Story Studio Live reminds me of a couple of BATS/STAB shows presented earlier this century: AAARGH! –The Live Movies (2000)[i] and Live TraNZmission (2002)[ii], both of which used live Foley sound effects to help create highly inventive imaginary scenarios before our very eyes. All three rediscover the golden age of radio.  

Billed as “equal parts comedy, drama, adventure and intrigue”, Story Studio Live has toured schools across the country, reaching more than 9,500 students. Now it is presented once more at the Grand Hall, Parliament Buildings (hosted by the member for Rongotai, Paul Eagle) by way of bringing it to the whanau, friends and supporters of the four young writers – Olive (aged 12), Frank (12), Cerys (15) and Awa (18).

“Each writer got to work with an experience mentors who helped guide and shape their work, offering feedback and advice,” the programme note explains, “while ensuring the final say belonged to the young people alone.”

Pre-show intrigue is created by a tall box with a red curtain flanked by two long trays containing what seem to be random items, over which microphones are poised. Other odd items litter the stage. In his welcome speech, Mr Eagle notes it promises a chaos that will be much more interesting than what plays out next door, in the debating chamber.

At first the technology of recording live sound takes precedence, captured in a quick, slick and professional manner by two assertive and confident technicians:  Michael Smith (Barnaby Olsen) and Brent Green (Hannah Kelly). Why make Hannah’s character male, I wonder; women can be sound technicians too and I’d have thought it essential to indicate that. This issue will surface again in gendering of some of the ‘hero’ characters in the stories.

As they set about involving the audience in creating effects – which will be used later – it becomes apparent that the third member of their team, an intern they call Junior (Neenah Dekkers-Reihana), is being ignored or shut down by ‘Michael’ and ‘Brent’ when she tries to contribute. Only when ‘Junior’ manages to mention she’s collected some stories they might like to tell with their technology does she gain status in the team.  

‘Beautiful Ideas in Unexpected Places’ (by Olive) starts with a poetic image of dandelion seeds afloat … and lands in the apartment of Robert Brown (‘Michael’), a meticulous grouch. Gwendolyn (‘Brent’), who loves flowers and records a diary, lives in another apartment. Her new job has her excited.

It emerges she and Robert share an office space – he works there by day; she works there by night. Initially I’ve assumed he works from home but when it emerges she shares the space … I’m a bit confused. Robert objects to finding his bare and functional space adorned with unnecessary fripperies. He also likes using rich words with he looks up in a mimed (but noisy) dictionary. Gwendolyn has a habit of knocking things off high window sills. ‘Junior’ has a great time supplying the Foley SFX in full view of the audience – the young audience especially enjoy her eating of an apple (to supply sound for mimed apple-eating).

Gradually Robert comes round to appreciating what Gwendolyn has to offer and all ends well. The actors’ exit into the tall box signifies the end – and by now we’ve appreciated that each facet of the box features a different sort of portal. (It’s not quite like the old radio drama boxes that also featured countless locks, chains, knockers and bells – but then such SFX, beloved as they were by The Goon Show et al, are not required here.)

The next story revealed by ‘Junior’ is ‘Thunder Cat’ (by Frank): a SciFi spoof set in 2180. Rebel scientists, seeking to save us from evil government oppression by creating hybrid animals, have come up with an Eagle Kitten. This would-be Thunder Cat is befriended and protected by Isaac (‘Junior’) whose oppressors turn out to be bullies, represented by ‘Michael’s sock puppets, who taunt him on the way home from school.

The bullies’ voices have been pre-recorded and here I feel the production has let two young audience members down. When they were selected to record this dialogue before the show proper started, they had to sight-read the text while inside the ill-lit box. As far as I could see they had no rehearsal and got no direction. The result is timid and unintelligible, which serves neither the story nor them, let alone us in the audience. The process needs a rethink.

Anyway, it is bucket-headed government robots who come looking for Thunder Cat. Isaac’s highly effective weapon is putrid farts which, the way it’s performed, is somehow not as funny as presumably expected. Perhaps some subtle secrecy, whereby only Isaac and the audience know what he’s doing, would be more effective. ‘Brent’ punching a cabbage does add entertaining juice to the inevitable showdown before Isaac and Thunder Cat make their escape in a rocket ship.

Following an interval, we are treated to ‘Voyages’ (by Cerys). Hannah (‘Brent’) daydreams she’s on a ship where a sponge-headed Donald Trump (‘Michael’) – who looks strangely like her teacher, Mr Jeffries – is declaring people can only eat vanilla ice-cream. In the real world, Mr Jeffries sets projects on “any topic of historical importance” and pairs Hannah up with James (‘Junior’).

James is also the subject of bullying taunts, called “Stutter from the Gutter” (this time using clearly recorded adult voices) because he once stammered. But Hannah like James’s drawing, inspired by Joseph Banks, and they enjoy kicking a ball around, so when the “Us or him!” ultimatum comes, Hannah chooses friendship with James.

‘Tui the Vampire’ (by Awa) at last allows ‘Junior’ to play a female outsider/ underdog/ hero. Tui’s parents have put her in therapy – and the story of how she came to need to work out who her friends are is told to the Therapist (‘Michael’) and therefore played out. It’s an incident in the forest, involving a bat, that leads to her becoming a vampire – and she finds that when she’s honest about that to potential friends, they back off.

When the narration tells us months have passed, I can’t help but wonder how Tui has sustained her vampire self but the challenge of inventing an answer for that has been ignored. Instead we discover she now has a talent for mind control. So this story works better as a metaphor for being different and having abilities that can be welcomed because they are so different. It’s all about accepting oneself as one is, no matter what.

Directed by Stella Reid, Story Studio Live is an inventive and lively blend of storytelling and performance abetted by fun-to-watch live SFX-creation. At this performance the Sound Technician, Thomas Lambert, is positioned behind the audience. Given his role is so essential, technically interesting and relevant to the show’s creatively inspiring purpose, I think he should be more visible to the audience throughout the show.

Story Studio Live will return as part of the Capital E National Arts Festival 2019. I’d like to think that if the writers feel moved to develop a further draft, having seen this performance, they will get the opportunity – and their mentors might be able to challenge them a little more, not least by mentioning we relate to ‘the bush’ rather than ‘the forest’ in NZ, unless we are in the forestry industry.

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