PACIFIC POST
The Court Theatre, Bernard Street, Addington, Christchurch
20/10/2012 - 10/11/2012
Production Details
PACIFIC POST BRINGS TRUE STORY OF ROMANCE TO THE COURT THEATRE
The Court Theatre brings a heart warming story of love against all odds to the stage in PACIFIC POST, a new play by Stephanie McKellar-Smith and Ross McKellar.
PACIFIC POST tells the story of Bud and Hazel, a married couple in 1940s Westport whose happiness is threatened when Bud is conscripted and sent to Fiji to assist with the war effort. Separated by an ocean, the two must communicate through letters through a time that tests the limits of their courage.
PACIFIC POST is a deeply personal project for both: the work was inspired by a letter McKellar-Smith’s grandfather sent to his wife while he was stationed in Fiji during World War Two.
“My mother found the letter in the back of a cupboard after Granddad passed away. It was really amazing, particularly because none of the rest of the family had seen it before,” says McKellar-Smith. “The instant Ross and I saw the letter we knew this story would make a wonderful play.”
The couple have spent four years developing the script. “We’ve been working together since 1984,” says McKellar, “I have huge admiration for Stephanie as a director, dramaturg and editor. We both know our jobs, we do them well and we respect each other.”
McKellar-Smith directs and McKellar plays the role of Bud in the romantic drama.
McKellar says, “I knew Bud, so my role on stage (and in writing) is to capture the essence of the man. It’s an honour to play someone I respect and admire.”
McKellar-Smith has found directing the play “A fulfilling and exciting process. It is fantastic to finally get to approach the play, not as a co-writer/creator, but as a director and to have the time to fully explore the characters’ stories. I constantly marvel during rehearsal at the new sub-text which is being revealed through the committed work of four wonderful and gifted actors.”
PACIFIC POST had a number of development workshops to which was public were invited – it was clear from their reactions that the play resonated with audiences.
“After the reading we hosted in The Forge I was approached by numerous people with tears running down their cheeks telling me I had to programme the play,” says Artistic Director of The Court Theatre Ross Gumbley. “Considering I was moved to tears as well it was simply a matter of when.” PACIFIC POST is The Court Theatre’s third consecutive world première.
All of the cast have been involved in the script workshops before taking part in The Court production. Michael Lee Porter says “it has been an honour to help bring this script to the stage” and Amy Straker returned from performing in the UK specifically to perform in the show. “There is a real family feeling among everyone involved in this production,” says Straker.
The cast and crew travelled to Westport during the rehearsal period to see the setting of the play, including the Smith family home, and meet people who lived through the events – including Hazel’s sister Jean. “She’s 106 years old and was a bit disappointed she couldn’t perform in the play,” says Juliet Reynolds-Midgley, who plays Jean in the production.
Gumbley is eagerly anticipating the opening of PACIFIC POST. “Stephanie and Ross have added to the canon of New Zealand theatre a wonderfully singular story from their own family. And it is because of the play’s singularity that it speaks so widely to all of us. I thank them for their courage and hard work in bringing this story to the stage.”
PACIFIC POST opens on 20 October.
Performances: 20 October – 10 November 2012
Show times: 6:30pm Mon/Thu, 7:30 Tue/Wed/Fri/Sat
(2pm matinee Sat 27 October)
Venue: The Court Theatre, Bernard St, Addington
Tickets: Adults $48 | Senior $41 | Groups (20+) $39 | Under 25 $29 | Child $19
Bookings: 03 963 0870 or www.courttheatre.org.nz
CAST:
Ross McKellar, Amy Straker, Michael Lee Porter, Juliet Reynolds-Midgley
PRODUCTION TEAM
Set design: Julian Southgate
Lighting Design: Leanne Watkins
Sound & AV Design: Andrew Todd
Stage Manager: Jo Bunce
Props Manager: Anneke Bester
Costume Design: Pam Jones & Pauline Laws – The Costumery
Set Construction: Nigel Kerr, Richard Daem, Henri Herr, Maurice Kidd, Richard van den Berg
Wardrobe: Bronwyn Corbet
Production Manager: Mandy Perry
A gentle homage to folk who kept calm and carried on
Review by Lindsay Clark 21st Oct 2012
With three New Zealand plays staged out of the five seen so far in its 2012-2013 season, the Court’s commitment to local playwrights is clear. Moving from the robust farce of Dave Armstrong’s The Motor Camp (June), to the thrilling, chilling Man in a Suitcase by Lynda Chanwai-Earle (August), the Court now offers a gentle domestic compilation in Pacific Post. The theatre is covering wide territory indeed.
The framework of the play is even closer to real life than the events which inspired Chanwai-Earle’s piece. The husband and wife authorial team – Stephanie McKellar-Smith and Ross McKellar – base their work on a letter written by McKellar-Smith’s grandfather during his posting to Suva at the height of World War II and she also directs the play.
Ross McKellar plays the grandfather role. It is a close knit collaboration which brings assurance to a simple story, one which will have echoes in countless New Zealand families. The men went off, the women stayed anxiously at home, making the best of things; the men came back, or not.
Thus we meet Hazel and Bud, a young Westport couple, at the point where their cheerfully stable lives are interrupted by all the anxieties and challenges of war. Hazel is supported by Bud’s sister, Jean, whose presence brings opportunities for down to earth humour and a glimpse of the wider small town community. Similarly, Bud has his best friend Barney to yarn to and lark with, before tragedy strikes and the mates are separated forever.
Setting the Westport scenario alongside tropical barracks, so that the regular postal service linking the two worlds can be accessed by both sets of characters, is neatly accomplished, and from the exchanges, extended scenes can be developed.
The impression is of ordinary folk, getting on with whatever life presents, each sustained by communications with the other, which, for all their inconsequential detail, somehow provide reassurance and stability. It is an example of the sort of commitment which is not often explored in contemporary plays about married couples.
Inevitably perhaps, the overall predictability of the material, for all its sincerity and worthiness, does not probe far enough to excite theatrically, even when its even rhythm is quickened by comic or dramatic interludes. The opening night audience, however, were warm in their approval, suggesting that excitement is not everything we are looking for. This is rather, a comfortable stirring of the memory pot.
The strongest sense of wartime probably comes from the carefully assembled and projected images of New Zealand troops in Fiji. Mateship is strongly represented in scenes where blokes relax or pose for the camera in those cheeky, smiling tableaux we all know from family albums.
Situations and dialogue faithfully echo the spirit of the times, with expressions just within the memories of some of us – “What the blue blazes…?”
Another eloquent set from Julian Southgate makes all possible, complemented by Andrew Todd’s sound and AV design and Leanne Watkins’ lights. The collaboration of Pauline Laws and Pam Jones as The Costumery delivers impeccably detailed and appropriate clobber, so that in this respect too, the play presents as a true and respectful record of who we were.
Four strong actors tackle the task of bringing the carefully created world alive for us. As the central couple, Amy Straker (Hazel) and Ross McKellar (Bud) look and sound the part with focussed and clear performances. Juliet Reynolds-Midgley is an unstoppable force as Jean and Michael Lee Porter’s dynamic Barney makes the most of every line.
Their energy and conviction enliven a production which is significant, not for its resonance as world literature but as a gentle homage to folk who kept calm and carried on in a New Zealand that will not come again. It embodies the somewhat sentimental prompting of poet Hugh Smith (Uncle Hughie to the same family) whose works are quoted in the play:
“Be good to each other and on the whole
Let nothing ever stain your soul.”
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
Comments
James Levy November 6th, 2012
I saw the show, to the end...not sure if I stayed awake through the entirety...The actresses did have lovely hair and the furniture was nice. Faith Oxenbridge has a well written review in the Listener which sums things up really.
Michael Smythe November 2nd, 2012
So - it's the most boring play you have ever half seen ...
Jane Hopkins November 2nd, 2012
Truly. This was the most boring play I have ever seen. We left at half time.