manawa by Jamie McCaskill. Dean Parker’s The Tigers of Wrath was also a fantastic achievement and curiously overlooked at the Chapman Tripp Awards last year. As an aside, I wonder why the award was changed from New New Zealand Play to New Zealand Play of the Year? Other highlights from Circa’s year include All My Sons and the beautiful

ABOVE: Heather O’Carroll in The Tigers of Wrath by Dean Parker, Circa Theatre. Image: Dan Williams.

“ a nailbiting race to the finish”

The Mourning After, written and performed by Ahi Karunaharan. Kudos must also go to Circa for continuing to provide ongoing support to their hearing and visually impaired audiences.

I look forward to the year ahead. I’ll be the junkie in the corner, ever grateful in the knowledge that nothing I see could possibly be as bad as Viva Forever.

“ This is baffling! What’s wrong with everyone? This extraordinary experience that all women have, all the women around us, every day - and no one will talk about it!” The Man from Tamil Nadu / Jean Betts 33 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

CLOCKWISE FROM above LEFT: Lynda Milligan and Grant Bridger in You Can Always Hand Them Back by Roger Hall, music and lyrics by Peter Skellern, Fortune Theatre. Image: Amy Moffat.

Amy Straker and Ross McKellar in Pacific Post by Stephanie McKellar-Smith and Ross McKellar, The Court Theatre. Image: Sabin Holloway.

Sandra Muller and Kiri Bell in Break In, devised and written by Kiri Bell, Kaitrin McMullan, Sanda Muller and Karin Reid, Ad Hoc Productions, AH Reed Building, Dunedin. Image: Nadia Reid.

James Davidson, Leina Samaritan Fofoa, Luke Agnew and Piupiu Maya Turei in Fresh Off the Boat by Oscar Kightley and Simon Small, Otago University.

Image: Martyn Roberts.

Monica Hope, Annie Whittle, Lucy Porter and Barry de Lore in Groundswell: Stories from the Quake by Elizabeth O’Connor and 12.51 Productions, The Court Theatre. Image: Sabin Holloway.

Dunedin & Christchurch Dunedin – SHARON MATTHEWS A recent immigrant to the chilly south, I am delighted to find here a small but dynamic local performance community, producing eclectic theatre with minimal funding.

Although the Fortune Theatre showed their strong commitment to New Zealand writers in the early part of 2012, between July last year and this June the only NZ work showing was Roger Hall’s You Can Always Hand Them Back (music and lyrics by Peter Skellern), and the touring revival of John Broughton’s Michael James Manaia.

However, the launch of the 4 x 4 Young Playwrights Initiative project by Fortune’s artistic director, Lara Macgregor saw four young local playwrights (Abby Howells, Rosie Howells, Catherine Hart and Ethan Rodgers) creating and producing four new works over the course of ten weeks. Abby Howells’ play, The Crash has since been accepted into the Queensland Short and Sweet Competition.

The Globe Theatre premiered three new works by local playwrights: Winkie, written by Nigel Ensor and dealing with difficult themes of disability and family responsibility; Songbird, a delightful comedy about love, kissing, and a Peter Jackson re-make of The Sound of Music, by playwright-extraordinaire Richard Huber; and Ella West’s The Middlemarch Singles Ball, about community and dating – Southern style. Allen Hall continues as a home for experimental theatre. Stand-outs were the premiere of Huber’s Death of a Waitress, a dense ‘existential diversion’ adapted from Oh My Soul by Grant Gillett, and Mathew Green’s witty Robert Lepage is the Greatest Playwright in the World.

Oamaru playwright Paul Baker’s The Night Visitors was a triumph of community theatrical story-telling, and one that the sold-out season attests struck a real chord. The Night Visitors was commissioned for the Oamaru Scott 100 Festival, commemorating the 1913 return of Scott’s ship, the Terra Nova.

Theatre collective, Stage South returned to Fortune Studio with Read Out Loud, a series of public readings of NZ scripts. Highlights were the haunting and beautiful Hero by Arun Subramaniam, and Moon at the Bottom of the Garden by Otago University MFA student Sarah McDougall.

2012 saw the exciting debut of Counterpoint, Dunedin’s newest theatre company, formed to foster

local youth theatre by “producing work by young theatre practitioners for young people.” Productions so far: Toa Fraser’s Bare, Lynda Chanwai-Earle’s box/role/dream, Sheep by Arthur Meek, and Piccolo Cor, choreographed by Anna and Miriam Noonan.

Counterpoint also has strong connections to local improvised comedy group, Improsaurus, and allfemale comedy collective Discharge.

In 2013, the Dunedin Fringe Festival turned ten!

Outstanding local shows included the awardwinning Valley Tales (produced by community arts collective Northern Artery) and Break In from Ad Hoc Productions (devised by Kiri Bell, Kaitrin McMullan, Sandra Muller and Karin Reid), in which a self-described “aging band of theatrical mercenaries” take over a decaying Dunedin historic building. Mr Faust & Dr Jabberwocky, written by Jonathan Cweorth, likewise showcased Dunedin history – in this case the Gasworks Museum.

ABOVE: Caitlin McNaughton and Alex Wilson in Sunday Roast

by Thomas Sainsbury, Otago University. Image: Martyn Roberts.

Christchurch – Lin Clark Theatremaking is always a challenging business, but where there’s a will there’s a play. There’s been plenty of action in spite of the continuing shortage of conventional venues and oversupply of traffic cones.

The Court has established its corner of industrial Addington securely as the core of professional excellence. Productions have been an eclectic selection of classic territory (Amadeus,The Women), international fare (August: Osage County), and a purposeful choice of new plays (the world premiere of Irishman Mark Power’s The Slapdash Assassin, Lynda Chanwai-Earle’s Man in a Suitcase, Stephanie McKellar-Smith and Ross McKellar’s Pacific Post, and Dave Armstrong’s Kings of the Gym). This should reassure those yearning for Kiwi stories on stage. Such stories, responding to the experience Cantabrians cannot let go of quite yet, provided verbatim material for Groundswell (by Elizabeth O’Connor and 12.51 Productions), staged in a studio space.

For the non-professional societies, it has been business as is usual now, in church or school hall. The Canterbury Repertory Theatre Society’s production of The Mousetrap at St Michael’s and All Angels capitalised on its newly released rights.

Elmwood Players meanwhile maintained full momentum confirming a surge in activity from this

dedicated group. There was also another season in Hagley Theatre of ‘tent theatre’ (the brainchild of Ben McDonald who’s run both Celebration Theatre and Marquee Theatre in a big tent) including an outstanding revival of Roger Hall’s Taking Off, which later toured. This year has marked the 150th anniversary of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens and Summer Theatre, celebrated with a splendid production of Alan Bennett’s The Wind in the Willows, staged on the Avon – where else.

As for children’s theatre, there has been the accustomed batch of lively nursery tales, but perhaps more excitingly a trend towards mime and physical theatre, chiefly at The Court.

Physical prowess too has been the key to another successful Bodyfest season of dance theatre.

The restoration of that elegant Edwardian the Isaac Theatre Royal was helped on its way by generous performances from Sir Ian McKellen and Miriam Margoyles. Recently, the touring production of Yes, Prime Minister which was to have been staged in the old theatre transferred, as so many have, to the Aurora Centre at Burnside High School.

Not a sparkling year then, but one of steady enterprise, heading towards a Christchurch Arts Festival programme which looks to be a dazzler.

“ Up the boohai in a matchbox hunting pukakers with a long handed shovel.”

The Night Visitors / Paul Baker

35 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

New zealand on stage Professional Productions of NZ Plays 1 September 2012 – 31 August 2013 TOURING & FESTIVALS Magnolia Street by Dave Armstrong Capital E: National Theatre for Children: North Island Tour 23 July – 18 September 2012 Beautiful Losers by Mike Hudson House of Hudson: TAPAC 22 August – 8 September 2012 Southern Lakes Festival of Colour 20 – 21 April 2013 Michael James Manaia

by John Broughton Taki Rua Productions: Downstage Q Theatre 1 – 15 September 2012 Fortune Theatre 2 – 16 February 2013 Manawa by Jamie McCaskill Tikapa Productions: Circa Theatre The Basement 15 September – 3 November 2012 Centrepoint 6 – 14 March 2013 Miss Fletcher Sings The Blues

by Hayley Sproull The Basement 25 – 29 September 2012 Downstage 13 – 29 October 2012 Privatising Parts BATS 2 – 6 October 2012 Auckland Fringe, Dunedin Fringe 4 – 17 March 2013 Floral Notes by Geraldine Brophy songbook adapted by Jane Keller Hastings, New Plymouth and Hamilton 2 – 6 October 2012 NZ Tour 10 March – 30 April 2013 On The Upside-Down Of The World

by Arthur Meek Auckland Theatre Company: Michael King Writers Centre 8 October 2012 Nelson Arts Festival 14 – 15 October 2012, Wanaka Festival of Colour 16 – 19 April 2013 Around The World And Buck Again

by Jenny Pattrick Capital E: National Theatre for Children NZ Tour 16 October – 13 November 2012 Party With The Aunties devised by the cast Nelson Arts Festival 16 – 18 October 2012 Thames Paeroa 21 – 23 November 2012 Richard Meros Salutes The Southern Man

by Geoff Pinfield and Arthur Meek Nelson Arts Festival, Takaka 18 – 20 October 2012 Downstage 23 November – 12 December 2012

No Holds Bard by Natalie Medlock, Dan Musgrove and Michael Hurst Royale Productions: Howick Little Theatre, Nelson Festival 19 – 27 October 2012 Victoria Theatre, Devonport, 16 – 17 November 2012 New Plymouth, Hamilton, Hastings, Downstage, The Basement, Q Theatre 9 May – 20 July 2013 I, George Nepia by Hone Kouka Tawata Productions: Nelson Arts Festival 20 – 22 October 2012 Auckland Arts Festival 13 – 22 March 2013 Paper Sky: A Love Story Red Leap Theatre: Mangere Arts Centre 24 – 26 October 2012 Downstage 2 – 17 November 2012 Home by Jacqueline Coats Single Malt Collective, Arts On Tour: NZ Tour 4 – 25 November 2012 Romeo And Tusi

by Oscar Kightley and Erolia Ifopo Jandals Inc: Whitireia Performance Centre 17 – 19 January 30 May – 1 June 2013 Porirua, Lower Hutt 9 – 19 April 2013 Kings Of The Gym

by Dave Armstrong Auckland Theatre Company: Maidment Theatre, Kerikeri, Whangarei, 7 February – 9 March 2013 Southern Lakes Festival of Colour 17 – 19 April 2013 Gobsmacked: Showbiz And Dating with Nikki Aitken and Jamie Burgess Auckland Pride Festival, Dunedin Fringe, NZ Fringe Festival 8 February – 10 March 2013 The Road That Wasn’t There

by Ralph McCubbin Howell Trick of the Light Theatre: NZ Fringe Festival, Auckland Fringe, Lyttelton, Dunedin Fringe 12 February – 16 March 2013 He Reo Aroha

by Miria George and Jamie McCaskill Te Puanga Whakaari Theatre Productions: Feilding 14 – 23 February 2013 Centrepoint Theatre 6 – 14 March 2013 A Play About Space by Uther Dean my accomplice: BATS Wellington 16 – 20 February, 2 – 6 July 2013 Dunedin Fringe 20 – 23 March 2013 Home by Freya Desmarais Hungry Mile Theatre: NZ Fringe Festival 20 – 23 February 2013 Auckland Fringe 4 – 6 March 2013

Coaltown Blues by Mervyn Thompson Upper Hutt 21 – 23 February 2013 Porirua 5 – 6 April 2013 BATS 28 May – 1 June 2013 Pahiatua 26 July 2013

Tu by Hone Kouka

Talking Of Katherine Mansfield

by Catherine Downes Circa Theatre 27 February – 16 March 2013 Arts On Tour NZ Tour 5 – 24 April 2013

by Renee Lyons

The Last Taniwha by Chris Molloy The Native Factory: Auckland Fringe, Dunedin Fringe 4 – 15 March 2013 Squidboy by Trygve Wakenshaw Theatre Beating: Auckland Fringe 6 – 9 March 2013 BATS 17 – 20 April 2013

Tawata Productions: Circa Theatre, Q Theatre 15 June – 27 July 2013 Nick: An Accidental Hero BATS, The Basement 25 June – 13 July 2013 Badjelly The Witch

by Alannah O’Sullivan Auckland Theatre Company: Bruce Mason Centre (Auckland) Theatre Royal (Nelson) 12 – 21 July 2013 Te Tira Puha by Chris Molloy Taki Rua Productions: NZ Tour 21 July – 15 September 2013 Playing Miss Havisham

Sky Dancer adapted from the novel

by Witi Ihimaera Capital E: National Theatre for Children: Wellington 11 – 15 March 2013 Hamilton 11 April 2013

by Helen Moulder and Sue Rider

One Man Guy: Dirty American Decade by Jon Pheloung The Basement 12 – 16 March 2013 BATS 11 – 15 June 2013

A Frigate Bird Sings

by Oscar Kightley, Dave Fane and Nathaniel Lees Mangere Arts Centre 9 – 20 October 2012

Ivy: Saviour Of The Dinosaurs

by Jennifer Martin Capital E: National Theatre for Children: Southern Lakes Festival of Colour 16 April 2012 Downstage 20 – 27 July 2013 Dancing Till We Drop

by Angie Farrow UCOL Palmerston North BATS 17 – 27 April 2013 Taking Off by Roger Hall Ben McDonald Ltd: NZ Tour 20 April – 8 May 2013 Chris Parker And Hayley Sproull In Outsider’s Guide

by Chris Parker and Hayley Sproull The Bakery: The Basement 27 April – 4 May 2013 BATS 14 – 18 May 2013 She’ll Be Write EnsembleImpact: NZ Schools Tour 13 May – 12 July 2013 Dancing In The Wake

by Jan Bolwell Handstand Productions Arts On Tour: NZ Tour 1 – 26 June 2013 Sydney Bridge Upside Down

by Taki Rua Productions New Plymouth, Gisborne Downstage, Q Theatre 7 June – 11 August

Willow Productions: NZ Tour 30 July – 30 August 2013

AUCKLAND Auckland Theatre Company

Bowled Over by Kathryn Burnett Balmoral Bowling Club 16 – 17 March 2013 Midnight In Moscow

by Dean Parker The Edge 15 April – 4 May 2013 Like There’s No Tomorrow

by The PlayGround Collective The Basement 26 July – 10 August 2013

The Basement Goddess and Mab’s Room

by Sam Brooks Smoke Labours Productions 4 – 8 September 2012 Tiny Spectacle / Shitty Lyricsim

by Joseph Harper 11 – 15 September 2012 Hypothesis One: A Compound

Day After Night by Benjamin Cleaver 18 – 29 September 2012 Speakeasy by Andrea Kelland, Thomas Sainsbury and Stephanie Johnson 25 – 29 September 2012 Bucket Boy

by Ashton Brown and Kat Glass 2 – 6 October 2012 Big Mouths: Kung Faux: Call Of The Siren by Phoebe Hurst and Silke’s Big Day Out by Emma Fenton 9 – 13 October 2012 The Likes Of A Loveless Dogwasher

by Adrian Hooke and Hayley Brown Talking Mute Theatre 16 – 20 October 2012 Third Person Tense!

by Stephen Papps 16 – 27 October 2012 Like Smoke In Here by Ben Anderson 6 – 10 November 2012 Norma Strong by Elyse Brock 6 – 10 November 2012 Chop/Stick

by Jo Holsted and Michelle Ang Chairman Meow Productions 20 – 24 November 2012 Where Are You My Only One?

by Vanessa Rhodes Aston Productions 27 November – 8 December 2012 Dinner With The Devil

by Thomas Sainsbury 28 November – 1 December 2012 Munted Bare Hunt Collective 4 – 8 December 2012 Megachristmas

by Barnaby Fredric and Nic Sampson 12 – 22 December 2012 Dolly Mixture by Yvette Parsons and Thomas Sainsbury Pandora Productions 21 – 23 February, 2 – 6 April 2013 And I Was Like by Sam Brooks Smoke Labours Productions 12 – 16 March 2013

Reaction From New Zealand

Constantinople by Barnie Duncan

Samoans by Polynesian Laboratory 11 – 15 September 2012

with Trygve Wakenshaw

Ticking Time Bomb devised by Loren Mason Caroline Muller and Trish Phelan Sneaky Giraffe Productions 18 – 22 September 2012 Auckland Fringe 6 – 8 March 2013

Theatre Beating 2 – 6 April 2013 Le Tonu. The Decision devised by Fasitua Amosa, Beulah Koale and Max Palamo, Shadon Meredith and Amelia Reid-Meredith Polynesian Laboratory 19 – 30 March 2013

PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 36

Goodbye My Feleni

by David Mamea Hekama Creative & Chocolate Stigmata: The Basement 16 – 25 April 2013

Nuclear Family by Desirée Gezentsvey 6 – 10 November 2012

Queen by Sam Brooks Smoke Labours Productions 16 – 25 April 2013

The Factory – A Pacific Musical

by Vela Manusaute Kila Kokonut Krew: Auckland Arts Festival 6 – 11 March 2013

Ernest Rutherford: Everyone Can Science! by Nic Sampson 28 May – 1 June 2013

Hui by Mitch Tawhi Thomas Silo: Auckland Arts Festival 16 – 23 March 2013

Gravity Hotel devised by Julia Croft, Renee Lyons, Lisa Greenfield, Kate Bartlett and Sally Stockwell 28 May – 1 June 2013

Maidment Theatre

Blessed Union

by Thomas Sainsbury 29 – 31 May 2013

Intimacies: Sweet Thing

F*ck Love by Sarah Graham Midnight Hallways 11 – 22 June 2013 Janeece Gunton: Herstory

by Yvette Parsons and Thomas Sainsbury Pandora Productions 18 – 29 June 2013 Cat And Mouse by Thomas Sainsbury Rebels & Robots 9 – 13 July 2013

Pumphouse Theatre Hairy Maclary by Lynley Dodd, adapted by Tim Bray Tim Bray Productions 22 September – 13 October 2012 Bruce Mason Centre 11 November 2012 The Santa Claus Show by Tim Bray Tim Bray Productions 3 – 22 December 2012 The Dragon Of An Ordinary Family

by Margaret Mahy, adapted by Tim Bray Tim Bray Productions 15 April – 4 May 2013 Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, adapted by Tim Bray Tim Bray Productions 8 – 27 July 2013

The Edge The Sex Show The Outfit Theatre Company 2 – 13 October 2013

Tongan Morris Men by Arnette Arapai and Jason Manumu’a 6 – 9 March 2013

and I’d Rather Be The Pope

by Stephen Sinclair 5 – 20 July 2013

Auckland Fringe Festival 15 February – 10 March 2013 Black Faggot by Victor Rodger Horses And Other Farm Animals

by Louise Tu’u The Uncertainty Principle

by Mike Borgfeldt Elevator by Jess Sayer Tim Dibley. Masterclass

by Eryn Wilson Sisterly Love by M.E. Macdonald Bus Stop by Samuel Christopher, Anoushka Klaus and Jess Sayer Darling Today We’re Going To Die

by Lucia Farron-Diamantis, Lewis Gregory and Lana Mackintosh The Bitches’ Box

by Amelia Guild and Emma Newborn Wild Beasts by Lucy Bennett High School Hangover by Kate Vox Mrs Van Gogh by Geoff Allen Just Above The Clouds

by Ben Anderson …him by Barney Duncan Thali – A Theatrical Platter Of Short Plays by Sudha Bhuchar, Shaheen Khan, Mathivanan Rajendran and Nikhil Sriram Gorge by Virginia Frankovich and Phoebe Mason Hummingbird by Chris Neels Dark Stars by Arthur Meek The Guilt Sniffer by Mark Prebble and Marion Shortt Promise And Promiscuity by Penny Ashton and Jane Austen

Other

An Awkward Family Christmas

by Thomas Sainsbury The Outfit Theatre Company 20 November – 1 December 2012

Motherlock / Pure

by Melissa Fergusson Charlatan Clinic: The Williamson 18 – 22 September 2012

I Wish I Learned by Vicki Millar 16 – 24 May 2013

A Heart’s Path by Suli Moa Tales From The Kava Bowl: Mangere Arts Centre 26 – 29 September 2012

Q Theatre The Somnambulist

by Thomas Sainsbury 30 October – 3 November 2012 Meat by Benjamin Teh 30 October – 3 November 2012

37 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

Jack And The Beanstalk!

by Sarah Gallagher, Claire van Beek, Francis Mountjoy and Robert Tripe Onehunga Community House 1 – 6 October 2012

Gaga: The Unmentionable

by Louise Tu’u We Should Practice: Old Folks Association Hall, Newtown Auckland 3 – 4 December 2012

WELLINGTON

Mele Kanikau – A Pageant

by John Kneubuhl Fale Pasifika, University of Auckland 2 – 5 May 2013

White Cloud: Songs & Stories

Patua by Renae Maihi Blanket & Musket Productions: TAPAC 15 – 26 May 2013 Gloria by Amy Waller, Catherine Waller and Naomi Bisley The Vintage Collective: Centrestage, Orewa 29 June – 4 July 2013 Hell’s Teeth by Rosalind Gardner Crystal Palace, Auckland 18 – 27 July 2013

HAMILTON

BATS Theatre Music And Me by Victoria Schmidt 4 – 8 September 2012

by Tim Finn and Ken Duncum 12 – 22 September 2012 The Keepers by Julia Croft Veronica Brady and Claire Cowan Thread Theatre 19 – 29 September 2012 Flatland based on the book

by Edwin A. Abbott Interrupt Collective 13 – 27 October 2012 Into The Uncanny Valley

by Jean Betts with Charlie Bleakley Lumina Productions 3 – 17 November 2012 PSA: Christmas At The Beehive

by James Nokise

Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival

No Fefe Collective

BOOOM! by Fullhouse Productions 15 – 22 February 2013

The Island Bay Loners’ Doomsday

Earnest! by Body in Space 16 – 17 February 2013

22 November – 1 December 2012

Christmas Sing Along

by Cherie Jacobson, Alex Lodge and Ed Watson full.stop.theatre

See? by Harry Meech 20 – 23 February 2013

29 November – 15 December 2012

Boomers Behaving Badly

by Jane Keller 25 – 27 February 2013

Think He Is? by Jason Chasland

The Million by Tainui Tukiwaho Smackbang Theatre Company 25 – 27 February 2013

adapted by David Lawrence

Other Six Hours by Louise Blackstock Meteor Theatre 27 – 29 September 2012 I’m Fine Thanks by Andy Kaye Fullhouse Productions: Meteor Theatre 4 – 6 October 2012 Instructions For Life Carving In Ice Gallagher Academy Of Performing Arts 16 – 18 May 2013 Gaslight Theatre, Cambridge 6 – 8 June 2013

PALMERSTON NORTH Centrepoint Well Hung by Robert Lord 8 September – 13 October 2012 The Motor Camp by Dave Armstrong 3 November – 15 December 2012 Shop Till You Drop

by Alison Quigan and Ross Gumbley

The ImpoSTAR: Who Does He 6 – 15 December 2012 The Clouds from the play by Aristophanes The Bacchanals 2 – 13 April 2013 Life. After. by Anita Ross 4 – 13 April 2013 Public Service Announcements – Revolution! by James Nokise No Fefe Collective 14 – 18 May 2013 My Kitchen Kills by Tza Drake Rubricks Productions 21 – 25 May 2013 The Legend Of Hector

by Jonathan Price, Samuel Phillips, Barney Olson and Tom Clarke Bright Orange Walls 4 – 13 July 2013 Jane Austen Is Dead by Mel Dodge Brave 9 – 13 July 2013 Young and Hungry Festival 25 July – 10 August 2013 Atlas/mountains/dead butterflies

by Joseph Harper Dragonlore by Nic Sampson Trashbag by Georgina Titheridge

13 April – 25 May 2013

Circa Theatre

Two Fish ‘n’ A Scoop by Carl Nixon

The Truth Game by Simon Cunliffe 13 October – 10 November 2012

8 June – 6 July 2013 Peninsula by Gary Henderson 20 July – 24 August 2013

The Mourning After

by Ahilan Karunaharan

Tawata Productions 16 – 27 October 2012 The Tigers Of Wrath by Dean Parker 3 November – 1 December 2012 Cinderella

by Roger Hall, songs by Paul Jenden and Michael Nicholas Williams 17 November 2012 – 12 January 2013 Kings Of The Gym by Dave Armstrong 19 January – 16 February 2013 You Can Always Hand Them Back

by Roger Hall. Music and Lyrics by Peter Skellern 23 February – 30 March 2013 Mike And Virginia

by Katherine Burnett & Nick Ward 23 March – 20 April 2013 Midnight In Moscow by Dean Parker 11 May – 8 June 2013 C – A Musical book and lyrics by Paul Jenden, music by Gareth Farr 6 July – 3 August 201

NZ Fringe Festival 15 February – 9 March 2013 Affinity by Sarah Delahunty A Cry Too Far From Heaven

by Angela Newell, Jade Gillies and Lizzie Dawson Definition Of Me by Alexander Sparrow, Stevie Hancox-Monk, George Fenn and Charlie Pleasants God Knows by Jared Kirkwood and Hannah Botha Light Sleepers’ Wake

by Bright Orange Walls Little Town Liars

by Joshua Hopton Stewart Madam X and Mister Q

by Megan Evans Minksie And Ron Explore The Gap

by Gina Vanessi My Beautiful Disaster

by Nataliya Oryshchuk My Boyfriend Got A Beatle Haircut

by Tess Jamieson-Karaha, Megan Alexander, Simon Leary and Aidan Weekes and Chantelle Brader The Penis Monologues

by Tommy Truss Put It In My Blowhole

by Alwyn Dale and Becca Barnes Rageface by Adam Goodall Residence by Everybody Cool Lives Here Stand Up For Charlie by Will Agnew Take Back The Hood by Deborah Rea Vampimple by Alice May Connolly

Downstage Flowers From My Mother’s Garden

by Stuart McKenzie and Miranda Harcourt 7 – 29 September 2012 Duck, Death And The Tulip by Wolf Erbruch, adapted by Peter Wilson Little Dog Laughing 18 – 23 March 2013 Krishnan’s Dairy by Jacob Rajan Downstage 5 – 19 April 2013

The Guru Of Chai

by Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis Indian Ink 11 – 24 April 2013

Other The Prospect by Maraea Rakuraku Tawata Productions: Gryphon 29 August – 1 September 2012 Snow White by Rachel Henry KidzStuff Theatre: Tararua Tramping Club 29 September – 13 October 2012 Cinderella: New Zealand’s Best Top Model by Tanya Piejus Kapitall Kids’ Theatre: Gryphon 2 – 13 October 2013 A Tempest Off Matiu-Somes Island

by Bard Productions 7 – 16 February 2013 Te Rau O Te Rangi

by Teina Moetara Taki Rua Productions: Te Papa Tongarewa 11 – 16 March 2013 The Magic Chicken

by Theatre Beating Te Papa Tongarewa 11 – 16 March 2013 The Great Piratical Rumbustification

by Margaret Mahy, adapted by Carl Nixon KidzStuff Theatre, Tararua Tramping Club 20 April – 4 May 2013 Seasons by Peter Wilson Capital E: National Theatre for Children 27 April – 4 May 2013 Tautai by Iaheto Ah Hi Kinetic Wayfinding: Little Theatre, Porirua 29 April – 2 May 2013 The Three Billy Goats Gruff

by Rachel Henry KidzStuff Theatre: Tararua Tramping Club 13 – 27 July 2013 The Boy Who Cried Wolf!

Kapitall Kids’ Theatre: Gryphon 16 – 27 July 2013 Right Dishonourable

by Cassandra Tse Red Scare Collective: Gryphon 16 – 27 July 2013

GREYMOUTH The Cave Above The Pa: Te Ana I Runga I Te Pa by Paul Maunder Kiwi/Possum Productions: Regent Theatre, Greymouth 20 – 22 September 2012

Pacific Post by Stephanie McKellarSmith and Ross McKellar 20 October – 10 November 2012 The Three Little Pigs by Carl Nixon 16 – 26 January 2013

INTERNATIONAL

Ordinary Darkness

by Sarah Roberston Shaky Isles Theatre: Hen & Chickens Theatre – London, UK 14 November – 1 December 2012

The Orderly

by Michael Downey Rebel Alliance: White Box Theatre – Seoul, South Korea 21 – 30 June 2013

Groundswell: Stories From The Quake by Elizabeth O’Connor and 12:51 Productions 9 – 23 March 2013

The Case Of Katherine Mansfield

by Catherine Downes Mr Falcon’s – Sydney, Australia 7 – 15 September 2012

Apollo 13 by Kip Chapman and Brad Knewstubb Hackman: USA Tour 21 December 2012 – 10 February 2013

Mo And Jess Kill Susie

by Gary Henderson Harley Dog Productions: Toronto Fringe Festival, Canada 3 – 13 July 2013

Beauty And The Beast

by Gregory Cooper 24 April – 4 May 2013

Skin Tight by Gary Henderson Epsilon Productions: St Stephens Centre, UK 19 September 2012 Park Theatre – London UK 16 July – 11 August 2013

Krishnan’s Dairy by Jacob Rajan Indian Ink: The Barrow Group – New York, USA 13 – 14 January 2013

Promise And Promiscuity

by Penny Ashton and Jane Austen Canadian Tour 10 July – 14 September 2013

Masi by Nina Nawalowalo The Conch: Sydney Festival Australia, 20 – 25 January, 2013

Chet Baker: Like Someone In Love

by David Goldthorpe Goldthorpe Creative: Australian Tour 19 July – 17 September 2013

Kings Of The Gym

by Dave Armstrong 29 June – 10 August 2013

Other

Man In A Suitcase

by Lynda Chanwai-Earle Court Theatre: Haidan Theatre – Beijing, China 26 – 29 September 2012

Taking Off by Roger Hall Ben McDonald Ltd at The Celebration Cabaret Christchurch 22 November – 15 December 2012

The ¼ Pounding

by Nicola Colson and Mel Dodge Revolt – Melbourne, Australia 9 – 14 October 2012

Cat vs Dog by Dan Bain 17 – 27 July 2013

DUNEDIN/OTAGO Fortune Theatre Three Degrees by Elspeth Sandys Stage South 24 – 25 November 2012 Why Are My Parents So Boring?

by Dan Bain 20 – 28 July 2013 You Can Always Hand Them Back

by Roger Hall. Music and lyrics by Peter Skellern 27 April – 25 May 2013

Otago Festival Of The Arts Rita and Douglas by Dave Armstrong Armstrong Creative 5 – 7 October 2012 Tic Tic by Michelanne Forster and Paul Barrett Strata Creative 5 – 7 October 2012 Where We Once Belonged

by Sia Figiel, adapted by Dave Armstrong. Armstrong Creative 9 – 11 October 2012

Other Bare by Toa Fraser Counterpoint: Allen Hall Theatre 18 – 20 October 2012 The Night Visitors by Paul Baker Oamaru Opera House 6 – 10 February 2013 In Absentia by Tablo The Notional Theatre Company of New Zealand: Dunedin Fringe 20 – 23 March 2013

The Court Theatre

box/role/dream

by Lynda Chanwai-Earle Counterpoint: Allen Hall 4 – 6 April 2013

The Gingerbread Man

by Carl Nixon and Dan Bain 3 – 13 October 2012

Salon by site-specific.co.nz Festival of Colour, Wanaka 16 – 21 April 2013

CHRISTCHURCH

Sheep by Arthur Meek Counterpoint: Otago Pioneer Women’s Hall 2 – 4 May 2013

Confessions Of A Drag Queen

by Ricky Beirao Chapel on Chapel Melbourne 24 January 2013 Sydney Opera House 1 March 2013

Michael Janes Manaia

by John Broughton Taki Rua Productions: Melbourne Festival, Australia 12 – 28 October

Dark Stars

by Arthur Meek DS Productions: Fringe World Festival – Perth, La Mama – Melbourne, Australia 1 February – 3 March 2013

Skin Tight by Gary Henderson One Year Lease Theatre Company, 59E59 – New York, USA 6 November – 1 December 2012

Skin Tight

by Gary Henderson Studio Theatre Washington DC, USA 28 April – 15 June 2013

Page 36: Joe Dekkers-Reihana in Sky Dancer, adapted from the novel

by Witi Ihimaera, Capital E: National Theatre For Children, NZ Tour. Image Stephen A’Court. Page 37: Rowena Simpson in Home by Jacqueline Coats, Single Malt Cooperative, NZ Tour. Image: Victoria Spackman; Page 38: F*ck Love by Sarah Graham, Midnight Hallways, The Basement.

Image: Adam Baines.

THE LAST WORD

Two past directors and editors mull on their part in Playmarket Mark Amery: I thought we should start by noting

national rights. Paragon took it – a commercial

that, working in Policy Development, nothing you

entrepreneur – and did very well, until they went

say will be representing Creative New Zealand…

belly-up refurbishing the Paramount Theatre.

John McDavitt: Yes. Entirely my own views….

M: Except for Indian Ink I can’t recall anything

M: It feels appropriate to talk to you now because

doing quite that well in my time. Has the time

this is in the Playmarket Annual, which once was the Playmarket News and one of our first points of contact – you commissioning me.

J: We had the Stage and Radio Record briefly but because it carried reviews some playwrights got very upset when the reviews were in any way critical of the work.

M: I always thought that a difficult tension.

There are a lot more theatre reviews now.

J: But it’s all online. That’s part of digitisation, and economists’ theories that we’re back to the coffee clubs of the 18th century, where you have a network that is based on your interests and the mass media – often going for the lowest common denominator – is increasingly irrelevant.

M: What was the function of the Playmarket News then? It started to take off when you were director.

J: We slowly expanded it. We wanted a publication that went to the theatre sector, profiled playwrights and provided documentation. I remember doing the listings from early on about what was coming

passed do you think? Are people still going to the theatre with that sense of the popular zeitgeist? Has it been taken over by the television and the cinema?

J: Well I did use to thank television programmers for doing their utmost to drive people out of their living rooms, but with niche Sky channels that’s changed again.

M: Dave Armstrong has picked up some great ground since we were moaning about who was going to be the next Roger Hall. When I started that was the ongoing conversation, but that disappeared over the time I was around.

J: It’s a bit like the great New Zealand play conversation of the 80s! What’s your sense generally of theatre’s health and vitality?

M: I wonder if its still a little stuck in terms of what we see.

J: I don’t go as much as I used to, but my impression is that Christchurch and Auckland are quite lively. I don’t get quite the same feeling with

up. Back then people in Dunedin didn’t really

Wellington as I did in the 80s and 90s.

know what was being produced in Auckland.

M: People like Arthur Meek and Eli Kent coming

It was also important to show the range to keep

through to mainstages is exciting but there’s

track of it.

still not enough diversity and a gap between

I had a theory when I was at Playmarket that

the emerging and established sector – a lack

if a play did well in Auckland, Wellington and

of shepherding. Like it’s still bubbling rather

Christchurch then it probably had international

than getting picked up to that next level.

legs because they’re such disparate communities

J: Is it that the 100-seater black box is where

and the combined population is getting on for two

people tend to pitch their work, both in scale and

million. I just felt more confident promoting the

production values? Filling a 300 to 500 seater is

work if it had that track record.

an entirely different proposition. My worry is that

M: Of course Ladies Night was the major one. To

if writers are pitching at a Basement and BATS

see the impact in Germany for example and realise

ABOVE: Ensemble, Just Above the Clouds by Ben Anderson, The People Who Play With Theatre, Q Theatre. Image: Adam Baines.

“ Maybe now Auckland has the critical mass”

size theatre they’re going to be dependent on

the size of theatres it was playing to. I remember

public subsidy forever.

sitting in the agent Cassarotto’s offices in London

M: If we look to how things grew in Wellington

and looking at the figures, them smiling, my eyes

in the 90s around new work it felt like it saw

rolling. But we didn’t know the territory; they did.

a growth for theatres.

J: I remember the displeasure when I decided

J: Well that was an environment around Wellington

for the second production time around that I’d

at that time where you also had television

ask the regional theatres to actually bid for the

production, which has all shifted to Auckland.

“The sheer, desolating loneliness of the artist’s life, in this modern-day Carthage we live in— not to mention the idiotic reviewers”Gifted / Patrick Evans 39 : PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48

Maybe now Auckland has the critical mass to support the next generation of playwrights.

M: Maybe Auckland is a little like Wellington was in the late 80s at the moment? You don’t want to get too carried away with these analogies but…

J: Well, there’s a lot going on in Auckland and practitioners are hungry to put work on.

M: If you look at the nine years you were at Playmarket what defined that period, if you were to write that history.

J: 1990 is at the beginning of it and that was sesqui-centennialism, 150th stuff. I think playwriting paid a bit more attention to history and NZ’s identity and issues. You had Ladies Night but alongside that a real growth in Māori playwriting.

The early 90s were of course a recession too of some depth, but that’s where there was a Ladies Night and a couple of Roger’s, which brought people out to shows and helped Playmarket get through – to be able to hold workshops and take on a trainee script advisor, who turned out to be a playwright [Briar Grace-Smith].

M: Can you think of any particularly embarrassing moments as Director?

J: Hah. My great embarrassing one was there was a NZ musical and the various owners, of which there were about six, had decided they’d do their royalty split in fractions. It was just so complicated.

And then GST came in. I was always out by two or

three cents and, sure enough every time I’d get a letter from the composer (because composers are ultimately very good on their maths) pointing out where I’d gone wrong.

M: The embarrassing moment I recall was a Playmarket Christmas party at the time of the King Kong film premiere. I had this idea I’d wear a gorilla suit to welcome everyone. As soon as I was in it I realised this was crazy: the whole point of the party as agent was meeting clients, and they didn’t have a clue who I was – a monkey in a suit.

Was ‘The Last Word’ an idea you had? This will be The Last Word.

J: Yes. It was: “What are we going to do with the back page?!” I wanted to have room for comment and controversy that wasn’t the official Playmarket line – to create room for some theatre industry conversation.

M: ‘The Last Word’ helped inspire the general shape of the magazine after that for me, where we tried to get a lot more opinion into the magazine.

To the point with this very issue where probably the best opinion is on the other pages and we’re probably pretty conservative by comparison…

J: Oh good. I used to always fall upon the magazine because you got a real cross-section of views. Debate and comment.

ABOVE: Gavin Rutherford and Carmel McGlone in Midnight In Moscow by Dean Parker, Circa Theatre. Image: Stephen A’Court.

M: Long may it continue.

PLAYMARKET ANNUAL 2013 : NO. 48 : 40

Proudly Presents

3 New Three Plays by RobeRt LoRd publications Playmarket 40 Atkinson 20 New ZealaNd PlaywrighTs

edited by

edited by Laurie Michelanne ForsTer

aNd ViVienne PLumb

avaiLabLe fRom www.playmarket.org.nz