What a year!

Once more Welly has wallowed in a wondrous concoction of homegrown, classical and contemporary international work in 2009. The cream of a very healthy year’s primary production is visible in the shows and talents nominated for the democratically selected Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards 09 (voted for by critics) and the shamelessly anarchic Chapman Kipp Theatre Awards 09 (where the voting serves to remind everyone what’s happened through the year and may or may not influence the final outcome).

In recalling the highlights I thought it would be only fair to acknowledge especially the excellent work that in any other year might well have earned nominations … and this little exercise turns out to have produced something of an epic.

Binge Culture, with Drowning Bird, Plummeting Fish directed by Ralph Upton who.  also hosted their Animal Hour directed by Joel Baxendale, brought a new generation of Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) graduates to the fore, hot on the tails of Three Spoon Theatre who consolidated their capacity for bringing theatrical flair to highly intelligent productions with A Most Outrageous Humbug directed by Charlotte Bradley, who went on to excel in two very different roles in their Vienna Verona – Measure for Measure directed by Alex Lodge and Romeo and Juliet directed by Ralph McCubbin Howell.

Indeed VUW groups staged memorable productions of Shakespeare, beginning and ending with the Henrys: Henry V and Henry VI Part I directed by David Lawrence with superb fights staged by Allan Henry and Alex Greig leading a formidable cast of talents-to-watch, many of whom also played in The History of Cardenio (Shakespeare and Fletcher, creatively reconstructed by Gary Taylor) directed by David Carnegie; Richard II, directed by David O’Donnell and Rachel Lenart; Pericles, directed by Megan Evans.

Also contributing to the nation-wide Compleate Workes project at Wellington venues were (in order of appearance):

·       Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe’s ‘Bard in the Yard’ Fringe production The Taming of the Shrew, directed by John Marwick

·       Ray Henwood’s ‘Round the Bard’ trip All The World’s a Stage, directed by Peter Hambleton at Circa

·       Othello Polynesia directed by Michelle Johansson for Auckland’s Blackfriars, at Downstage

·       Sarah Delahunty’s distillation of All’s Well That Ends Well with 1^st Gear Productions

·       Power and Persuasion with John Bach and Mel Dodge, comprising scenes from Richard III, Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew, Henry VIII and A Midsummer Nights Dream, and

·       Titus Andronicus with Willem Wassenaar’s Long Cloud Youth Theatre.

The Toi Whakaari 2^nd year production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Josette Bushell-Mingo (not reviewed) was also a highlight.

A number of excellent homegrown shows could have scored multiple nominations and awards in any other year (and some did get awards for individuals). All the homegrown shows listed below were very well cast – there were no weak links.

With its new work this year Capital E National Theatre for Children (which keeps a number of shows in production and on tour) excelled itself, with:

·       Kia Ora Khalid, composed by Gareth Farr, written by Dave Armstrong, directed by Sara Brodie with musical director Mark W Dorrell and designed by Brian King (set), Jason Morphett (lighting) and Adrian Sealy-O’Donnell (sound), and

·       Stealing Games by Gary Henderson, directed by Murray Lynch with choreography by Helen Winchester and design by Brian King (set), Murray Hickman (original sound and compositions) and Phil Blackburn (lighting).

Strong ensemble acting was very evident in both Capital E shows – Jason Chasland, Martyn Wood, Kali Kopae and Nikita Tu-Bryant in Kia Ora Khalid; James Conway-Law, Laurel Devenie, Rawiri Jobe and Suzanne Tye in Stealing Games. 

Bats reports they presented 57 shows (theatre, comedy, dance) involving over 500 practitioners on and about the stage, attracting over 23,000 people. As well as the much-feted Death and the Dreamlife of Elephants, especially excellent homegrown work at Bats were:

·       Becoming the Courtesan by Jamie Burgess and Karen Anslow with original music and lyrics by Burgess, directed by Lyndee-Jane Rutherford, designed by Paul Jenden (costume), Ian Harman visual effects, Rosie Olsen (lighting) 

·       Wolf’s Lair devised by Sophie Roberts and Willem Wassenaar, directed by Wassenaar with a stunning sound design by Thomas Press (which returned in even better shape to Circa two later in the year, and for which Roberts won the Most Promising Female Newcomer of the Year award)

·       The Blackening by Paul Rothwell, directed by Paul McLaughlin, designed by Tony De Goldi (Set/Costume), Jennifer Lal (lighting), Stephen Gallagher (Sound)

·       Postal by Lucy O’Brien, directed by Kerryn Palmer, designed by Marcus McShane (lighting) and Hannah Smith (set)

·       Live at Six by Dean Hewison & Leon Wadham, directed by Conrad Newport, set designed by Stuart Foster (set), Marcus McShane (lighting), Hamish Guthrie (AV), (Out of Bounds), and

·       (opening too late for Chappies contention) GAS devised/written by Thomas Sainsbury, Yvette Parsons, Toby Leach, Rashmi Pilapitiya, Tahi Mapp-Borren, Rina Patel, directed by Conrad Newport.

Other memorable homegrown shows at Bats included:

·       The Skyrocketeers of Justice Vs The Zombie Apocalypse by Barnaby Fredric, James Kupa and Paul Harrop

·       A Mime to Kill created and performed by Sam Bunkall, Byron Coll and Hadleigh Walker

·       Buddha Boy by Sonya Stewart, directed by Brylee Lamb (Orange Blossom Productions)

·       Words Apart devised by The Odd Socks Collective, directed by Nicola Clements

·       Poly-Zygotic devised by Tupe Lualua, Taofi Mose-Tuiloma & Asalemo Tofete

·       The Rodwell Monologues by the late Sally Rodwell

·       The Minister’s Son by James Nokise, directed by Sonal Patel (Not Even Broductions);

·       A Song for the Ugly Kids by Dan Musgrove & Natalie Medlock

·       Charm Is Not Enough devised by BabyshadS, directed by Hannah Clarke.  

Of the Young and Hungry 09 trilogy, alongside Vivienne Plumb’s Oyster, directed by Rachel More, and Georgina Titheridge’s Sit On It, directed by Lyndee-Jane Rutherford, my personal favourite was Urban Hymns by Miria George, directed by Fiona Truelove.

Plays from elsewhere that also excelling at Bats were:

·       Wild Duck’s localised adaptation of Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, directed by David Lawrence with a set by Penny Angrick, lit by Ulli Briese, and

·       A Brief History of Helen of Troy by Mark Schultz (USA), directed by Heather O’Carroll, designed by Tureiti Nelson (set), Rachel Marlow (lighting), Andrew Simpson (sound). 

Actors at Bats who were not nominated for the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards 09 whose work I noted especially included:

·       Salesi Le’ota, Asalemo Tofete and Tupe Lualua in Hedda Gabler; Heather O’Carroll and Simon Smith in Postal

·       Charlotte Bradley, Allan Henry, Eli Kent and Jonny Potts in Vienna Verona

·       Kent Seaman in Mates & Lovers

·       the entire on-stage cast of Live at Six: Jess Robinson, Grant Roa, Phil Grieve, Frank Edwards, Ben Powdrell, Michelle Amas, Phil Vaughan, Nathan Meister, Dean Hewison and Kerehi Paurini, plus (via Skype), Jude Gibson

·       the ‘Kiwi commedia’ ensemble team of Toby Leach, Yvette Parsons, Kate Prior, Sarita So and Rashmi Pilapitiya in GAS.

With Hilary Beaton at the helm this has been a major turnaround year for Downstage as it reinvents itself in the light of funding cuts and extensive consultation with, and buy-in from, local practitioners.  As well as the multi-award-winning Biography of My Skin and Collapsing Creation, Downstage offered an excellent line-up of homegrown work:

·       Return seasons of
– Turbine devised by the SEEyD Theatre Company, directed by Tim Spite, designed by Jennifer Lal (lighting) and Gil Eva Craig (sound), and
– Strange Resting Places by Rob Mokaraka and Paolo Rotondo, directed by Leo Gene Peters, including a modified version for children – with Taki Rua Productions,
both previously staged at Bats

·       A Night with Beau Tyler created by Peter Feeney, directed by Greg Cooper and Jim McLarty – with Feeney McSweeney Productions

·       The Raft by Carl Nixon, directed by Duncan Smith with original composition by Phil Brownlee and design from Andrew Foster (set & costumes), Paul O’Brien (lighting) and Phil Benge (sound)

·       Le Sud by Dave Armstrong, directed by Conrad Newport, designed by Brian King (set), Nic Smillie (costume), Paul O’Brien (lighting) – with Armstrong Creative

·       Whero’s New Net by Albert Beltz (inspired by some of Witi Ihimaera’s short stories), directed by Sam Scott, designed by Tracey Collins (set & costumes), Jeremy Fern (lighting), Tama Waipara (music & sound) – with Massive Company

·       Good Night – The End by Jo Randerson, directed by Andrew Foster, set by Sean Coyle, lit by Piet Asplet, sound by Nic McGowan, costumes by Janet Dunn (with Barbarian Productions)  

·       An Adagio Christmas conceived & directed by Deborah Pope (with Awkward Productions).

Downstage also:

·       mounted a return season of last year’s hit, My Brilliant Divorce (UK)

·       brought back Strike Percussion with Strike Sound System

·       imported, from Australia:
– Adam Page Solo (later combining him with Strike in Strike Session with Adam Page), and
– Sammy J In The Forest of Dreams

·       staged the Pick of the Fringe season (Poly-Zygotic, A Most Outrageous Humbug and The Intricate Art of Actually Caring), and

·       monthly on Sundays, offered Soundstage @ Downstage, a series of concerts by Wellington musicians – The Woolshed Sessions; Little Bushmen; Samuel F Scott and the B.O.P; Rhian Sheehan; Spartacus R.

Actors at Downstage (not nominated for the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards 09) worthy of special mention include:

·       Susan Curnow and Peter Hayden in The Raft

·       Bree Peters and Blair Strang in Whero’s New Net

·       Nick Dunbar and Heather O’Carroll in Le Sud

·       Gareth Williams in Collapsing Creation

·       While An Adagio Christmas opened too late to be a Chappies contender this year, Angela Green deserves a special ‘meat in the sandwich’ award for her well-conceived and executed wannabe romance writer and ventriloquist’s dummy, both absolutely morally sound in terms of the ‘messages’ they deliver (despite the bizarre Radio NZ beat-up aimed at accusing CYF of negligence – see Comments below the review).

Circa stuck to its formula of largely producing very competent ‘covers’ of proven plays from overseas. Only two of the nine plays produced in Circa One were NZ works, both by Roger Hall and both popular successes:

·       Four Flat Whites in Italy directed by Ross Jolly, and

·       Dick Whittington and his Cat – the pantomime, directed by Susan Wilson.

Otherwise, in Circa One, we were treated to:

·       Betrayal by Harold Pinter, directed by Ross Jolly

·       Rock ’n’ Roll by Tom Stoppard, directed by Susan Wilson

·       God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, directed by Ross Jolly

·       Blood Wedding by Frederico Garcia Lorca (translation b

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